REVIEW: Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok (PS5) - The largest extension of the series is safe, but satisfactory

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok is the largest extension of the story of the series. Ubisoft has fueled this marketing point for months, and playing it for ourselves, it is safe to say that the French publisher did not lie. It took us about 33 hours to finish everything Dawn of Ragnarok has to offer, which includes a long history campaign, a number of optional activities, secondary quests and our usual open world map markers, which lead to equipment and booty. It's a big DLC, it's the least we can say.

A quick overview To start this review: Dawn of Ragnarok takes place almost entirely in the mythological world of "dream" which constitutes the dorsal spine of the tradition of Valhalla. You play Odin - or Havevi, as they are commonly called - while you launch in a desperate quest to save your son, Baldr, Fire Giants' claws. It's a tale that is shot almost directly from the Nordic myth, with some creative keys here and there to make sure everything corresponds to the game narration plan.

The story fits very well into the existing mythological trends of Valhalla, adding even more context to the continuous visions of Eivor, while expanding Odin as a character. The Warrior God, now obsessed with Ragnarok - the supposed end of all worlds - must forge a difficult alliance with the dwarves of Svartalfheim, where the expansion takes place.

The dwarves, their land having been conquered by giants, are now hiding in mountain shelters. These gold dotted caves serve as a rotating plates for the adventures of Odin, the countryside extending over three regions of Svartalfheim. Just like the main game, each region has its own intrigue, which ends up reflecting on the global history. Everything is reasonably well told, although you do not have much to say about how things are going. Unlike Eivor, Odin is a well-established actor in this saga, and you have no choice but to look at the High One use and manipulate the dwarves to meet his needs.

It's a bit twisted story, everything is d1. There is an underlying madin madin who makes his actions compelling, and it is undeniably interesting to play as a character that many would consider like a bad guy.

The story is quite entertaining, but the gameplay will only hang you if you are not already exhausted by Valhalla's exploration, action and stealth brand. Although Dawn of Ragnarok offers a magnificent open world, engage it means having to follow the movements for another 30 hours. We did not want or did not expect this extension to tear the rules book, but some degree of innovation in the gameplay would have made a lot of way.

What we mean is that under his fantastic skin, Dawn of Ragnarok feels very safe. Aside from the addition of temporary powers that facilitate the crossing, the riddler resolution and the fight, the DLC hardly tries to diversify from what the basic game has already done you all along its huge countryside.

For example, most of the new giant enemies of the fire - the musphes - are simply reskins of existing enemies, except that they can light their swords, lances or massages on fire. The only new type of weapon, atgeir, is a kind of effective and fun HAST weapon to handle - but it reuses animations of other types of weapons, and so the Signature Blade of Odin does not not as unique as it should. We do not say that the extension is phoned or lazy, but simply does not have the advantage that you expect from such a large DLC.

With the two previous (and smaller) extensions, Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris, it was impression that Valhalla's formula was being refined, or at least molded in a slightly different form. Meanwhile, Dawn of Ragnarok looks like another big spoonful of Basic Valhalla. Once again, it's not necessarily a bad thing if you are a big fan of the basic experience, but there was definitely room for something more here.

But hey, the booty is pretty good (the new sets of armor are superb) and the DLC offers surprisingly nuanced boss fights. If you can stand another 30 hours of Valhalla, you can not really go wrong, even if the price seems a bit high at first sight.

Conclusion

Dawn of Ragnarok actually enough to satisfy the moment of the credits, but if you are exhausted on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, there is not much here that will rekind your interest. The mythological angle is well played, the fantastic frame is cool and odin is an intriguing track, but after one year of DLC and updates, the gameplay loop of Valhalla runs out a little. * Some good stories * Frame often impressive * Odin is an intriguing track * Decent boss fights * New fun capabilities * The arena is a welcome addition * Fun Boss Fights * Lack of new ideas * Almost no choice of player * The game structure seems so sure * Fire can make things really hard to see Good 7/10 Rating policy Revision copy provided by Ubisoft