Assassin's Creed Valhalla players no longer have to wait for the highly anticipated River Raids update, as it is available now for everyone. Alongside the release of this update, Ubisoft has published a video detailing some of the new features and mechanics fans can expect to find along with it. This will be a good way to get acquainted with the update for those that can't hop on and play right this minute or those that don't yet own the game. As an overview, it is safe to say that Ubisoft is going all out on post launch support for this Assassin's Creed game.
The River Raids update was announced as one of the first major content drops for Assassin's Creed Valhalla when Ubisoft revealed the game's road map, and now it is finally here. As the name implies, this update will overhaul the raiding mechanic, adding new challenges for players to face in exchange for unique rewards.
To kick things off, Assassin's Creed Valhalla's community developer explains that the River Raids update is free to all players before going into detail about how it will expand on the existing raid mechanics. This replayable game mode will allow Eivor and their crew of Jomsvikings to explore new areas of England and obtain new loot and abilities. To start the new content, players will need to meet with a new character in Ravensthorpe named Vagn. Players will now be able to build a dock for this new character and his crew, allowing them to embark on new River Raids.
This comes with a brand new longship for players to customize and use during their River Raid adventures. Players will have to choose between villages, monasteries, and military camps found along the rivers of England, and the more they raid in one particular area, the more defenses the enemies will prepare up river. This provides a level of strategy to how players approach this feature. As previously reported, the Jomsvikings received an overhaul as well, and players will now need to manage their rations and be sure to revive during raids or else they will be out of commission for a time.
Finally, a new building called the Jomsviking Hall will allow players to recruit even stronger allies to fight alongside them, forming the crux of the River Raids update as a whole. With the rewards gained from completing these raids, players can upgrade their longship, increase the size of their Jomsiviking Hall, obtain new weapons, armor (including an awesome looking Templar outfit), abilities, and more.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla and the River Raid update are available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.