Major Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update adds new River Raids game mode

Ubisoft has detailed a major Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update which introduces a new River Raids game mode, among other features.

River Raids is described as a “highly replayable mode” that will take players to “unexplored regions of England” full of raiding opportunities offering fresh loot and rewards.

Ubisoft said the mode includes the following:

• Higher-stakes raids, with unique maps and rewards, in which the player can raid without impacting their main game progression and alliances in England. Unlike the original raiding feature, the raiding crew can be temporarily lost if players don’t revive them during the raid.
• A Jomsviking Crew: Recruited Jomsvikings (created by other players online) are led by the player’s personal Jomsviking Lieutenant.
• A New Longship: An all-new fully customisable longship exclusive to the game mode – whose cargo hold can be upgraded to bring more resources back from River Raids.

The update also introduces several new abilities and skills alongside a host of fixes, stability and performance improvements.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla title update 1.1.2 (see full patch notes below) will be released for all platforms on February 16 at 4am PT/7am ET/12pm GMT/1pm CET.

River Raids is available free as part of the game’s first season of content, which launched in December 2020. Each Assassin’s Creed Valhalla season will last for three months and include in-game events, new settlement buildings and games modes.

Further reading

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla helps drives ‘strongest quarter in Ubisoft’s history’

Company claims it was the No.1 publisher in terms of unit sales in 2020

Earlier this month Ubisoft reported “the strongest quarter” in its history, driven in part by record launch sales for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Chief financial officer Frederick Duguet said during an earnings call that while Valhalla had failed to surpass the record 12 million units shipped by Assassin’s Creed 3 during its launch quarter in 2012, it had generated more money.

“On the Assassin’s Creed franchise in terms of unit count at the end of December, Assassin’s Creed 3 is still the biggest launch but in value, clearly, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the biggest launch ever for the franchise,” he said.

“It has benefitted from a much stronger level of engagement, of playtime, and will also benefit from a stronger and longer post-launch programme than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.”

YULE SEASON: RIVER RAIDS GAME MODE

We added in-game support for River Raids.

• Prepare your Jomsviking crew for this new highly replayable mode that will take you to unexplored regions of England, which is full of raiding opportunities. New loot, rewards, and challenges await the Raven Clan!
• The River Raids Mode is part of the Yule Season content. It is free for all Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla players, and it is accessible in-game after downloading Title Update 1.1.2.

NEW ABILITIES

• Berserker Trap: This attaches a trap to your arrow, spreading hallucinatory powder. Any nearby movement causes the trap to trigger. Surprise clueless passersby!
• Battle Cry: In a fit of rage, Eivor lets out a blood curdling scream, gaining strength and causing nearby enemies to stumble backwards in fear, interrupting their attacks.
• Shoulder Bash: Eivor performs a shoulder bash that pushes back enemies and destroys objects.

NEW SKILLS

• Assassin Carry: Automatically carry a body after a successful assassination.
• Assassin Slide: Slide into enemies and knock them off balance while sprinting.
• Power Stroke: Trigger a speed boost on the long ship at the cost of stamina.
• Arrow Looter: Eivor has a greater chance of looting arrows from archers.
• Fight Ready: Always start a fight with an adrenaline-filled slot.
• Long Ship Brace: When you are in command of the long ship, the crew will raise their shield with you.

GAME IMPROVEMENTS

MISCELLANEOUS

• Runes and used resources to upgrade Berserker gear will be returned to the player inventory when an item is lost.
• Improved vibration feedback during fishing. Fishing goes BRRRR.
• Addressed an issue that caused players to leave disguise mode if players perform any attack while riding.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from catching fish in the sea or on coastlines.
• Addressed an issue that caused school of fish to take a long time to respawn after one was caught.
• Items purchased at the Animus Store will only be given to players after returning to England from Vinland.
• Changed predator charge attack animations to give players a little more time to react.
• Addressed an issue that prevented fabric from being available. Everyone liked that.
• Added date of purchase to items listed in the owned section of the store.

BALANCING

• Removed diamond rune slots from gear set pieces other than torsos. Runes that were slotted into these will be returned to the player inventory.

GRAPHICS, AUDIO, AND ANIMATION

• Addressed various graphics or lighting issues.
• Addressed various texture issues.
• Addressed an issue that caused explosion VFX to be missing when oil jars explode. Oil jars will now go BOOM.
• (PS4™/PS5™) The Muspell Warg mount will now burn with the fires of Hel!
• The blood of your enemies will now soil all clothing.
• Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
• Addressed various clipping issues.
• Addressed an issue that prevented visual effects of the Draugr set to be displayed.
• Addressed an issue that caused arrows to disappear from the quiver after reequipping the bow from the inventory.

QUESTS, WORLD EVENTS, AND SIDE ACTIVITIES

• Addressed an issue in Storming the Walls, preventing players from completing the quest. Gunnar has decided to join the festivities in The First Night of Samhain, allowing players to complete the quest. Party Time!
• Addressed an issue that allowed NPC in The Good Men of Sherwood world event to be killed. Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day.
• Jomsviking gear will now display their quality properly in the customization page.
• Addressed an issue that could cause Jomsviking to change shapes and sizes in the menu when being recruited.
• Randvi is ready to hear the news after completing the Sciropescire Arc, allowing completion of the alliance.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with Tove after having completed Carrying the Torch.
• Addressed an issue that caused some dice to be reused when both players used the God Favor giving 3 additional dice. Nothing up your sleeve anymore.
• Addressed an issue with the Fishmonger encounter that prevented the quest from being marked as complete after confirming the kill.
• Players will no longer be ashen if escaping before fighting the Bard in The Devil Has All the Best Tunes.
• Players loading a save created after knocking in Clues and Riddles, will now be able to complete the objective.
• Addressed an issue in Extended Family that caused the boss not to deal any damage during underground attacks.
• Addressed an issue in Extended Family that caused the boss to get stuck near walls, stay underground, or not engage in combat altogether.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the final order member to be revealed. No more Revealio!
• Addressed an issue in Binding Fate that prevented players from completing the boss encounter, as the boss may get stuck underground.
• Addressed an issue in Binding Fate that prevented players from completing the quest after talking to Tyr.
• Addressed an issue in War Weary that prevented players from completing the quest after having defeated all NPCs outside.
• Addressed an issue that caused all Order members to be killed after killing a Zealot. This may just be the wildest issue ever seen.
• Addressed an issue in The Big Finish that prevented players from completing the quest when the hideout was visited before starting the quest.
• Addressed an issue in Blood from a Stone that prevented players from moving a stack of cargo.
• Addressed an issue in The Prodigal Prince that caused the objective to remain stuck if Eivor assassinates the first training dummy before reaching the checkpoint.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with Gotafrid Fair-Robes post fight, if the players threw them in the river. Yeeeeeet!
• Addressed an issue in The Twit Saga Part I, where the house would sometimes not catch fire preventing players from completing the world event.
• Addressed an issue in Degolas the Beautiful that caused the kid to grow in size. HOLD UP.
• Addressed an issue in Degolas the Beautiful that prevented Degolas from leaving the water.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with Settlement NPCs.
• Addressed an issue in Crushed Dreams that prevented players from completing the world event as the wife is in a dead state. Quest name checks out.
• Addressed an issue that caused the world map to become unavailable after speaking to Ceolwulf.

GAMEPLAY, COMBAT, AND AI

• Addressed several NPC behavior issues.
• Mounts will heed Eivor’s call from the Quick Actions Wheel.
• Addressed an issue that caused NPC to die before they’re being hit. Calls an emergency meeting.
• Addressed an issue that caused Eivor to end up standing on their toes after being idle for a while. Eivor en pointe.
• Addressed an issue that caused decorative elements to spawn in miniature form.
• Addressed an issue that allowed players to obtain Nodens’ Arc using save/load actions. It had to be done.

AUDIO

• (PS4™) Addressed an issue that caused crackling sounds to be heard.
• Addressed an issue that caused dead swarm animals to make idle sounds. I know an Animus glitch when I see one.

PHOTO MODE

• Addressed an issue that caused Photo Mode frames not to scale to game window size.
• Addressed an issue that caused terrain rendering issues when moving the camera.

USER INTERFACE/HUD

• Addressed various UI/HUD issues.
• Addressed an issue that caused Premium Start Pack items to appear in Fine instead of Mythic quality.
• After encountering Cola, their appropriate icon will be shown on the Order tab.
• Addressed an issue that caused acquired Reda contracts to appear under the Cent quest log section.
• Addressed an issue that caused contracts not to count towards the Viking for Hire progression.
• Addressed an issue that prevented players from interacting with any items in Reda’s shop when Focused Navigation is enabled.
• Players will be able to switch targets with the mouse wheel by using M and K.
• Addressed an issue that was causing stick input to stick after enabling Swap Sticks option during Cairns.
• Addressed an issue that caused the Call Mount prompt to appear every time when whistle is used to attract enemies.
• Addressed an issue when pressing D-Pad down causing Daily Concept Art to remain.
• Addressed an issue that caused several Daily Concept Art to be displayed on the world map.
• Addressed an issue that caused the mouse curser not to be displayed when switching back to M&K after controller was used as single source.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Order of Ancient icons not to change based on selected colorblind settings.
• Addressed an issue that caused control conflicts in Photo Mode if Swap Sticks option is set to ON.
• Addressed an issue that caused the slider value of subtitle backgrounds not to reset to the default value.
• Addressed an issue that caused exploration difficulty to be reset to Adventurer instead of Explorer when resetting to default.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the adrenaline bar from filling after the second assassination was performed using chain assassinations.
• Added a quit fishing button during aiming state.
• Addressed various instances where Odin’s Sight highlighted props that it shouldn’t.
• Addressed an issue that caused “data corrupt” errors after entering the save menu.
• Addressed an issue that prevented the ingot that was looted off the destroyer (Hamptun Blockade) not to be counted towards wealth completion.
• Addressed an issue that caused Fly Agar mysteries not to be highlighted with the appropriate mystery icon.

SYSTEM

• (PC) Addressed issues with various Ubisoft Connect achievements that were not unlocking correctly when conditions were met.
  o Take My Hand
  o The Enemy of My Enemy
  o Disorder of the Ancients
  o Completionist All The Way
• (PC) Addressed an issue with the unlock condition of the Equine Attack achievement.
• Addressed an issue that caused online service errors to be displayed when creating or hovering over photos.
• Addressed an issue causing the game to remain stuck during loading after entering the save/load menu.
• Addressed an issue that caused the MSI voice command feature to stop working after save/load.

PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY

• Improved performance and stability.