By way of an aptly-titled slice of DLC, The Last Chapter, which is set to answer a number of pertinent questions for Eivor's longstanding settlement quest, and will also address some of the future content that has also left lingering questions unanswered.

As the game is now in its second year and has been amply supported throughout that time by developer Ubisoft Montreal, offering up actual seasonal updates alongside some pretty cool expansions from other Ubisoft studios, the developer-publisher is sharing a checklist of completion requirements for its final content installment. Meaning, if you haven't done these yet, it might be time to get cracking.

On December 6, we will be releasing our final content update for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, wrapping up two amazing years of post-launch support. Title Update 1.6.2 will include some exciting new content for the game, including The Last Chapter, a touching and intimate conclusion to Eivor’s saga.

This epilogue will tie up some of the storylines developed throughout the game and offer closure to your time among the Raven Clan.

To access The Last Chapter when it releases on December 6, you’ll need to complete the following key parts of the game:

• Complete the main storyline by pledging to all territories of England
  
• Complete the mythical story arcs of Asgard and Jotunheim
  
• Upgrade your settlement to level 5 and construct the Jomsviking barracks
  
• Kill all targets of the Order of the Ancients and unveil its leader

Other updates will make it into this final update, including the option to keep your hood up at any time, which is an oddly highly requested want from he community. Ubisoft has also addressed the equally popular fan request for New Game +, which will not be making its way to the game for a number of reasons, though Ubi stated it was mostly due to the "depth of the game [which] gave us limited options to make replayability unique and rewarding".

You can read more directly from Ubisoft on the upcoming content drop, right here.

And within this armoury (proper way to spell it), you can have ready-to-don loadouts based on armour preference, ostensibly giving you a Viking Superman quick change ability, with the new armoury serving as your ye olde timey phone booth, to maintain the wafer-thin theme here.

This couldn't have come at a better time, as by now you likely have so many resources and have maybe been only trouncing about in a single kit, that it's near on criminal there hasn't really been much of a reason to update or change your wardrobe.

In addition to the new armoury and loadouts, as well as the additional, incidental gameplay that comes with, there's new River Raid rewards alongside the requisite bug fixes and balancing, which are also welcome in the wake of the game's most recent expansion, Dawn of Ragnarok.

Ravensthorpe has expanded! Construct the new Armory building and unlock up to five gear loadouts that you can display in your settlement and freely swap to from around the world.

The Armory can be built after upgrading Ravensthorpe to Level 3 and requires foreign cargo, which can be obtained in River Raids. Once built, it will function as your own personal gallery for the gear and weapons that have served you well in the various raids, assassinations, and adventures throughout your playtime.

Time to make the most of your gear! Customise up to five different loadouts from the inventory screen. Create various combinations to match with your favorite playstyles, give them a label, and change them on-the-go. Freedom of approach is the name of the game, and with the loadouts you can now switch from savage raider to stealthy assassin with the press of a button in the inventory screen.

Upon building the Armory, you will be given two initial loadout slots. Upgrade the armory up to four times in order to unlock the remaining slots.

For more info on the lengthy fixes included in the update, here here.

AusGamers was invited to check in on what Ubisoft has in store for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s extended life, as the game draws out to now include not just a fresh new year of content, but also one of the more exciting concepts to come to the Assassin’s Creed franchise by way of Assassin’s Creed Crossover Stories. And yes, you read that correctly, Ubisoft has responded to fan-service requests and soon players can have Eivor meeting up with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Kassandra in new, standalone stories set within the walls of both Valhalla and Odyssey.

Which again, sounds crazy even when you write it out like that, then say it out loud, but it’s true. It’s happening. And it’s happening very soon.

Assassin’s Creed Crossover Stories will be available for free for owners of the respective base games on December 15; one story will be available in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and one story will be available in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. These stories explore the ties between the heroes of the two games, featuring new environments to explore as well as a rich story line. For the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla story, A Fated Encounter, players must have reached Settlement Level 4 and completed the quest “A Wise Friend,” where Eivor helps Valka establish herself in Ravensthorpe. For the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey story, Those Who Are Treasured, players will need to have completed Chapter 1 and reached Megaris to access the content, but it’s recommended that players finish the main game’s three story arcs (Family, Cult of Kosmos and Mythology) to avoid spoilers.

In addition to Assassin’s Creed Crossover Stories, Ubisoft lightly detailed the next major update in Valhalla proper. Having announced some time ago the game would gain another year’s support in the wake of the pandemic pushing new concepts and releases back, the developer-publisher confirmed the team that worked on the Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Curse of the Pharaohs DLC, Ubisoft Sofia, has been working on what it describes as “the most ambitious yet in franchise history” as far as expanded content goes, with an epic story set again in the Norse realm that offers up more than 30 hours of base gameplay.


It’s no secret the series has embraced the mythological side of its historical backdrops and periods since Origins, and Dawn of Ragnarök looks set to take this to another level. Players will once again take on the transcendent Eivor-to-Odin character who, if the trailer above is anything to go by, will be able to shapeshift into a bird, utilise new ghostly ranged abilities, break shields, defy deaths and take on powerful gods.

Set in Svartalfheim, the Dwarven kingdom of the Nine Realms, which Sofia has said is one-third the size of the map of England from the base game, players are tasked with rescuing the All Father’s son, Baldr, from the fire giants, lead by the unkillable Surtr.

The new Dawn of Ragnarök expansion is set to join the previous two major entries in both Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris as the third official major expansion, March 10, 2022. And if our maths is correct, there’s at least one more major release set to take place in Year Two amidst all the free content updates around season celebration, balances and challenges. (Though if we had our way, a Year Three would definitely also be on the cards.)

And it comes in at around 22GB worth of data, so nothing to sneeze at, and if you've played any of the seasonal festival content for Assassin's Creed Valhalla before, you'll know it packs plenty to do. Oh, and the festival in question? Why the Oskoreia Festival of course, a time when the the ghosts of the dead rise to challenge the weak among the living, and they have Ravensthorpe in their sights.

This is a free update, but a limited-time event. You'll also need at least a Level 2 Ravensthorpe and have completed either the Grantebridgescire or Ledecestrescire questlines to partake.

Here's a Ye Olde flyer explaining more about both Oskoreia Festival and Odin's Wild Hunt:

In the Oskoreia Festival, players will partake in three replayable activities—archery, horseback riding, and a new tournament against spirits. In the tournament, players will be cast into the Veil. Facing the various challenges ahead, from trained warriors to untamed beasts and monsters, players will need to unlock harder levels to put their fighting skills to the ultimate test. The archery contest returns with newly added friendly targets, that will impact players’ progress and keep them away from the highest score. In addition, during Oskoreia’s festivities, new quests will bring the players to meet the Mad Monk and resolve the mystery of a fallen warrior.

Adventure calls and those curious enough to answer will find the all-new Tombs of the Fallen. Scattered across England, these sprawling dungeons will be available from the moment players unlock their settlement, with no other prerequisites needed besides their ability to track them all down. Players will be able to traverse these forgotten tombs for free starting November 9.

Finally, on November 10, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla celebrates its first anniversary, with Special Event Challenges and exciting rewards, including the Valravn’s Claw, an elegant new one-handed sword, and an exclusive unicorn mount.

Watch a trailer highlighting all of the above, embedded below.

If you haven't done it in the previous two open-world Assassin's Creed outings -- Orgins and Odyssey, now is maybe the best time to check out the Discovery Tour add-on, especially in consideration of that ever-helpful pagan prayer: "third time's a charm".

Oh hey, it's also not a prayer and might actually be related to the number of times someone survived a hanging in Ye Olde England. But I digress.

The reason for highlighting the previous two outings was to note that given the breadth of content exhumed by the studios across both games (now all three, actually), delivery of those learnings in a meaningful and robust way, while still great from inception, has only grown in pertinence here as a result of maturity.

Anyway, here's what people way smarter than me at Ubisoft have to say about this latest Discovery Tour entry:

Following Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt and Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece’s line, Discovery Tour: Viking Age is the brand-new chapter in this educational experience based on the worlds developed for Assassin’s Creed. Players of all ages will be immersed in a unique interactive experience where they can learn about the history, traditions and famous people of the Viking and Anglo-Saxon worlds.

For the very first time, Discovery Tour: Viking Age changes the formula by putting narrative and interactivity at the core of the experience. The two new creative pillars “History through stories” and “Learning by doing” make the experience even more memorable and engaging than previous opuses. Following a new narrative storyline structured around eight quests, players will have the opportunity to embody Viking and Anglo-Saxon characters of the time and take part in their adventures set in the ninth century. This narrative takes players through the snowy lands of Norway, the beautiful landscapes of England, and the mythical realms of Jotunheim and Asgard.

“The Viking Age is a rich and complex era that we absolutely wanted to highlight in a Discovery Tour,” said Maxime Durand, World Design Director at Ubisoft Montréal. “With our new approach, players are placed at the core of a unique interactive experience where they see history in the making through the eyes of people of the time. We have designed Discovery Tour: Viking Age to be both fun as a video game and effective as a learning tool.” Discovery Tour: Viking Age content, developed in close collaboration with historians, renowned archaeologists, and academics, is an up to date source of information for all those who want to know more about the time period. With 150 historical highlights of the true history of the Viking Age, discovery sites allow player to learn more about Viking Age: War & Politics, Daily Life, Religion & Magic, Myths & Legends, Science, Law & Justice, Art & Culture and Trade & Economy.

Discovery Tour: Viking Age also treats all Assassin’s Creed Valhalla fans, with 11 exclusive rewards to unlock in the main game, 25 Behind-The-Scenes stations about the main game development, and 24 exploration characters.

Conscious that teachers and students might be unfamiliar with video games and the best way to use them in an educational context, Ubisoft developed curriculum guides that offer customised activities and lesson plans based on the field of study and the level of the students, in partnership with the Montréal McGill University and with a grant from Mitacs. The beta version for Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece curriculum guide is already available at ubisoft.com/r/discovery-tour/curriculum-guide/ancient-greece.

For global information about the Discovery Tour franchise and the two first opuses on Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, please visit http://www.assassinscreed.com/discovery_tour.

Watch a trailer for Discovery Tour: Viking Age embedded below.

I've been personally waiting for this one. The past Discovery Tour add-ons for Origins and Odyssey were amazing tools, full of creative educational wonder. And with Valhalla's England settlement period, it's not just the Vikings worthy of a page in the digital history book, but the land and time itself.

We've poured over Assassin's Creed Valhalla in many forms, so from a content perspective where new opportunities arise, this is not only an educational tool for those interested, or the young 'uns as many of us navigate home-schooling, but a tantalising option to explore new stories and tangents to tell as far as the series goes.

Here's more from Ubisoft:

Following Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt and Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece’s line, the brand-new chapter of the Assassin’s Creed educational expansion will shed light on the Viking era and allow players to discover more about the history and traditions of the time. Designed in close collaboration with historians and archaeologists, this non-violent, interactive learning experience is an engaging deep dive into the Viking Age in ninth-century Norway and England.

For this new opus in the series, the development team in Ubisoft Montreal has changed the formula to make the experience even more fun and informative. Discovery Tour: Viking Age puts the narrative and storytelling at the heart of the experience; players will step into the shoes of Viking and Anglo-Saxon characters of the time and live their big and small stories. During their memorable adventure, they will interact with the world and its inhabitants while discovering many details and anecdotes about the time period.

Since its beginnings, the Discovery Tour Team has always worked with a wide variety of partners. The immersive approach of the Discovery Tour, the knowledge of our experts and historians, and the featuring of real artefacts from our partners’ collections give rise to many collaborations and projects. The museum partners that have contributed images for Discovery Tour: Viking Age include:

• Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) is Ubisoft’s main partner for Discovery Tour: Viking Age, managing 23 museum and arts attractions across Hampshire and caring for 2.5 million objects relating to Hampshire’s rich and internationally important heritage. The Discovery Tour provides a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in and around Winchester through a selection of rare objects, including the exceptional Winchester Reliquary, the sole surviving holy relic in Britain from the time. In addition to this collaboration with the Discovery Tour: Viking Age, Ubisoft’s strategic partnership with HCT will bring history to life in spring 2022 in Winchester through a unique, immersive cultural experience, which will blend real action with video projection, storytelling and objects from the trust’s collections; the experience will be complemented by an Augmented Reality tour of Winchester in the lore of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla produced by Sugar Creative, one of the UK’s leading creative studios.
  
  
• The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It has a vast collection of items including artefacts from every age of written civilisation. A partnership with the British Library was key to Ubisoft to give players the best access to medieval manuscripts and illustrations directly linked with the Viking Age.
  
  
• The Réunion des Musées Nationaux - Grand Palais photo agency is a public industrial and commercial institution under the authority of the French Ministry of Culture. It has been officially responsible for promoting collections of France’s national museums. Each year, it captures more than 20,000 new on-site shots to further expand the agency’s collection, which is universally available online. They have been an essential partner since the very first Discovery Tour. Their vast collections have been key in supporting Ubisoft’s artefact driven approach to the Discovery Tour: Viking Age, enabling players to look at items such as the Bayeux Tapestry or the Sutton Hoo helmet.
  
  
• York Archaeological Trust operates the Jorvik Viking Centre in the UK, which has interpreted the archaeology of York's Coppergate dig for the benefit of all audiences. The Discovery Tour has allowed Ubisoft to present some of these finds in a new medium, adding authentic period detail to the immersive environment of the Discovery Tour and demonstrating the importance of the city during the Viking Age as a commercial, religious and political hub.
  
  
• The National Museum of Denmark, Nationalmuseet, consists of a network of 20 museums all over the country with a collection of unique items covering a large part of Danish history. Putting artefacts under the spotlight from the National Museum of Denmark’s collections truly added depth to the Discovery Tour, demonstrating amazing crafting skills and esthetics and a chance to see how reputation, family and social bounds are described as such vital elements.
  
  
• Preston Park Museum & Grounds is the local Museum serving the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. Preston Park Museums & Ground gave the Discovery Tour team the unique opportunity to highlight two key elements from the Viking Era; the new Anglo-Scandinavian culture that emerged from funerary art, and one of only two near-complete Viking era helmets in the world; the Yarm Helmet. Preston Park Museum has a special Viking touring exhibition arriving early 2022 in which there will be events that incorporate the Discovery Tour: Viking Age.
  

As you can maybe tell from the messaging from Ubisoft, it's looking like Discovery Tour is on the brink of expanding beyond it's Assassin's Creed roots and into numerous lands proper, as its own thing. This is further evidenced by the fact Discovery Tour: Viking Age will be a standalone release coming to PC, Stadia, Luna, PS5 and PS$, Xbox One and Xbos Series X|S early next year for around $30.

If you own Valhalla though, this new addition is entirely free and arrives on your platform of choice this October 19.

Sometime Wednesday (AU) Assassin's Creed Valhalla will update with a much-requested feature in tow -- level scaling. This update will introduce five settings to choose from that will tailor the difficulty level of your experience moving forward, and is something of a precursor to bigger things coming soon.

That being the Siege of Paris DLC, which will have new skills and so a potentially raised power ranking, will only benefit from the new system that offers the option of having off, right through to Nightmare, as per a share from the official Twitter account:

Level Scaling is coming to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on Tuesday, July 27! 📈 You may choose from 5 options, from 'off' to Nightmarish. 💀 pic.twitter.com/pGz2oTjZZY

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) July 23, 2021

Whether or not any other changes come as part of the update, given a Hotfix was recently dropped, remains to be seen. But the community is still vocally active, and with news of at least another full year's support from Ubisoft for the game, don't be surprised if there's more to the update than just the addition of level scaling.

We'll hopefully have more on the Siege of Paris in the lead up to its official release, so stay tuned.

And on my Xbox Series X copy of the game, it comes in at a whopping 70+GB -- the size of three decent games. So hopefully there's more than just an upped challenge with what's on offer in this free update for all. But if you fancy yourself a bit of a Valhalla Eivor expert, this is definitely for you.

In a letter from the Ubisoft King in the as yet unreachable province of Montreal, just west of Vinland, we've been greeted with the following challenges:

Narrative Quest
Amidst a meteorite crashing to earth, a mysterious new settler has appeared in Ravensthorpe. Hildiran is skilled in the art of battle meditation, a secret form of training, and is willing to initiate Eivor. To begin training, meet with Hildiran in your settlement, then set out to find newly erected shrines scattered across England.

Important Note: To access Mastery Challenge you must be at least Power Level 221 and have completed the Uninvited Guests main quest after reporting on Grantebridgescire and Ledecestrescire.

Trials
Take a deep breath, relax, and lose yourself in the Challenge. Eivor will meditate at unfamiliar shrines to enter the realm of Hugrheim. Three types of trials are presented: Trial of the Bear tests your combat, Trial of the Wolf your aim, and Trial of the Raven your stealth. The Hugrheim realm provides pre-set gear and abilities, fit for each playstyle and situation. This leaves more time to exercise your skills and earn rewards, but worry not! Your original loadout will revert upon exiting Mastery Challenge.

Scoring
It wouldn’t be a challenge if you didn’t break a sweat! Each Trial comes with its own objective for Eivor to complete. Accomplish the objective to gain points and receive a medal based on your score. As you progress, these medals will unlock new shrines across the map. Though the medals will physically remain in Hugrheim, they will always be at home in your heart. Keep watch on the different actions that will affect your total points. Not quite happy with your score? All trials are replayable at any given time, so practice as much as you want to fully ace the challenge.

Rewards
Sometimes completing the task at hand is rewarding enough, but there’s more to win with Mastery Challenge! In addition to Eivor’s hard-earned medals you’ll also receive Energies. Journey back to Ravensthorpe, where Energies can be exchanged for rewards at Hildiran’s Wares. New and unique weapons, tattoos, and decorations have been stocked to add to your growing collection.

Ubisoft Connect
To celebrate the release of Mastery Challenge, a Special Event Challenge will be available through Ubisoft Connect from June 16 to June 22. Complete godly tests to unveil the truth…and finally get the most mysterious weapon in game: Skadi’s Blade! May Odin be with you!

We're not sure what that last directive is, vikingr. Best to ask the recruiter about that one.

Check out some new screens for the free Master Challenge update below.

Originally slated for release towards the end of April, the first major expansion for Assassin's Creed Valhalla that isn't related to holidays, Wrath of the Druids, has been pushed back to May, Ubisoft has revealed.

This comes off the back of a new information surrounding the forthcoming content ahead of any official asset drops, though it's unlikely the two are linked as the delay is only two weeks, with the original delivery date of April 29 being replaced with May 13. Lucky for some. Here's the official Tweet (still feels weird combining those words):

To deliver a more refined experience, we’re sharing that:

⛰️Wrath of the Druids will now release on May 13
📝We’re working on an article to provide transparency and share insights on our dev process

Thanks for your patience. Keep an eye on our social channels for future news! pic.twitter.com/aQUPR8cWNV

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) April 14, 2021

While we were definitely keen on getting our berserker paws on this, having delved deep and far into the game and its myriad parts since release, we've now come to respect delays of this nature if it's for the betterment of the game and final product.

Wrath of the Druid will include Ireland as part of its narrative and exploratory structure, and will explore the marriage of both Norse and Celtic cultures. Stay tuned for more as it becomes available.

Which is to say overnight Ubisoft snuck in the latest update for our Game of the Year for 2020, Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The new update adds a new mode: River Raids which itself is a side-mode of sorts that doesn't impact your main narrative progress, but still rewards you with things to play with, be it a new building for your Settlement, a new upgradable Longship for your new river raids, weapons, Books of Knowledge and more.

Here's Ubi's official note on the upgrade we found stuck to a pylon with a dagger:

The River Raids is a permanent addition to the game and a new replayable mode enriching the raiding experience in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The mode contains:

• Higher-stakes raids, with unique maps and rewards, in which the player can raid without impacting their main game progression and alliances in England. Unlike the original raiding feature, the raiding crew can be temporarily lost if players don’t revive them during the raid.
  
• A Jomsviking Crew: Recruited Jomsvikings (created by other players online) are led by the player’s personal Jomsviking Lieutenant.
  
• A New Longship: An all-new fully customizable longship exclusive to the game mode – whose cargo hold can be upgraded to bring more resources back from River Raids.

The new Jomsviking Hall has three levels to upgrade in Season 1, with the higher the Hall’s level the higher the ranked Jomsvikings it will attract for the player to recruit. Jomsviking also now have ranks, with the higher ranked Jomsvikings having greater survivability in River Raids.

After players complete one of the first narrative arcs in England, either Grantebridgescire or Ledecestrescire, build their Barracks and recruit their Jomsviking Lieutenant, they will encounter a new NPC named Vagn and his crew of Jomsviking raiders, who will introduce them to the River Raids game mode. The mode introduces three new river maps set around the coastline of England full of locations to raid and treasure to loot.

Finally, the update brings additional abilities and rewards:

• The Saint George Armor set and Great Sword
  
• 3 new Abilities, hidden in monasteries
  
• 2 new Settlement Buildings
  
• A new set of longship and player cosmetics

The River Raids game mode update, a part of Season 1, is the latest addition as part of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla post-launch experience, with a variety of new free content for all players focused on gameplay and world evolution coming throughout 2021.

Season 2, named Ostara, will start in March 2021 with a first update bringing a festival in the Settlement, a new game mode that builds on Valhalla’s core combat experiences, new gear and cosmetic items. More information about Wrath of the Druids, the first expansion of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releasing in Spring 2021, will come at a later time.

Available for free now, watch a trailer for the new update embedded below.

---

And that update is centred around a Yuletide celebration, meaning obviously Xmas in Raventhorpe. And never mind that your Settlement is the only place in all of southern England where snow falls. People in the Blue Mountains know the same feels.

During a wedding I got the notification my Settlement had changed for the end of the year, so I had two celebrations this morning.

The centrepiece of all of these is drinking. It's one of the main reasons the game has an R18+ rating here in Australia, but it's also how I intend to spend most of my personal Yuletide, so very fitting. Here's the official toast:

Seasons are coming to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to extend the post-launch experience throughout 2021, delivering a variety of new free content for all players focused on gameplay and world evolution, with updates coming in at different points during the Season.

The first Seasonal content of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the Yule Season, invites players to discover the Yule Festival, an in-game event active until January 7 in a dedicated area of the settlement. During the Yuletide celebration, players can join in the festivities with a new Drinking game, an Archery mini-game, a Fist Fight tournament, and two new character quests available in the settlement. In addition, players can earn exclusive rewards including a new gear set, settlement decorations, and more.

To experience the Yule Festival, players must reach England and complete one of the first narrative arcs, either Grantebridgescire or Ledecestrescire. The festival will then be triggered automatically when players visit the settlement.

The real-life Ravensthorpe (population 498*) is also celebrating the in-game Season 1 launch, with the Lord of the Manor, Charlie Reeve, declaring a week-long Valhalliday. From now until December 24, the local Chequers Pub & Village Shop, the village hub, will offer an Assassin's Creed Valhalla-themed takeway menu to patrons. Finally, a donation of $5,000 from Ubisoft will go towards supporting Ravensthorpe’s playground project, as well as other community projects.

A second update will add more content for the Yule Season in February:

• River Raids: a new game mode building on the core raiding mechanic will be introduced, delivering a dynamic, challenging, and highly replayable raid experience. As the River Raids rely heavily on the Jomsviking recruits, players can hire Jomsviking from their friends online to take on an entire crew. The River Raids game mode features raids with higher stakes and different difficulty levels.
  
  
• Ranks for Jomsviking: In the Yule Season, an update to the Jomsviking feature will allow players’ Jomsviking to earn XP and rank up – the higher the rank, the more silver players can earn when their Jomsviking are recruited by other players.
  
  
• Additional new abilities and rewards.

With development led by Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla offers players the captivating experience of playing as Eivor, a legendary Viking warrior, driven from Norway by endless wars and dwindling resources in ninth century AD. Players can relive the ruthless fighting style of Viking warriors with a revamped dual-wielding combat system and experience new gameplay features such as raids, assaults, and the settlement, as well as a revamped progression and gear upgrade system. Political alliances, combat decisions and dialogue choices can influence the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, so players must choose wisely to protect their clan’s home and their future.

In case you missed our review, it's here, but additionally we've also explored in-depth the game's World Stories here.

Check out a few screens we took ourselves from the Xbox Series X version of the game.

We've now spent some time in Valhalla (and Norway, England and Canada), and have found the sagas (or stories) entrenched within each region more compelling maybe than the base game. Here's why...

Here's a small saga for your peepers only:

“This world is hard, and the gods care not,” exclaims a troubled Eivor after trying to help some kids in the harsh north of the Isles. Their dad needed to find a lost treasure to keep his kids warm, you see. Eurviscre is no place to put bare feet up in recline, lest it be by a warm hearth. Still, they came first and he dove into cold, ruin-laden depths for their future. And in his efforts, drowned, leaving them now orphans.

They cry upon learning this information.

I couldn’t bring myself to LIE, though that is an option. And while ascending the dilapidated tower to move on, and maybe nab a Large Brown Trout or two from the lake that surrounds Olikana Tower -- the very lake that claimed the life of the father of these kids -- they keep wailing in the background. And no amount of Blue Bird or wind-shimmering visual perfection against the most orange sun and forever horizon you’ve ever seen will silence that sound.

Such is the World Events world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Click her for our full Assassin's Creed Valhalla stories Saga.

At launch Assassin's Creed Valhalla (our full review here) on Xbox Series X and PS5 offered a single mode, a crisp and smooth (up-to) 4K 60fps presentation. On most TVs out there though, it wasn't without issues. Screen-tearing was prevalent, on the account of it being tuned to the few VRR displays out there. And we say 'was' because the new 1.0.4 update deals with the screen-tearing and adds a new Quality Mode.

One which "enables the game to run maximum resolution and graphic settings while maintaining 30 FPS". Though after experiencing Valhalla at 60fps, we're not sure if it's something we'd want to switch to. That said, it's good to see the option there for those that prioritise visuals over performance. The default mode remains Performance -- except on Xbox Series S which will use Quality.

But, as the first big post-launch patch for the game there are a tonne of bug fixes and changes too, including some welcome improvements to stealth.

Guards who clearly saw Eivor shoot their ally will now turn hostile.
Guards will now hear the impact of dead bodies dropping to the ground.
Improved guard reactions to whistling.
Improved disguise behavior in distrust zones.
Players will now be able to air-assassinate sleeping NPCs

Head here for the full Patch Notes

It's great to Ubisoft address the whole V-Sync issue. Sreen-tearing occurs when refresh rates and display timings aren't locked between each frame so you get a brief mashup of two. Screen-tearing isn't entirely about frame-rate dips either -- even something locked to 60fps can still tear. For VRR displays that use technology like G-Sync or FreeSync, it's a smooth and automated process that adjusts according to the signal. This is why the issue wouldn't be seen when playing Assassin's Creed on the latest LG OLED or Samsung QLED. V-Sync is important and no doubt will become a key component of next-gen 60fps titles moving forward as most 4K TVs sold today do not feature VRR as standard.

Available now alongside the launch of the Xbox Series X, Assassin's Creed Valhalla presents a true next-gen leap in terms of visual quality and performance. From stunning environments to immersive Nordic landscapes we've captured the opening hour to showcase its crisp 4K 60fps visuals and gameplay.

The game is brilliant too, as per our full review.

For a game that centres itself around the idea of settlements, negotiation, alignment and choice, Valhalla does an amazing job of making you feel like the spotlight is always on you. It redirects misconception around viking culture and remains an Assassin’s Creed game, though perhaps the lesser of all before it, for the betterment of the franchise. Game of Thrones’ Magnus Bruun is a shoe-in for best voice actor in a videogame this year but, more importantly, Valhalla is a game that will drag you along the Bifröst bridge and into the vision of Fenrir. How you handle all of this is up to you, but to boldly state in the positive, this is as anti Assassin’s Creed as we’ve yet played, and we love it all the more for it.

And here's the footage.



Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now for PS4, PS5 (tomorrow), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

We had some tech issues, probs Thor's Mjolnir just interrupting frequency, but here's our in-depth Assassin's Creed Valhalla review. More than 50 hours in and not tired yet, this is shaping up to be the game that maybe forever gives, here and into Asgard.

Here's a snippet:

In Assassin’s Creed games past, exploration is, for lack of a better word, “forced”. Less so with the past two, but even still, they both featured a structured layer-upon-layer concept of discovery. Valhalla is an open book. Your Saga, to remain repetitious. What this means is World Events and discovery or noseying about POIs is par for the course. AI remains not so great, to be honest. You can dispatch enemies who might have had brekky together and one won’t know the other is gone unless his vision cone detects it. Or you alert him or her. It’s better, but it can be even better.

That said, enemy camps and AI do not make the open-world, and Ubi has been solid in its delivery of what is arguably their greatest feat to-date. I loved Egypt, Kosta loved Greece, but there’s something about the juxtaposition of the fish-out-of-water tale here; based entirely on how it all likely played out back in the day. You’re loved, or hated. Until you do that lovely thing, then the ‘Heathen Dane’ handle leaves you, while the Vikingr handle remains when you dispatch occupying forces or simply swing an axe in defence, or defiance.

Click here for our Assassin's Creed Valhalla review.

Funny story. Eons ago I asked a Call of Duty dev "why don't you release DLC that's story-based?". That was met with a firm no with the explanation being that the development costs around that versus interest in single-player post-release content meant it simply wasn't on their radar. Fast-forward to now, and as we've seen initially with Origins, but with Odyssey, Ubisoft has proven there's more than enough value in seasonal content, especially in open-world games. And now Valhalla is following suit.

Here's the official sagas vocal:

Today, Ubisoft announced the Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla post-launch plan, including a Season Pass with two major expansions of narratively driven gameplay and an exclusive quest. Additionally, all Assassin’s Creed Valhalla players will have access to free seasonal content including in-game events and festivals, new settlement buildings, services and games modes. Ubisoft also announced that Discovery Tour, the educational tool that lets anyone explore the game in a conflict-free environment, will be available for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in 2021.

With the Season Pass, players will discover new territories and stories through two major expansions and an exclusive quest. Once available, expansions will be accessible early from within the structure of the main game, providing a meaningful story that adds to Valhalla’s rich open world. In addition, all players will enjoy new free content through Seasons, with each Season lasting three months – Season 1 will launch in December 2020, extending the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla experience post-launch.

The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Season Pass is included in the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gold, Ultimate and Collector Editions and is available for purchase separately for $59.95 AUD. The Season Pass includes:

• The Legend of Beowulf quest: In this exclusive quest, players will uncover the monstrous truth behind the legend of Beowulf, available on the launch day of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
  
  
• Expansion 1 - Wrath of the Druids: In this new adventure, players will journey to Ireland and unravel the mysteries of an ancient and mysterious druidic cult, tracking and discovering their members. Diving into Gaelic myths and folklores, they’ll need to fight their way through haunted forests and dazzling landscapes while gaining influence among Gaelic kings.
  
  
• Expansion 2 - The Siege of Paris: In The Siege of Paris, players will have the chance to relive the most ambitious battle in Viking History with key historical figures of war-torn Frankia. During this key moment in history, players will infiltrate the fortified city of Paris and the River Seine under a prolonged siege, uncover enemy secrets, and form strategic alliances to safeguard their clan’s future.

In addition, all players will have access to an extensive line-up of free seasonal content including new narrative content and in-game events available after launch. Each season will last three months and will come with exciting content, accessible to all player types and levels of progression, focused on gameplay and world evolution.

Season 1 will launch in December 2020 with the following content planned:

• 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 will be 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.

Season 2 will launch in March 2021 with a new game mode that builds on Valhalla’s core combat experiences, a new Jomsviking update, festivals in the Settlement, new gear and cosmetic items, and more. More information about Season 3 and 4 will be come at a later time.

There will be more to come as the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla development team is committed to support the game and continued improvement of the core experience with additional content, yet to be revealed.

There's a lot to unpack there. But what all of this means is your life as a viking settler, raider, political manipulator and, of course, as an assassin, is going to be a journey worthy of its own songs and grand tales; a saga for the ages.

Watch a trailer highlighting all of the above, embedded below.

It's not. We're obviously talking about Assassin's Creed Valhalla, but what we want you to know is the Settlement side of the game -- where you build up your hub, community... comms (for lack of a more ninth-century-centric or apt word) -- is an incredible addition to the game. Here's why...

From our not so axe-heavy preview:

I’ve thrown two axes at once in the face of enemies in the game now. Videogame satisfying, yes, but more satisfying was upgrading all the parts of Ravensthorpe I could and seeing the real-time response to that character-to-character, and visually. This might read laboured, but that’s a little bit the point: this isn’t simply one of those games or gamified ideas you can buy your way through; it’s a labour of love. Which full-circles one of the key tenets Ubisoft itself has been labouring over in the description and direction of the game -- sure, Berserkers may or may not have existed, but they are the boogey man of tales surrounding the many clans. But no one ever talks about the explorers, farmers, party-goers or diplomats that also made up viking culture in fantastical fiction.

Click here for our full hands-on.

With the latest, and lengthy, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla video providing a closer look at some of the stunning old-timey England environments found within, in addition to the brutal combat and settlement building. Plus, a very Skyrim-like skill-tree and perk system. And the ability to sick your pet wolf onto enemies for a little throat rip action. Which, is all we needed to know really.

And confirmation that you can wield Excalibur. Check it out.



Alongside the impressive look at the latest Creed Ubisoft has also revealed the PC specs broken down into resolution, frame-rate, and detail settings. Interestingly there's no 4K 60 on Ultra option - but, as the series has done so in the past Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will ship with a benchmark tool so you can see just how well your rig handles all those fur-laden jackets, face paint, and braided beards.

Ubisoft has partnered with AMD for this release so no doubt it will run great on a Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU. On that front Ubisoft notes that several CPU optimisations were made this time around.

It's quite the hardware breakdown.

Minimum Configuration - Low preset 1080p 30 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 3 1200 - 3.1 Ghz / i5-4460 - 3.2 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD R9 380 - 4GB / GeForce GTX 960 4GB
Storage: 50 GB HDD (SSD Recommended)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

Recommended Configuration - High preset 1080p 30 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 5 1600 - 3.2 Ghz / i7-4790 - 3.6 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD RX 570 - 8GB / GeForce GTX 1060 - 6GB
Storage: SSD (50 GB)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

Recommended Configuration - High preset 1080p 60 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 7 1700 - 3.0 Ghz / i7-6700 – 3.4 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD Vega 64 - 8GB / GeForce GTX 1080- 8GB
Storage: SSD (50 GB)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

2K Configuration - Very High preset 1440p 30 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 7 2700X - 3.7 Ghz / i7 - 7700 – 3.6 Ghz
RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD Vega 56 - 8GB / GeForce GTX 1070 - 8GB
Storage: SSD (50 GB)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

2K Configuration - Very High preset 1440p 60 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 5 3600X - 3.8 Ghz / i7 – 8700K – 3.7 Ghz
RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD RX 5700XT – 8GB / GeForce RTX 2080 S – 8GB
Storage: SSD (50 GB)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

4K Configuration – Ultra High preset 2160p (4K) 30 FPS

Processor (AMD / INTEL): Ryzen 7 3700X - 3.6 Ghz / i7 - 9700K – 3.6 Ghz
RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel mode)
Video Card: AMD RX 5700XT – 8GB / GeForce RTX 2080 - 8GB
Storage: SSD (50 GB)
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
Additional note: Requires GPU with DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) support

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out November 10 for PC, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and PS4. Stay tuned as we have our own deep dive into the game based on a recent hands-on session going up soon.

And when we think of Assassin's Creed, it's sort of the story that comes before combat, parkour or the new action-RPG open-world directive. Because story in the AC series is, frankly, pretty damn awesome. And so today Ubisoft has dropped the Assassin's Creed Valhalla story trailer, and it's a doozy.

Here's a quick summary of the forthcoming Saga:

he story trailer offers players a new glimpse of Eivor, a fierce Viking raider torn between their duty to their brother Sigurd and a personal quest for glory. Driven from Norway by endless wars and dwindling resources, Eivor’s clan must secure a future among the kingdoms of England. During their journey, Eivor will come across the Hidden Ones, and face powerful figures including Saxon kings and the warmongering sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, as well as a mysterious, growing threat that could determine England’s destiny”.

In addition, Ubisoft announced Echoes of Valhalla, a podcast documentary series starting today that unveils the historical background of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. In Echoes of Valhalla, Vikings tell their very own story to give a new voice to the warriors who have travelled and shaped the world. To discover more about the podcast series Echoes of Valhalla, please visit: this Spotify link.

With development led by Ubisoft Montreal (and support studios - Ed.), Assassin’s Creed Valhalla offers players the captivating experience of playing as Eivor, a legendary Viking raider, in a beautiful and mysterious open world set against the brutal backdrop of England’s Dark Ages. Players can take advantage of new features, including raids, weapon dual-wielding, and settlement building.

Read our most recent hands-on with Valhalla and watch the story trailer embedded below. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is out on November 10.

With the original release date for the next installment in the Assassin's Creed series brought forward to November 10, 2020. Which puts its release day and date and in line with the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla will also debut on current-gen consoles too, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions also arriving November 10. This brings the date forward a week from the previous November 17 date.

“We are excited to announce that players will be able to discover Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sooner than expected! We cannot wait to see the world we’ve been creating over the past three years coming to life on all platforms, including on the next generation of consoles with the Xbox Series X | S on November 10.” said Julien Laferrière, Producer on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

As per Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will run at 60-fps in 4K on the Xbox Series X. Ubisoft also notes that Assassin's Creed Valhalla will arrive on PlayStation 5 "upon the launch of the console", meaning that it will be a launch title across both next-gen platforms.