Roll them bones
In the context of Assassin’s Creed, the word “dice” is usually a synonym for all the different ways you can murder with a blade. Stab, shank, skewer, slice, chop — you get the picture. In Valhalla, it’s more associated with a charming little side activity.
All throughout Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s villages are random townsfolk who are eager to challenge Eivor to a game of Orlog. This isn’t a real Viking game. It’s something that Ubisoft designers created themselves that ended up being a fan favorite. Its legend is a lot like Gwent in The Witcher 3.
It’d be easiest if you just played Valhalla to get the Orlog tutorial, but here’s a simplified overview. Players take turns rolling six dice across three rounds, choosing each time which ones they want to keep. The die faces have symbols for attack, block, or for stealing currency used for God Favors which are like special abilities. The goal is to drain the opponent’s health pool of 15 points. It’s a little complicated, and then devilishly simple, and then surprisingly deep (once you get into the strategies of the various God Favors).
Orlog is good enough that it’s being turned into a real game. According to an interview in Dicebreaker, Ubisoft is teaming up with collectibles manufacturer PureArts to create a physical version of Orlog that will launch in 2021. No other details were given.
However, the interview has a lot of other interesting tidbits about the creation of Orlog. For instance, it started as a collectibles-based deck-building game. It also offers insight as to how a bunch of video game designers went about balancing a dice game. It’s all the Orlog background info you didn’t know you needed.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s Viking dice game Orlog will get a physical version in 2021 [Dicebreaker via Eurogamer]
