If you're a baseball fan, one of the Vikings in Assassin's Creed Valhalla may look and sound familiar. Pro ballplayer and World Champion LA Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger makes an appearance in Valhalla as a character named (deep sigh) "Otta Sluggasson."
Sluggasson. Because baseball players are sometimes called sluggers. Get it?
If you don't get it, don't worry—Ubisoft's writers are more than willing to drive it home (see, I can make terrible baseball puns, too). In the clip below, as part of a special world event in Valhalla, Sluggasson can be found hitting rocks with his club—you know, the baseball bat-like weapon—at a target on a nearby rooftop. Then Bellinger's character runs up to Eivor and says:
"The name's Otta Sluggasson. I usually try to dodge dames like yourself, but you seem friendly."
Dodge. See? Because he's a Dodger!
Bellinger isn't the first celebrity cameo in a Ubisoft game—Stormzy has a quest in Watch Dogs Legion—but it makes a bit more sense to me to find a British musician in near-future London than it does to find an American baseball player in 9th century England. I mean, he's even wearing eye black as war paint.
Even if you're not into baseball (I sorta am) and recoil at blatant stunt casting (I usually do), there's still more to the video, like a peek behind the scenes from Bellinger's motion-capture sessions and some gameplay footage of Eivor carving up a bunch of enemies with an axe, a spear, a hammer, a shield, and a bow.
I guess you could say Eivor is... a five-tool player. Assassin's Creed Valhalla steps up to the plate on November 10.
Thanks, CBS Sports.
