As far as soundtrack releases go, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s didn’t exactly go by the book. Usually the main album shows up at the game’s launch while extra recording, in-game songs etc. form one or more additional albums that are released later on. And while an extra album or two might still be in the pipeline for the franchise’s latest, the first outing was a bit more unconventional.
Before the game even launched we saw the release of two EP albums: “Out Of The North” and “The Ravens Saga”. Later on more EPs were added: “Sons Of The Great North”, “The Wave Of Giants” and “Twilight Of The Gods”. All EPs contain some tracks that are also part of the main album that was released at game launch but also include a few that aren’t part of said main album. Which means that whoever wants to get the soundtrack for keeps, will have to buy a bunch different albums from the off1. What I can say is that, overall, the standard album works perfectly well as a proper anthology of the whole work, leaving off just a few tracks as essential as the ones already included. In most cases you’ll be missing out on more —sometimes very good— ambience-oriented compositions (with the exception of “The Wave Of Giants” that’s essentially an Einar Selvik EP). With all that out of the way, I’ll be commenting on the soundtrack taking into account all releases.