Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids DLC Review
The Assassin’s Creed is a story that mixes Irish history with Norse mythology. In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the story takes place in 9th century Norway where the male and female playable characters Eivor set out with their clan to settle in England in an effort to expand across Europe. The game just released its first DLC and there are a few features that players should hear about before they decide whether it’s worth playing.
The DLC is accessible to players that have completed at least one Arc in the main story and have reached at least one power level above 55. The DLC also includes roughly 15 hours worth of gameplay for the player which is a total of over 100 hours for the entire game.
The Wrath of the Druids DLC gives a more brief explanation of what took place in the main story arcs. After being invited to the Emerald Isle by an Irish king — who happens to be Eivor’s cousin — Eivor is tasked with changing the course of history for Ireland who’s preparing to crown a new King. So, instead of duking it out against England in an attempt to avoid rising catastrophe as a result of the strengthening of the earth’s magnetic field, a new map of Ireland is added to the game and features tons of space filled with wildlife, missions, and new DLC content for the players’ consumption.
While most of the scenery in this new map is relatively similar to the main map in England, players will notice the land is greener as opposed to the doom and gloom environment that the map usually is. With the map being smaller, there is also more variety with the kind of sites, landscapes, and nature that the player will find, most of which are in line with landmarks found in 9th century Ireland. What’s even more breathtaking is the ability to switch to Raven mode and take in the environment as well as plan a strategy of attack after surveying your surroundings.
Missions and activities remain the same in terms of delivering new playable content with the main addition being trading and royal demands. The main goal of trading is to capture enemy trading posts — by brute force — to obtain resources to trade across the world for weapons, armor, and customization cosmetics. Royal Demands, on the other hand, are missions that are essential for story completion and are fairly simple to complete as most only require the player to assassinate a target or raid an enemy camp. Royal demands are similar to an older feature in the Assassin’s Creed games where the player is given side quests to complete that help progress the story’s plot to unite the kingdom. This is good for getting extra gameplay time out of the game and challenges the player in a way the older games didn’t being that this time there are no checkpoints.
The DLC also features a plethora of new weapons, armor sets, and a new weapon type being a sickle. Player’s of older Assassin’s Creed games will recognize this new weapon type, which has lots of different combos and animations which make fighting with it a pleasure for its users and a nightmare for its opponents. There are also new abilities that can be used in combat such as the smoke bomb, Irish wolfhound, and the headbutt, which can all be unlocked fairly easily by playing through the game.
A DLC with new ways to kill enemies, however, wouldn’t be complete without new enemies themselves. As the player progresses in the DLC the druids — blindfolded werewolves who are made to be stronger than any of the other opponents the player has faced — will begin to challenge the player as they attempt to tear apart the protagonist in groups. Other enemies the players will commonly find are animals and humans who can shapeshift into mythical creatures, such as reindeer which are once again inspired by Norse mythology.
All in all, the update that Ubisoft has put out for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is unique to the game’s story, however, if players are expecting to see a story that ties into the story of the Assassin’s — or hidden ones — like the previous games expanded upon, then they will be disappointed. Though players who enjoyed the main story in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or need more clarity on the story as a whole will enjoy this update. What it offers to its players is a brief sum of what the story in the main story arc — which takes place years after the events that happened in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — has to offer, this time in a different location with a different motive for Eivor and the Vikings.
Works Cited
Blakwoodz. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of The Druids REVIEW!” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uo4Sjet1Ek&t=567s, published on: 12 May 2021
BPRGaming, “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla STORYLINE EXPLAINED! Setting, Villain and MUCH MORE!” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DR76feHelg, puclished1 May 2020
IGN. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids DLC Review,” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmn3A_6ijjU, 12 May 2021
Jayvee. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wrath of the Druids DLC is Short and Sweet! (Review),” Youtube, published on: 13 May 2021
TheStickz6. “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — LORE YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE PLAYING! — Understand the Story so Far,” Youtube, published on: 4 Nov 2020
