While Ubisoft has done well to give fans all the information they need to make an informed decision about Assassin's Creed Valhalla, there are certain elements that the developer still wants to keep secret. How the story and events of the game will tie in with Layla's storyline in the modern day, for example, has been a closely guarded secret.

During our hands-on preview of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, we saw some glimpses of how at least one of the modern storylines will manifest. Unfortunately, in order to remain spoiler-free, we can't say too much about it.

What we can say is that Layla is playable in Assassin's Creed Valhalla but what we saw was not a modern day segment. Instead, one of the side activities in the game, called an Animus Anamoly, swaps Viking Eivor for Layla Hassan as she tries to unlock a memory from the Animus.

The mission we played (and presumably how these missions will work) saw Layla using free-running and climbing to get from point A to point B in an obstacle course that hovers well above the world of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. There were some puzzle elements where Layla needed to “energize” platforms in order to climb on them and progress, but it wasn't particularly challenging. Truly, the most exciting part of the mission is that players actually get to see Layla, which suggests that her role may be larger than in the past two games.

Ubisoft had previously confirmed that Layla Hassan would be part of the Assassin's Creed Valhalla storyline as the moden day protagonist. The developers also teased the Animus Anomaly concept, but now having played it, the missions' importance has become clearer. Animus Anomaly missions will function like many of the collectible missions in past AC games – giving players small snippets of a larger scene that has major story implications, but only rewarding them with the full scene once everything is collected/completed.

While the fan base always seemed to be clamoring for more of Desmond Miles in the older Assassin's Creed games, the reception to Layla Hassan has been mixed, to say the least. Her role as a “new Desmond” has been met with some trepidation, even though there has been a desire to see the modern day storylines involving Juno expand. Perhaps this is Ubisoft's answer to both, with Layla not interrupting the flow of the main game, and the cutscene adding more layers to that Juno/Precursor mystery.

Although Assassin's Creed has revamped its formula in some key ways over the last few iterations, Ubisoft has seemingly added pieces that harken back to the earlier games. These Animus Anamoly missions seem like a perfect way to bridge the gap between the modern day and Animus segments, without completely pulling the player out of the action. Moreover, if all of them together offer some revelatory sequence, then it will certainly be worth finding and completing all of them.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla releases November 10, 2020 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. The PS5 version will release on November 12, 2020.