A few years ago, the idea of an Assassin’s Creed game having a season pass and post-launch support (outside the array of basic bug fixes and updates) would have been out there. That’s not to say the games didn’t receive DLC, but they never did to the extent of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s season pass. Through it, Ubisoft perfectly set the modern-day stage for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Now, as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla moves into 2021, fans can expect more content to keep them busy throughout the year. Everything from seasonal events and content updates to full blown story DLC is included in the plans for the new year, so here’s what fans can expect from the game.
The biggest attraction is indubitably the major DLC additions that will likely continue both Eivor and the modern-day character’s story in AC Valhalla. Up first is the Wrath of the Druids DLC, which is set to release in Spring 2021. It’ll see Eivor travel to Ireland’s “haunted wilds and beautiful landscapes” to battle “a druidic cult known as the Children of Danu. Conquer ring forts, master the art of smuggling, and gain the favor of Gaelic kings in a new open-world adventure.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, with the Children of Danu (an Irish goddess) serving as the DLC’s assassination targets and Danu herself likely being related to the Isu. New content in the form of Ring Forts and smuggling will be interesting to see, while the “Saga” approach is likely to continue with a focus on Gaelic Kings.
Then, The Siege of Paris DLC will release some time in Summer 2021 and see Eivor “sail to the kingdom of Francia and engage the forces of Charles the Fat as you participate in the Vikings’ most daring conquest. Infiltrate the city of Paris, forge new alliances within its walls, and strike a blow that will shatter an empire.” Obviously, though little is known about either of AC Valhalla‘s DLCs, the Siege of Paris is even more mysterious than the Wrath of the Druids at this point.
Interestingly enough, alongside Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s season pass is free seasonal content set to release throughout the new year. The first of 4 free seasonal contents arrived with the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Yule Festival, which ended on January 7. It’s possible that more limited-time events take place throughout the year, but notably, it’s unlikely that everything seen above is timed. For example, in February, players will gain access to a new River Raid mechanic that takes the base game’s raids and ups the challenge.
Other seasonal content confirmed thus far includes a second Settlement outside Ravensthorpe, new ranks for Jomsvikings, and a plethora of new skills, abilities, and weapons. The Free Content 2 is set to release in February, though the third and fourth packs seemingly come much later in the year. “Free Content 3” lines up with Summer 2021, much like the Raid of Paris, while “Free Content 4” lines up with Fall 2021, with it seemingly having something to do with Norway.
Outside of this, fans can expect a number of small updates to roll out over the years. This includes more stability patches and bug fixes since one common complaint is that the game is as buggy as a Bethesda game, though not quite to the extent of Assassin’s Creed Unity at launch.
Another confirmed update comes in the form of transmog for AC Valhalla, something that was done really well in AC Odyssey but served as post-launch content there too. Perhaps even more updates will come to the game’s photo mode and beyond, but outside the above roadmap and the confirmation of transmog, fans will likely need to be patient in seeing where else the game goes.
Of course, one big question many have left is whether or not there will be a new Assassin’s Creed game for 2021, and the best answer is that nothing has been revealed or confirmed yet. Rumors and speculation abound, though, and it’s easy to see the cases for a new game in 2021 as well as the next game being released in 2022. Perhaps most notably, there has only been two years without a new game release since Assassin’s Creed moved away from an annual approach, and that was 2016/2019. In 2015, AC Syndicate released and wasn’t followed by AC Origins until 2017. AC Odyssey then released in 2018 and wasn’t followed until, obviously, 2020 by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
This pattern of a two year-release, one-year off schedule is a possibility that can’t really be ignored. After all, while the development of Assassin’s Creed games across the wider Ubisoft network of developers is a tad complicated to keep up with, it has almost always been like clockwork. This, as a result, could be seen as a pattern indicative of a release in 2021 with 2022 being a year off. On the other hand, many believe that 2021 will be dedicated to the post-launch support of AC Valhalla, which is valid given that 2019 served a similar role for AC Odyssey. The introduction of intense season passes may really be what breaks that pattern, but notably, most of the content for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases during the summer with very little content on the roadmap for fall.
On top of all that, recent rumors indicate that Ubisoft Sofia is working on the next AC game, set to release in 2022. Sofia has previously worked on Assassin’s Creed Rogue and Liberation, which lends itself to speculation about the size of the next game. Again, the rumor mill is nothing new to Assassin’s Creed, with a rumored return to Rome and indications of a Chinese setting all being shared around circles for the next game as well. The best answer now is to simply enjoy the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla content as it releases in 2021 and see if Ubisoft acknowledges a skip year this year or not. Fans knew, straight from an official source, that 2019 would not see a new game, and it stands to reason that fans may be able to expect the same communication if that proves to be true for 2021 as well.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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