Released back on the 10th of November 2020, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has seen a substantial amount of success, both critically and commercially. More impressive is that Ubisoft has sustained a level of quality despite Valhalla being the twelfth main game in the series. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's story was quite intriguing, and the quality of its open-world also saw a significant improvement from the previous title. Ubisoft focused more on the quality of side activities and world interactions instead of quantity.
Nevertheless, while the game was highly praised, Assassin's Creed Valhalla's post-launch content has frankly been disappointing. Arguably the most crucial aspect in any RPG that offers an immense open-world is the side content it also includes, but after finishing the main campaign in Valhalla, there isn't much left to do if players haven't already eliminated all the Order of the Ancients.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla's first (free) DLC was released in December. The Yule Festival served as a seasonal event, and while it gave the settlement a refreshing look, activities that players engaged in felt insubstantial and unfinished. The performance issues and the diminished quality of finish when the event released was rather shocking. Examples of these issues varied from the Festival disappearing until players restarted their game and crashes that forced players out of the game entirely.
Reports of players who couldn't even access the content launched within the Yule Festival were disappointingly high, and the Assassin's Creed Reddit page found itself stormed by confused players. To make matters worse, Ubisoft never offered a suitable solution or even an update for these issues. This was a drastic setback for the game's reputation, as this free event was the first sign of the standard for future Valhalla DLC.
Ubisoft & Monetization
What is more problematic is Ubisoft's heavy reliance on AAA games rarely, if ever, require monetization, especially if that game is mainly single-player and story-focused.
While this isn't the first time Ubisoft has revealed a predatory nature, it's becoming all the more concerning as time goes on, as nearly every big-event game they've released in recent years has included some sort of emphasis on microtransactions. What makes this worse is that Ubisoft waited until review rollouts had ended for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla before adding in microtransactions, likely to avoid most of the backlash and bad press they would receive.
Valhalla's Free Content Doesn't Look Like A Priority
It appears that Ubisoft is not prioritizing free content as a factor to keep players coming back after completing the primary campaign. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla's free post-launch content Ubisoft has planned is meant to hold players down till the paid DLCs come out, which will serve players with a proper storyline and the addition of potential new gear to be earned.
Ubisoft could've used the free DLCs to remind players why Valhalla was such a massive hit by including integral side quests that could've added more depth to the settlement system or adding new features. It's incredibly disappointing when comparing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla's post-launch content to Assassin's Creed: Origins. Origins had a regular mode, Trials of the Gods, which would pit players against Gods in intense battles that were both fun and challenging. At launch, Origins also had The Nomad's Bazaar. This feature introduced a merchant who gave players daily quests to complete, and in return, would be awarded exotic gear/weapons. Valhalla has a similar system with the Thousand Eyes Guild, but it would have been nice to see something new. (UPDATE 22/01/21: This paragraph has been slightly altered for clarity to include a mention of the Thousand Eyes Guild in Valhalla.)
Valhalla has seen an impressive amount of positive , but Ubisoft needs to pay attention to free post-launch content and the quality of their future paid DLCs. People will notice if the company simply deposits minimal effort into the quality of their free post-launch content, especially as players are waiting to jump back in. Here's hoping that the future of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla goes back to being a shining light.
