I'll start by saying it's mostly the environmental/ambient audio that is terrible. The voice audio is OK.

With that out of the way, the overall audio experience in ACV is genuinely horrible. This is the worst overall audio I've heard in any AAA game. I don't know if it's due to file compression, recording methods, mixing/mastering, or something else, but it sounds so thin and cold, void of musicality. Hopefully, if it is file compression, maybe they will release an optional HQ audio pack that isn't so ineptly compressed? We'd have to raise awareness though. So if you feel the same, please make posts and upvote posts.

Honestly, this level of audio degradation is unacceptable at the AAA level. It feels like incompetence, as this should have been caught. As someone who records a fair bit of audio, I like to do what a lot of people call the "car" or "computer" test. That is, after mixing your audio on your high quality studio monitors, you burn it to a disc and check it on regular ol' speakers that 99% of people will be using. If it doesn't sound good there, it needs more work. It feels like the ACV audio designers did not do this. Because I can't imagine any audio engineer would hear this audio and think it's passable.
This is my biggest grievance with the game (though there are others), and frankly, it's unacceptable.

(PS: Ubi's new forums are garbage. I can't believe it, but they're worse than the old forums! lol I can't believe UI/UX designers thought this design was good... I'm picking a lot of bones with Ubi staff today, but honestly, they deserve it - this is a huge AAA company and they charge huge AAA prices for their [censored])

[censored]...

"ERRORYou are only allowed to edit posts for 5 minute(s) after posting"

Seriously? My god, this forum just gets worse and worse. lol

Anyway, thanks for the replies. My post on reddit is getting a lot of attention and support, hopefully the devs see and agree.

@lukensen87 That is situational and depends on a number of variables, but generally, good gear does improve the tonal quality vs. lower spec gear. I doubt it's a bug only on some people's games. It just seems some people either get used to the poor quality over their playing, or they can't really tell the difference. I have actual audio engineers chiming on my reddit thread who agree with my fairly harsh appraisal of Valhalla's sound; not to mention hundreds of comments from regular players.

Things for you to examine specifically if you want to check again: walking through snow's mix and tonal quality, landing from a jump's vapid thud, certain sounds being obviously too loud or too quiet for the situation, water flowing that sounds like a faucet, etc.

@lukensen87 That is situational and depends on a number of variables, but generally, good gear does improve the tonal quality vs. lower spec gear. I doubt it's a bug only on some people's games. It just seems some people either get used to the poor quality over their playing, or they can't really tell the difference. I have actual audio engineers chiming on my reddit thread who agree with my fairly harsh appraisal of Valhalla's sound; not to mention hundreds of comments from regular players.

Things for you to examine specifically if you want to check again: walking through snow's mix and tonal quality, landing from a jump's vapid thud, certain sounds being obviously too loud or too quiet for the situation, water flowing that sounds like a faucet, etc.

I mean, almost anything will sound good on $1,000 equipment @Lukensen87 . Clearly though the audio issues are real, because the thread on reddit got 840 upvotes and 240 comments, and some gilding. Lots of people chimed in agreeing.



(huh, @-ing someone automatically does a line break... another stupid thing on this forum) (also, does anyone know how to change your avatar? I can't seem to find it)

[censored]...

"ERRORYou are only allowed to edit posts for 5 minute(s) after posting"

Seriously? My god, this forum just gets worse and worse. lol

Anyway, thanks for the replies. My post on reddit is getting a lot of attention and support, hopefully the devs see and agree.

I'll start by saying it's mostly the environmental/ambient audio that is terrible. The voice audio is OK.

With that out of the way, the overall audio experience in ACV is genuinely horrible. This is the worst overall audio I've heard in any AAA game. I don't know if it's due to file compression, recording methods, mixing/mastering, or something else, but it sounds so thin and cold, void of musicality. Hopefully, if it is file compression, maybe they will release an optional HQ audio pack that isn't so ineptly compressed? We'd have to raise awareness though. So if you feel the same, please make posts and upvote posts.

Honestly, this level of audio degradation is unacceptable at the AAA level. It feels like incompetence, as this should have been caught. As someone who records a fair bit of audio, I like to do what a lot of people call the "car" or "computer" test. That is, after mixing your audio on your high quality studio monitors, you burn it to a disc and check it on regular ol' speakers that 99% of people will be using. If it doesn't sound good there, it needs more work. It feels like the ACV audio designers did not do this. Because I can't imagine any audio engineer would hear this audio and think it's passable.
This is my biggest grievance with the game (though there are others), and frankly, it's unacceptable.

(PS: Ubi's new forums are garbage. I can't believe it, but they're worse than the old forums! lol I can't believe UI/UX designers thought this design was good... I'm picking a lot of bones with Ubi staff today, but honestly, they deserve it - this is a huge AAA company and they charge huge AAA prices for their [censored])