For the first time, Ubisoft is supporting an Assassin’s Creed game with a second year of paid and free content, as the developer has revealed big plans for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. In addition to a newly announced crossover event featuring two Assassin’s Creed protagonists, a major paid DLC expansion is coming to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla next year.
Titled Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok, the story expansion is coming to the game on March 10, 2022, and it will take Eivor to the realm of Norse mythology as the character embraces a new role as the Norse God Odin.
Developed by Ubisoft Sofia, who previously worked on 2014’s Assassin’s Creed Rogue and The Curse of the Pharaohs DLC for Assassin’s Creed Origins, this new DLC story is set to be the franchise’s largest yet. Ubisoft says Dawn of Ragnarok contains over 35 hours of gameplay, with a Norse realm to explore that’s one-third the size of Valhalla’s England.
In this expansion, Eivor drinks a potion that transports them into the world of Svartalfheim, a mythology-infused world under invasion. Here, as Eivor embraces the role of Odin, they set out on a mission to save their son Baldr. Along the way, the player will interact with Dwarves, Frost Giants, and more creatures from Norse mythology.
Dawn of Ragnarok will introduce new hooks into the combat already established in the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game. For example, a new ability allows the player to absorb power and abilities from defeated enemies, changing the way a battle can play out. One of these abilities will let you resurrect defeated enemies to fight on your side. The DLC’s creative director says the supernatural elements play a key role in the gameplay.
“In Dawn of Ragnarok players will experience what [it] feels like to be a God,” Mikhail Lozanov of Ubisoft Sofia said. “To harness the powers of defeated enemies is one of the key new additions to the expansion.”
Recent Assassin’s Creed games have been diving more and more into mythology. Assassin’s Creed Origins dove into Ancient Egyptian mythology, while Odyssey saw figures from Greek mythos including Medusa, Cyclops, the Minotaur, and more.
Typically, Assassin’s Creed games have wrapped up with post-launch support after the game’s first year. With Valhalla, the team is continuing the project onto its second year, a first for the franchise. The devs say this decision is simply because there were more ideas on the table for what to do with Valhalla.
“Since the production of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we knew we wanted to re-invent our post-launch support as during the previous opuses the team often felt there were more stories or ideas we could have delivered to the player,” Jose Araiza of Ubisoft Montreal said. “For this reason, we came up with a plan to deliver on the team’s ambitions and things like the festivals and the game modes came to life. Additionally, the reception from the players has been very positive, and seeing that they are still accompanying us is what makes year 2 possible.”
We do know that the next mainline game in the series, called Assassin’s Creed Infinity, is in development, but Ubisoft has not given any specific details about the project. Rumors indicate the new game is designed to run for years as a live service game, with new content released over time. One could read into this new Valhalla roadmap as testing the waters for the live service concept, but Ubisoft did not comment on the specifics of where the franchise is going from here.
In addition to the major expansion and the crossover event with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Valhalla players can also check out The Siege of Paris, Wrath of the Druids, and the game’s Discovery Tour.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.