Saw an article on game pressure quoting the OP and a few other users. Can't post link because it's getting flagged as spam lol. Article name is "Gamers are Irritated by Sound Layer in AC Valhalla".

Hopefully it'll get picked up on more networks and this gets fixed soon.

I don't understand how this game got released in such a state and how no reviewer mentioned this. The game is completely unplayable like this for me. I try to make some progress but it just turns me off everytime I try and I end up playing different games. Only 3 hours in but I think I'm going to wait for a patch. I hope this gets addressed quickly.

This is honestly so frustrating. Some acknowledgement or an update would be nice. I've spent more time looking on these forums and reddit about this issue (hoping for an update) than I have actually playing the game on the Series X, because the sound is so bad.

I feel exactly the same way. Angry and disappointed.

Reinstalled Odyssey the other day to compare and the game sounds crystal clear for the most part on exactly the same setup. Still only played 3 hours of Valhalla as it sounds atrocious.

Pretty sure this won't be fixed to be honest. I don't think they see this as an issue.

Assassin's Creed is one of my favourite series. I got the ultimate edition to play on the Series X and after an hour I can hardly keep going. The game sounds absolutely atrocious. This issue is definitely not exclusive to the PC. Think I'm gonna put this off until it gets fixed. So disappointed.

I'm a bit afraid this is going to go unfixed. I've spoken to a lot of people who seem to think that the audio is fine, or that claim that my sound setup is broken.

I messaged support about it but they're yet to get back to me. Hopefully enough people contact them that they fix it. I'm also afraid that they'll release an optional HQ audio pack for the PC but leave the console players with crappy audio.

Honestly I'm starting to think that the sound quality is just going to be ignored, especially on consoles. There's 3 big threads on audio, why not make a megathread on audio too? It's one of the biggest reported issues from what I'm seeing?

@cronucks the physical box states that the game supports Dolby Digital and DTS. Surely you can get a refund on the basis of receiving an item that is not as described? I don't know where you are, but that is certainly an EU and UK law.

@captainstarpaw I was wondering if you will be doing an analysis of the audio after the patch comes out to see if there's any changes?

@cronucks the physical box states that the game supports Dolby Digital and DTS. Surely you can get a refund on the basis of receiving an item that is not as described? I don't know where you are, but that is certainly an EU and UK law.

Pretty sure this won't be fixed to be honest. I don't think they see this as an issue.

@shuar completely agree. We've been misled. Maybe some legal action is exactly what it would take for us to get what we paid for.

Any sort of update would be nice. Is this being looked into still? Support has completely ignored my messages as well.


Whenever I mention the audio on any other forum or place, most people agree that the quality is crap. Why hasn't this been picked up by more networks yet? Is audio not that important to people?

Great. This is one of the biggest threads on the forum, and yet apparently too many people enjoy playing with tinny audio for this to be considered an issue.

I feel exactly the same way. Angry and disappointed.

Reinstalled Odyssey the other day to compare and the game sounds crystal clear for the most part on exactly the same setup. Still only played 3 hours of Valhalla as it sounds atrocious.

• Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?

I started playing a day after release, and also tried playing after the latest patch. Had to stop both times as the audio sounds muffled or tinny, as if it was heavily compressed.

• What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

Xbox Series X.

• What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?

Using a wireless headset, Astro A50. Optical from Astro base station is connected to my TV's optical output, as the new consoles don't have an optical out. I've also tried using the TV speakers but the poor quality audio was still noticeable.

• What audio output is in use? 7.1, 5.1, Surround, Stereo?

Tried the following settings on Xbox: stereo uncompressed, and bitstream out > Dolby Digital, issue persists on both. Other games sound fine. Also tried Dolby Atmos for headphones and Windows Sonic, but I do not like how they sound compared to Dolby Digital on the Astro's.

• A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing.

Almost every sound in the game sounds like it is affected. The sound is not coming through clearly as it did in Odyssey for example. I am reinstalling Odyssey right now to compare, but this affects walking on snow, swinging weapons, combat sounds, ambient sounds, dialogue, and music. Wouldn't really know what to record as its the whole game.


I am also going to try using some sennheisers and sony headphones once Odyssey is installed and compare them all.

I've DM'd twitter support twice, but was completely ignored both times on this issue.

Definitely get your refund if you can guys, especially if they're advertising high quality sound as @lizzared said. Surely that's a bit of false advertising then? Where did they say that?

The known issues thread got updated and of course, no mention of the audio...

Can confirm, the audio still sounds horrible on the Series X. Messaged support again as they never got back to me after the first time I messaged them.

Disappointing, but not surprised.