Those of you who read my review of Assassin's Creed Valhalla may remember that I reviewed the PS4 version and was looking forward to upgrading to PS5; on November 12, PS5 was released and offered various free upgrades. I downloaded the PS5 version of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and dove into the game. Immediately, I noticed one major advantage and one major disadvantage: save files carry over, but trophies do not.

On the other hand, it seems somewhat presumptuous to complain. On the other hand, it would be somewhat tawdry to complain, because Ubisoft has actually done something amazing in terms of save file transfers. With Ubisoft Connect, saves from "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" will not only transfer from PS4 to PS5, but also to Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. All you need is an Internet connection and you can resume where you left off on any platform. This is a remarkable advancement in cross-save technology, and hopefully other developers will follow Ubisoft's fine example in the future.

On the other hand, losing trophy progress is a major inconvenience, especially for a large game like Valhalla. As in previous Assassin's Creed games, trophies can be earned by completing plot objectives, defeating powerful enemies, challenging stealth, discovering hidden secrets, and combining skills in novel ways. Some of these trophies can only be earned once per play, while others are simply very difficult to replicate.

Therefore, if you start "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" on PS4, you will either have to play two games with incomplete trophies or play the entire game twice. This is quite a hurdle, since the entire game takes 50-80 hours to complete.

Unfortunately, there is no real solution to this problem, as it appears to be a design issue with separate PS4 and PS5 trophies for the same game. My personal solution is to not bother with trophies for this particular game. I spent a lot of time trying to get the Platinum trophy in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and I wanted to do the same with this game. But trophies are always a fun addition, and the core "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" experience plays just fine on PS5.

Another option is to keep playing the PS4 version of "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" even if you have a PS5. It is entirely possible to install both games and choose which one you want to play each time you launch the application. In my personal testing, the performance differences were mild, consisting mostly of slight fluctuations in frame rates and subtle lighting effects.

Any new generation of game consoles comes with redundancies and inconveniences in its early days, and the PS5 seems to be no exception. At least you can carry your save data with you.