Assassin’s Creed recently released the newest entry into the series, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is full of strong vikings who look like they could crush players easily. Previous installments include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with a nimble Kassandra, and Assassin’s Creed Origins with scarred-and-super-muscular Bayek and silently deadly Aya. These recent characters are just the latest culmination of the series, as the Assassin’s Creed franchise has been rooted in physical activity since the very first game. Players have known that assassins, especially the playable protagonists, must be strong enough to scale buildings but also quiet enough to complete stealth missions.

Now, just because the playable characters need to be incredibly strong, it doesn’t mean the players behind the controller need to be the same. However, there’s something about seeing incredibly strong protagonists like Aya, Eivor, and even Ezio on-screen that invigorates players to want to become more active. Though it’s tended to veer away from its free-running and parkour roots, the Assassin’s Creed franchise undoubtedly makes its players want to be fit enough to be an assassin.

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The newer Assassin’s Creed games have traded the parkour and free-running aspects for more organic, natural environments, but that doesn’t mean players have forgotten when their protagonists could parkour with ease. However, it makes sense for the franchise to move away from that sort of mechanic when the protagonists featured in recent games don’t have the refined armor and outfit of the later years of the Creed.

Bayek and Eivor, in particular, have bulky armor and weapons, especially in comparison to Ezio. The Assassin’s Creed 2 protagonist mainly relied on his hidden blade, but had a sword, and later a crossbow, to use as necessary in up-close combat. Meanwhile, Origins’ Bayek can carry up to two swords, two bows, and a shield, making for a bulkier load out that makes stealth operations not as smooth as Ezio’s.

Though the games don’t feature free-running and parkour as much as they used to, it’s still natural for players to think about how cool it is to see the protagonist run full force at a building, scale it with impossible-looking holds, and look out at the view (of Italy, Egypt, etc.) And maybe, just a little part of them wants to be able to do that, too. Building up parkour and free-running skill is far from easy, but with proper training and dedication, Assassin’s Creed fans can learn these fluid, flashy exercises and impress both fans and non-fans alike.

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Taking one look at the various Assassin’s Creed protagonists shows players just how buff they need to be to be assassin-level fit. While each playable character isn’t insanely buff, they do have well-defined and toned muscles of varying sizes. Aya and Kassandra can be described as lean and toned, while Bayek and Eivor have more bulky muscle tones. No matter how big their muscles are, though, there’s no denying that every single Assassin’s Creed protagonist has to be in-shape to complete their assassin tasks.

Players watching these protagonists run around may feel inspired to become as strong as them, though they won’t need to do half of what assassins do in their daily lives. Luckily, there are tons of Assassin’s Creed inspired workouts to be found all over the internet, though they can be pretty intense. Some workouts are even categorized by character, so fans can complete a Kassandra-inspired workout one day and then switch to an Ezio-inspired one the next.

Obviously the original intent behind the Assassin’s Creed franchise wasn’t exactly to inspire people to become more fit, but it’s an interesting byproduct for sure. It’s not far-fetched for players to take a look at strong protagonists (in both moral and physical aspects) and want to change up their routine a bit to try to emulate their favorite characters—though they probably won’t be scaling buildings in their workouts.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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