Dawn of Ragnarok is the newest expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but did UbiSoft slack off, tread water or score a home run with this final leg? Keep reading to find out.
Dawn of Ragnarok Overview
AC: Valhalla has several dreamworlds that help cement the franchise’s shift to historical fantasy. Dawn of Ragnarok has you taking to Svartalfheim as Odin finally shows up to deal with the Muspels for having kidnapped Baldr. This is an expansion that continues the mythological exploration provided by Asgard and Jotunheim in previous excursions. To be clear, this expansion has you playing as Odin for large portions and with a completely different cluster of systems, gear and abilities to sell that sort of power. This is the perfect elevation from the powers you enjoy in Valhalla’s endgame.
This expansion is intended for endgame users and it should not be started until the player has gotten the hang of Valhalla and finished its main quest. However, if you must, it does offer a recap of the Asgard and Jotunheim storylines and will even level you up to survivability if desired.
Dawn of Ragnarok DLC Gameplay
For the most part, this is a stand-alone game where Odin hunts for Baldr. Sadly, Baldr is just a macguffin with little to sell the Odin-Baldr bond outside of exposition and text. The bulk of your time is spent dealing with dwarves, Jotuns and Muspels. As you play Odin and tend to dwarven refugees, you get a real sense of his character in service to his two goals: stop Ragnarok and find Baldr.
You get some time with Eivor in Britain, where she is re-experiencing Odin’s memories through magic. Fortunately, you can jump back and forth between Eivor and Odin’s campaigns. If nothing else, coming back to Odin after playing as Eivor is a sobering reminder of Odin’s greater power if only because of his “Hugr-rip,” a trinket allowing you to play with fire, rebirth, teleportation and flight. The Hugr-rip requires fuel from a meter and refilling the meter requires combat, hunting or certain flowers.
There are several fiery monoliths you can fly up to that yield enemies and useful upgrade items but you can also get punted off them, falling a good half-minute before impact. This happened to me and I was thankful for the new “Divine” gear that negates fall damage.
The Verdict on Dawn of Ragnarok
While the main campaign is a solid 15 hours, there is plenty to add even more hours like rescues, defeating alphas and certain world events. Diehard fans of the franchise will be pleased to know that this expansion has some new Isu lore.
- Now for the drawbacks and oddities.
- Raiding is back, albeit with Eivor’s old crew for some reason.
- There’s a new gear arena that tries to spice up grinding with modifiers.
- The ending is more “thud” than proper closure.
Overall, this is an alright expansion with plenty of Norse mythology to soak in. When taken as a whole and as an extension of Valhalla’s storyline, this is hardly a regrettable purchase.
