It's all about Havi'n a strategy for Odin, as Valhalla's giant expansion gives you the power of a god.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is getting the Majora’s Mask treatment with its upcoming Dawn of Ragnarök expansion – a completely new adventure capitalising on established groundwork to arrive just 18 months after Valhalla’s original Viking pilgrimage, while being as comprehensive as a fully-fledged experience.
While Assassin’s is renowned for its longtail DLC, Dawn of Ragnarök is taking things much further with a full-bodied expansion. Ubisoft opened its recent hands-off presentation proclaiming that ACVDOR will deliver more than 35 hours. Bloody nora! That’s not an add-on, it’s a beginning, middle and end.
Through the visions of Eivor, Valhalla’s original protagonist, Dawn of Ragnarök allows you to experience being a god. You play as Havi, one of the many names of Odin, searching the Svartalfheim region for son Baldr. This land is home to the dwarves, a common accomplice throughout this journey, but we quickly learn they are largely in exile after an invasion from the forces of Muspelheim and Jotunheim.
The land of the dwarves echoes a sense of familiarity for those who invested heavily in Valhalla; yet it presents a fresh environment that not only expands the Viking saga, but finds untouched ground in the expanse of Assassin’s Creed. With enemies that burn bright red, the soft tones of the natural landscapes contrasts against the ferocity of battle.
Like past Assassin’s Creed’s extensions, Dawn of Ragnarök delves into its (Norse) mythology considerably more than the base game. Whereas Valhalla was a Viking tale that embraced its mythological connections, Dawn of Ragnarök shines a spotlight on the fact you’re playing as a mighty revered god, and the significant power that comes with it.
It bleeds through most prominently in combat, which is consumed by the fact you’ve transcended beyond the abilities of a mere assassins. As a god, Odin commands powers on a previously unknown level, including being able to consume the supernatural abilities of fallen enemies to use them against those still standing; they are all far more menacing than the standard goons seemingly employed to fall victim to our hidden blade.
Another nifty trick is the Power of the Raven, which allows Navi to shape-shift and take to the sky, with seemingly little constraint. It looks to be a rapid way to traverse the steep environments, without the need to climb by hand; once upgraded, it even allows Havi to assassinate enemies directly from the sky. Talk about a bird’s eye view to a kill.
Dawn of Ragnarök is all about mixing and matching this rotation of powers, which give combat and exploration more of a dynamic strategy. Each time Havi commandeers a power, he has to give up one currently equipped. The levelling system of Valhalla’s gear had me select my favourite items in each slot and largely stick with them. I played most of the mammoth adventure with a fairly consistent rinse and repeat strategy.
By encouraging you to regularly swap and substitute abilities, Dawn of Ragnarök wants you to strategise and shake up Havi’s approach to confrontations and traversal. We saw a conundrum in Ubisoft Sofia’s gameplay demo, where Havi had to choose between a mini-army of minions under his command assisting combat or being able to wade through lava and take a far more direct route, possibly bypassing combat entirely.
The expansion brings new weapons, and another weapon class called atgeir; a frankly terrifyingly menacing axe-meets-spear concoction from the Viking era. It features its own combo system, which is more reliant on precision and alternating between light and heavy attacks to unleash a devastating blow. All of your existing weapons and gear make the journey into Eivor’s vision and can be enhanced to divine quality to help even the odds.
In around 30 minutes of gameplay, we saw Havi engage in several rounds of combat. The basics mirror Valhalla, but with a more powerful weapon, the ability to assassinate directly from the sky, and rapidly consuming new powers, the hacking and slashing is more intense.
While our brief demo was very combat heavy between cutscenes, exploration remains a staple of Dawn of Ragnarök. With the dwarves forced into exile, it isn’t as simple as wandering into the nearest settlement and talking shop. Most of them have found refuge hidden in shelters, which aren’t intended to be found by outsiders.
But the resourceful dwarves did leave subtle clues for their own kind, and it’s these which Havi/Odin has to discover and decipher to successfully navigate to those who can help him find his son. These secret settlements provide the comforts of home and are where you’ll update your kit – provided you can find them first. Valhalla’s assassin-turned-detective objectives also return, with hunting for clues to uncover your next move a recurring task.
Dawn of Ragnarök is positioning itself as endgame content for existing players of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, with a recommended player level of 340. At AUD $60, more than the base game at this point, it’s firmly targeting the most engaged players who made it to the end of Evior’s primary story, and want a greater challenge with a higher dose of Norse mythology. Although if you didn’t quite make it, or want to start with Odin, there is an option for some light-hearted cheating to boost your stats and skip ahead. As a big fan of Valhalla who finished Eivor’s story a long, long time ago (okay, 2020, but you know…), I just hope the intentional challenge is prefaced with a gentle warm-up to ease me back up to speed.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Dawn of Ragnarök requires the base game and launches on 10 March 2022 for Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5.
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla10 Nov 2020 (PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series X)
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