‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök’ review: A mostly exciting DLC with some repetition

The latest downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, despite its sense of replication, has interesting attack features and a spectacular world

One thing I love about the Assassin’s Creed series, especially since Origins, is its expert weaving of mythology into the story. In Origins, we have the Egyptian gods as hidden bosses. In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, we have a massive three-episode arc on the fate of Atlantis. The ending of this Atlantis expansion leads us into Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which released in 2020. The latest downloadable content (DLC) of the game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, might lead us to the next Assassin’s Creed game.

Assassin’s Creed games are not just historical fiction; there is also a sci-fi angle to it as you play the memories of various assassins through a virtual reality machine called the Animus. Dawn of Ragnarök takes you further down that rabbit hole by dropping its protagonist, Eivor, into a drug-induced hallucination, wherein they (’they’ because you can play Eivor as a male or a female character), as Odin, has to save his son, Baldr, from the clutches of Surtr. You are, hence, in a simulation within a simulation.

The trip to Asgard is full of spectacle: giant monsters, incredible lands, and more. For the most part, the story is standard fare. The complex renditions of several Norse gods, however, are interesting. You need to liaise with several clans in Svartalfheim to aid Odin in his mission. The storyline takes you into mythical realms and the real world, where Eivor must confront their fate.

The world of Dawn of Ragnarök is undoubtedly the best in the Assassin’s Creed series (it is even slightly better than Odyssey’s Elysium fields). With floating rocks and curling mists around ancient mountains, it is breathtaking. Vast plains of greenery interspersed with snowy areas show that a lot has gone into making this world come alive. You will lose yourself in exploring it and uncovering its secrets, including ancient magical weapons.

Dawn of Ragnarök lets you play as a god. Equipped with a magical gauntlet called Hugr-Rip, you can control both fire and ice. Valhalla’s other DLC have been widely criticised for its old combat, which gets boring quickly. The addition of ice attacks, resistance to fire, and the ability to shapeshift into a raven for stealth attacks in Dawn of Ragnarök add more excitement to the game. There is, however, a sense of repetition, as enemy types display the same animations and movements as Valhalla and Odyssey.

There is so much tucked away behind giant statues that pockmark the land. You could easily find the main mission and engage in a treasure hunt. The boss encounters are challenging and there are other special enemies strewn across the map waiting to get into a scrap with you.

With respect to the mythological aspects of the recent Assassin’s Creed games, Odyssey still ranks at the top. Dawn of Ragnarök, however, lets you do much more with its characters and offers some variation in combat over 35 hours in gameplay. Overall, this DLC is nice but I cannot wait for the next edition in the series.