I and plenty of others are having issues with sound such as echoes, reverb, compression and overall a completely off putting experience. Background noise can be louder than dialog, music often doesn't play, footsteps are very loud while everything else is muffled. Every dialog sounds like people are in a bathroom speaking.

Reports are all over reddit as you can see in the following links just to name a few:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/ACValhalla/comments/js3hw1/pc_audio_producer_hobbyist_here_what_on_earth/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/ACValhalla/comments/js6ei4/ubisoft_fix_the_audio_and_frame_rate_mate/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/ACValhalla/comments/jrrev5/to_other_pc_users_is_the_audio_really_bad_for_you/

@captainstarpaw Pretty cool finding. This explains a lot. I guess there is no workaround that we can use for now

@ubi-woofer

Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?
Started playing on release day.

What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)
Processor: i7 6700k
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2070 super
Ram: 16GB 3200Mhz
Motherboard: Asus maximus VIII Hero
Headset: Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum
Windows 10 Pro 64bit - compilation number 19042
Nvidia Drivers version: 457.30

DirectX, .net etc are updated.

What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?
Onboard audio
Headset: Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum, stereo (surround sound disabled. Enabling it in this game makes the sound even worse like 100 times)
Same issues on other headsets (steelseries siberia V2) and even using external speakers.

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

A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing.

First video is not mine. At 3:17m when young Eivar speaks, voice is completely weird and robotic. It gets even more noticeable at 3:52m. Its like this in every video on youtube.


I recorded this video as an example of dialog issues: Echo happens everywhere.


Example 2: Jumping always ends up in harsh landing sounds with echo and a lot of reverbation. This happens everywhere, being in closed spaces, forests, top of mountains. Also notice the whistle sounding bad.
This is particularly noticeable after jumping from the horse at high speeds, jumping on top of buildings or surfaces made of wood or stone (even thought you can still notice it in dirty ground).


Example 3: Similiar to example 2 but at another location.


Example 4: Raiding. Echoing already present when the crew sings. Overall balance from fighting is all over the place. The most noticeable issue is when you can hear the enemy blades swinging close to your hears but then Ilook and they are fighting away from me. Finishers, battlecrys and everything in general sounds off.

There are plenty of other sound problems (ex: every sound is muffled) but it got to a point that my brain already ignores most of them

New patch notes don't reflect anything related to audio!

"Graphics, Audio, Animation
Addressed various graphics issues.
Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
Addressed various clipping issues.
Addressed an issue where fish may lay on its side during the fishing animation.
Addressed an issue where some NPCs would cut the air instead of wheat. practice doesn’t always make perfect.
Addressed an issue where NPCs that are being assassinated while being unconscious would sometimes get up during the animation.
Tattooed Mimir’s head. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Addressed an issue with jagged sea foam."

Audio, whats that? - Ubisoft Dev, 2020

Can we get a list of known issues and what fixes are being worked on? Maybe hotfix estimates? Otherwise I might ask for a refund since my audio is not really working

I really would like to see this issue listed on the known issues pinned thread.

I made a BIG effort to play the campaign. I will not be touching this title anymore for obvious reasons. This is how you miss € from someone that could buy the DLCs.

This is a huge letdown actually. It's also making it harder to know who is friend or foe during fights.

people are starting to post content on youtube without even realizing the audio is pretty bad. I'll just drop an example here:

Just after the jump at 1:02, pretty easy to notice the very loud and muffled landing sound. The video includes runing, climbing, fights and everything that we have been reporting lately

I have the same issue. Also on PC with settings set to max (except clouds and shadows). This is especially noticeable in water when sailing

I made a BIG effort to play the campaign. I will not be touching this title anymore for obvious reasons. This is how you miss € from someone that could buy the DLCs.

New patch notes don't reflect anything related to audio!

"Graphics, Audio, Animation
Addressed various graphics issues.
Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
Addressed various clipping issues.
Addressed an issue where fish may lay on its side during the fishing animation.
Addressed an issue where some NPCs would cut the air instead of wheat. practice doesn’t always make perfect.
Addressed an issue where NPCs that are being assassinated while being unconscious would sometimes get up during the animation.
Tattooed Mimir’s head. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Addressed an issue with jagged sea foam."

Audio, whats that? - Ubisoft Dev, 2020

@ubi-woofer

Did you start to play Valhalla before the initial game updates were released?
Started playing on release day.

What is your platform, and if on PC, what are your system specs? (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)
Processor: i7 6700k
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2070 super
Ram: 16GB 3200Mhz
Motherboard: Asus maximus VIII Hero
Headset: Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum
Windows 10 Pro 64bit - compilation number 19042
Nvidia Drivers version: 457.30

DirectX, .net etc are updated.

What is your audio set-up? Are you using a headset (wired or wireless?), a speaker system, a surround sound system, etc.?
Onboard audio
Headset: Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum, stereo (surround sound disabled. Enabling it in this game makes the sound even worse like 100 times)
Same issues on other headsets (steelseries siberia V2) and even using external speakers.

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

A video demonstrating the issues you are experiencing.

First video is not mine. At 3:17m when young Eivar speaks, voice is completely weird and robotic. It gets even more noticeable at 3:52m. Its like this in every video on youtube.


I recorded this video as an example of dialog issues: Echo happens everywhere.


Example 2: Jumping always ends up in harsh landing sounds with echo and a lot of reverbation. This happens everywhere, being in closed spaces, forests, top of mountains. Also notice the whistle sounding bad.
This is particularly noticeable after jumping from the horse at high speeds, jumping on top of buildings or surfaces made of wood or stone (even thought you can still notice it in dirty ground).


Example 3: Similiar to example 2 but at another location.


Example 4: Raiding. Echoing already present when the crew sings. Overall balance from fighting is all over the place. The most noticeable issue is when you can hear the enemy blades swinging close to your hears but then Ilook and they are fighting away from me. Finishers, battlecrys and everything in general sounds off.

There are plenty of other sound problems (ex: every sound is muffled) but it got to a point that my brain already ignores most of them

@ubikoality Every part of the game. This is an issue that affects all audio but is more noticeable in dialogs and harsh sound effects (such as feet landing in hard surfaces, steel clashing and so on).

Its on teh news on ubisoft connect on PC

We will be deploying Title Update 1.0.4 tomorrow: November 26, 2020.
PATCH SIZES AND DEPLOYMENT TIMING:
· PC: ~4.3 GB @ 1pm CET | 7am EDT | 4am PDT | 11pm AEDT

patch to deploy soon. Notes mention audio fixes. lets hope

@ubikoality Thank you for your reply.
I did follow the troubleshoot. issues persist. I'm using an headset (surround sound disabled). I've also checked with other headsets and speakers and it's the same.
I'm fairly certain the issue is not related to my PC. I haven't seen a gameplay on youtube with propper sound, even if players don't realise (some of them play on console on TV).
If you check for gameplays where the game starts, young Eivor sounds robotic in all of them which is just a good example of high frequency cutoff (kids have high pitch voices).

The main thread for the sound issues seems to have a nice compilation of all the issues stated a bit here and there

@dworkin_cz There's a pinned thread on the support forum where they list all the reported issues, including this one.

@therealdaemon Its in the Reported Issues Megathread https://discussions.ubisoft.com/topic/81608/reported-issue-megathreads-please-check-here-if-a-thread-exists-for-your-issue

@tadiian I think it was a job opening for ubisoft. Related to sound