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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarök review: the Assassin’s Creed you like in a fun new fantasy worldThe roof is on fire, we don’t need no water
The roof is on fire, we don’t need no water
Assassin’s Creed Valhallaenters its endgame phase with its final DLCDawn Of Ragnarök, the very concept for which is kind of a big honking spoiler, so consider yourself forewarned.
The series as a whole is still electing to carry on with that subplot about super-advanced precursor god-people, like a chill friend who you ask to party knowing that they will, univited, bring along their mate who is really into a specific genre of sci-fi and will not stop derailing conversations to talk about it. In Valhalla this manifests as protagonist Eivor, Viking raider and big blonde buff meat sculpture, being the reincarnation of Odin, one of the aforementioned god-people. Dawn Of Ragnarök is Eivor dreaming that they are Odin for about 35 hours of adventuring and son-saving in the magical realm of Svartalfheim. That’s a pretty intense nap.
Svartalfheim Is An Open World Filled With Magic | My Fav Thing In… (Dawn of Ragnarök DLC Review)Watch on YouTube
Svartalfheim Is An Open World Filled With Magic | My Fav Thing In… (Dawn of Ragnarök DLC Review)
The time limit on the spells, and the extra bar for mana - called hugr - are nice spins on the AC formula, but these, two are generous. Even if you run out of hugr you can get it from killing things, or big magic flowers that litter the world. There are special shrines where you can sacrifice your health for more magic, but I never needed to use them. Theoretically you’re supposed to adapat and overcome, and switch out your spells regularly.
Bad to the boneThis is Eysa, an early-ish boss fight. She’s Surtr’s daughter and is hot and fiery - in all senses, amiright? Havi is impressed because she nearly beats him. The structure of the story missions are mini-bosses like Eysa, leading to a bigger boss, and so on, usually with investigations in an enemy area to break it up.
Practically, though, you’re going to use the Power Of Muspel the most, so end up keeping that one on hand all the time. It makes fire giants anti-sus of you, and it’s very generous in the margins for that. My favourite trick was to turn it on right after I’d murked a few giants, so the ones left were like “Well I just saw him headshot Steve, but I guess he’s cool.” But it also lets you walk on lava, and since lava is the most common barrier in story missions and raids, the spell is kind of a no-brainer.
The Muspels themselves are a cool enemy. They’re big and shouty. The mob types are variations on what you’ll see in the main game - beserkers, lads throwing explosives, really big bois with slow axes - but in groups they all buff each other, getting stronger and more firey. This results in some clutch moments, but for the most part you’re not going to find the DLC too challenging. While Muspels are the main enemy in DOR, you’ll also smash around some of the ever-popular frost giants and the local Svartalfheim fauna, including some very angry crows, but nothing is going to make you quake in your big Viking booties.
And the world design has taken another step away from the traditional Ubi-formula that people like to make fun of. While there’s notnohand-holding, the DLC proper starts with Havi being left on a cliff edge and told to do whatever, I dunno, you figure it out. You have to explore and find dwarf shelters using visual clues, where someone will put you on the scent of a quest to weaken Surtr. The traditional area clues to find the next map blip on your mission are more vague. There’s a bit more of a sense of wonder, and more weird things to run into around the place. It’s not going to impressElden Ringfanciers, but it’s probably the most engaging world in Valhalla, and proof enough in my book that Ubisoft Sofia are ready for a crack at a full game.
For the most part, though, Dawn Of Ragnarök is more of the AC Valhalla you like: more boating around singing, more armour, more raids (in which I kept getting referred to as Eivor but we’ll let that one go). More NPCs with UK regional accents. More sub-bosses for different areas, leading you towards a big boss. A big new weapon and new, grim ways to instakill enemies. It’s not game changing but it does feel game subtly-altering, and if you had to get one Valhalla DLC it should be this one. I think the best endorsement of Dawn Of Ragnarök is that it’s fun, and it made me want to play Valhalla more. Job done.
