With Assassin's Creed Valhalla's next big expansion on the horizon, many fans of the series are excited to explore more of the Norse mythology elements featured in the base game. Assassin's Creed Valhalla has already had two major expansions with Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris, as well as seasonal content like Oskoreia Festival, which offers players new content and aesthetic elements. Labeled by Ubisoft as the most ambitious expansion in the history of the franchise, Dawn of Ragnarok has caused a lot of excited anticipation in fans of the series.
From what has been released so far, ahead of Dawn of Ragnarok's release in March 2022, players have noticed some similarities to another popular major expansion for a different franchise altogether. The final DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Blood and Wine, was considered a fittingly impressive end to an equally impressive game, and was a big boost for the series. Although Dawn of Ragnarok is still yet to be released, there are already some points where the Assassin's Creed expansion and The Witcher DLC can be compared.
Everything Known About Dawn Of Ragnarok
Although Assassin's Creed Valhalla featured some more mythological elements alongside the Viking storylines based on actual historical events, Dawn of Ragnarok will explore Norse myths and legends in more detail. Eivor, the protagonist of the base game, will embrace their alternative identity as a reincarnated Odin — a widely revered god of wisdom, healing, death, and war in Norse traditions. Father of Heimdall, Baldr, and Thor, Dawn of Ragnarok will focus on Odin/Havi's quest to save their son Baldr after he is taken prisoner.
Set in a chaotic world embarking on a devastating war that in real-life Norse mythology signaled the end of the world, Dawn of Ragnarok is looking to provide a thrilling storyline. With the Jotnar frost giants (as seen in the base game) and the Muspels (fire giants from the incendiary world of Muspelheim), the scene is set for an epic battle. The location for such savagery is the dwarven realm of Svartalfheim, which will bring Assassin's Creed Valhalla's players hours of new exploration.
Along with a new location, characters, and items for gamers to utilize, there will be a range of additional abilities and powers for players to help them approach combat in new ways. These are reported to include the ability to turn temporarily invisible, brand new ice powers to combat the fiery foes, and the capacity to bring back fallen allies with resuscitation. Dawn of Ragnarok will also supposedly grant players the ability to fly like a crow — a suitable power for Odin, who famously had two crows named Huginn and Muninn who he sent out into the world each day to return with news of all they had seen.
After both Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris were criticized for not linking strongly enough to the original narrative established in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players are hoping that Ubisoft will use this DLC to further the story of the base game. Although the mythological elements in Assassin's Creed Valhalla are by no means the exclusive focus of the story, they do represent key parts of Eivor's character along with other main figures in the narrative. Players will no doubt enjoy exploring these elements in more detail, with a combination of the more fantastical aspects with realistic Viking history.
How It Compares To Blood And Wine
One of the easiest points of comparison between Blood and Wine and Dawn of Ragnarok is their ambitious lengths. Both expansions offer players around 30 hours of gameplay, on top of a base game that was far from short. Despite Dawn of Ragnarok's map being significantly smaller than Assassin's Creed Valhalla's England, there are apparently still 35 hours worth of content for players to enjoy — no doubt an indication that there will be a large focus on storytelling as well as exploration. Blood and Wine also featured up to 30 hours of adventures in a new land, signaling both expansions' ambitions to add substantially to the content of their base games.
In addition to their hefty sizes, both expansions offer brand new regions, characters, and antagonists for gamers to tackle. While still maintaining the spirit of their base games and featuring the established protagonists, both Blood and Wine and Dawn of Ragnarok give players the chance to see a different side to the characters they've come to know and love as the storytelling and settings take them on a unique and fresh journey compared to The Witcher 3 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Blood and Wine presented a lighter side to the titular Geralt and his environment as he explored the sun-drenched rolling hills and vibrant vineyards of Toussaint. It convincingly separates the events of the main game from the expansion, and allows players and Geralt to both indulge in a little wining and dining. The expansion showed that the gruff witcher doesn't have to be so fatalistic and grumpy all of the time. The beautiful landscape — inspired by the South of France — provides a contrast to the scenery of The Witcher 3 while still feeling as if it's part of the same universe.
In a similar way, Dawn of Ragnarok seems to be presenting players with something very different from the base game. Although Wrath of the Druids and Siege of Paris gave gamers new locations, characters, and storylines, they felt like familiar iterations of what players had already experienced in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. But with Dawn of Ragnarok, it seems like the developers are shaking things up, and taking a leaf out of Blood and Wine's book.
With a focus on Odin/Havi, Dawn of Ragnarok is bringing players into a new world and expanding on aspects of the base game. Hopefully, it will feel as new and innovative as Blood and Wine did when it was released in 2016 and will give players just as juicy a story to devour through the eyes of a beloved character.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.