The premise behind Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s expansion, Dawn of Ragnarök, is exciting and fun on the surface, but poorly executed in practice. In it, you’ll be assuming the role of the Allfather of Norse Mythology, Odin referred to as Havi, as he investigates the disappearance of his son, Baldr. Quickly, Odin learns Baldr has been captured by Surtr in the Dwarven land of Svartalfheim, and Odin must unite the scattered Dwarves to rally against Surtr and free his son.
While the attempt is to pull away from Valhalla’s traditional framework of England’s knights and Vikings, not too much legitimately changes in the overall framework of this expansion. The names of your enemies change from knights and brigands to Frost and Fire Giants. The foes are fearsome, but they lack teeth and depth to make them feel threatening. Many parts of this expansion feel the same way, with more of the same wrapped around a new coat of paint. You’ve already experienced basically this throughout Valhalla and the other released DLC.
After the game proper opens, a brief glance may look like you have a large area to explore, with limited guidance. Unfortunately, upon finding the first Dwarven shelter where the citizens hide from the Muspel invaders, you’re bombarded with quests. Although minor, they point you in the direction of many of the landmarks full of items for you to collect for additional upgrades. Alas, those upgrades are mostly for your new gear, and still, they don’t add much to the overall experience. The most notable added feature is the Hugr-Rip, which allows Odin to use the powers of other mythical creatures in Svartalfheim, and while fun, it quickly loses its luster.
Pulling away from the real world into this Nordic adventure seems like a great idea, but it’s full of what we’ve already been playing since Valhalla was released in late 2020. On top of that sameness, the timing of the expansion’s release does not bode well. With the release of Elden Ring last month, coming off that extraordinary open-world to this checklist adventure makes it extremely difficult to enjoy.
Not to say checklist adventures are bad. For example, Horizon Forbidden West was also released in February. While there are plenty of boxes to check off, the meaningfulness of those events and missions felt more worthwhile than anything you’ll be doing in Dawn of Ragnarök.
Dawn of Ragnarök is genuinely an expansion. It expands on everything that Valhalla was already doing but doesn’t innovate to make it stand out. If you enjoyed Valhalla, you’d have a good time with Dawn of Ragnarök, but if you’ve grown tired of the typical formula presented by Ubisoft in recent years, the expansion falls flat. Dawn of Ragnarök doesn’t bode well for the Assassin’s Creed franchise if they continue along this path without innovating further.
