Assassin’s Creed Valhalla post-launch content includes druids and a raid on the French

By the look and sound of things, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is going to be yet another gigantic sandbox within which to do all manner of stuff. That’s fine and dandy, and provided that you can ignore all of those other high-profile sandboxes arriving within mere days and weeks of each other, Ubisoft’s latest history lesson should have enough content to keep you going for a while.

And then there’s all of the other content arriving afterwards, because escape is pointless.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will receive two major expansions of narratively driven gameplay, one of which will focus on nature’s original hippies the druids, the second casting a spotlight on the French. Will the dastardly French build their own castle on English soil, speak in an OUTRAGEOUS accent, and tell you that your mother was a hamster? One can only hope.

Back to the homeopaths though, as the first expansion is titled Wrath of the Druids. That DLC will ship players off to the emerald isle of Ireland and will have you face off against a druidic cult and Gaelic kings. Expansion deux is The Siege of Paries, which Ubisoft described as “the most ambitious battle in Viking history.”

You’ll actually head to France for this one and take part in Viking attack on Paris, which has its roots in real history. Having failed the first time to ransack the city, the Vikings had another go at it and managed to pillage the city of all its gold and garlic bread. Deciding to dig in and enjoy the good life, French emperor Charles the Bald had to pay the raiders a princely sum to get them out of Paris, as there was Norway they would leave otherwise.

If the season pass is purchased to gain access to these expansions, players will receive an exclusive quest, The Legend of Beowulf. Yes, it’s a story focused on the ancient legend and not the weird CGI film that has not aged very well in the years since it was released. The Discovery Tour is also making a comeback, an educational mode in which you can explore the sandbox that Ubisoft has created without having to worry about getting your face smashed in by suppressing fire from a trebuchet. Here’s the full list of what you’ll get for free in the first season of the game come December:

• A new settlement area, allowing players to continue to grow and evolve their settlement.
• A traditional Viking Festival: the Yule Festival, for players to experience in their settlement.
• A new game mode: the River Raids. Building on Valhalla’s core raiding mechanic the mode will deliver a dynamic, challenging and highly replayable raid experience.
• The addition of the Ranks for Jomsviking: in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla players can not only create their lieutenant to be part of their raiding crew, but also recruit some from their friends and the community.
• In Season 1, players will see an update to the Jomsviking feature which will allow their Jomsviking to earn XP and rank up—the higher the rank of the lieutenant, the more silver players will earn when recruited by other players.
• Finally, as for each season, Season 1 will also come with new player skills and abilities, weapons and gear, and cosmetic items for the settlement, longship, horse and raven.

A second season will kick off in March next year, with Ubisoft adding that it is “committed to support the game and continued improvement of the core experience with additional content, yet to be revealed.” All of that premium content will cost you a few shiny pennies though. The Gold Edition of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla throws in the season pass but will set you back R1700, and the season pass on its lonesome is priced at $40. Not sure how much that is in local currency just yet, but there you go.

Last Updated: October 21, 2020