One of the things I’ve always wanted the Assassin’s Creed series to do, was to veer more into the mystical and mythical side of its storytelling. More precisely, how the Isu actually fit into defining the myths that have helped to shape humanity. Sure Desmond’s story in the original trilogy gave us the whole Adam and Eve beginning, but I wanted more from the series than vague hints or psychic shenanigans.
With Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Ubisoft began tackling the rich mythology of our world to varying degrees of success. The main campaign tackled Egyptian mythology in what amounted to vision quests before finally going full blown myth with the expansions and plunging us into the Egyptian afterlife in a fantastic DLC campaign.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey tackled Greek myth within the campaign by turning Greek monsters into Isu experiments before following Origins and presenting us with a lengthy DLC campaign taking us through the Greek afterlife. While the DLC had some of the most gorgeous vistas and stunning visuals that Ubisoft had designed so far, the gameplay left a lot to be desired.
Of course, far be it from Ubisoft to break the streak just then, with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla bringing Norse mythology into the series.
Set just before a certain section of the main games endgame, Dawn of Ragnarok chucks you into the shoes of none other than Odin himself. Set in the realm of Svartaflheim, Dawn of Ragnarok starts with Muspelheim invading the dwarven home. It’s up to Odin to smash some skulls, deal with Surtr and hopefully find Baldr in the process.
Developed by Ubisoft Sofia, Dawn of Ragnarok is more than just an add-on. Designed to be endgame content, though you can drop into it without having finished the main campaign, the expansion is meant to last between 30 – 40 hours, making this a sizable chunk of DLC to go along with Valhalla’s already substantial campaign. If the value of your entertainment is defined by length, then by god are you getting your money’s worth!
One thing must be noted, despite the playtime, this isn’t a standalone title. You’re still going to need a copy of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla to play it.
Taking on the role of Odin, whose gender you can choose, you’ll need to wield godly powers in your fight to find Baldr and accept Odin’s fate in the story of Ragnarok.
It looks like Ubisoft Sofia have created a gorgeous version of one of the nine realms with Ragnarok. The visuals truly give a sense of epic scale to the world, coming across as a cross between LoTR and God of War in design. Of course, it will still be all open world for you to charge across as you please.
Once you’ve taken on the role of Odin, it’s the new set of abilities that you will be given that really looks to change up Valhalla’s gameplay. While we can probably expect the story and questing to continue as they have been through the series since Origins rework of the game design, it’s the combat and world traversal that the new abilities seeks to change up.
It seems that Odin will be able to use defeated enemies abilities in combat by literally tearing their souls away with a fancy new gauntlet and gifting you their abilities.
The Power of Muspelheim lets you become immune to lava and fire. As an added bonus, it will allow you to cloak yourself as a Muspel, which should make disappearing from combat and roaming around without someone trying to conk your head in easier.
Furthermore, you’ll be able to resurrect defeated enemies to fight alongside you, which will be a big help when you’re storming enemy fortresses on your own. What I’m most interested in, is Odin’s ability to transform into a Raven. This will help you to traverse the environment faster and should really help when tackling the vertical heights the series is known for. You can also use this power to let you drop down into battle for stealth attacks, bringing some interesting death from above moments to the game.
These abilities will be on a timer though but you can increase the length during use by killing enemies or harvesting certain plants.
Of course, a new area also means new legendary gear and weapons based on Norse Mythology that can be upgraded by dwarves at base points discovered throughout the world. And if you’re feeling like there isn’t enough to do already, what with the world exploration and various mythical beast to confront, there’s a Valkyrie Arena with modifiers you can engage to take on waves of enemies.
Will Dawn of Ragnarok be the Viking epic you want? Find out on March 10th, 2022 when Dawn of Ragnarok launches and plunges you into Odin’s shoes.
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