Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids DLC review for Xbox Series X, PS5, PC

The new DLC for Assassin?s Creed Valhalla dropped late last week dubbed Wrath of the Druids, which introduces a new playable map in the form of Ireland, divided up into 4 major sections allowing you to explore the green isle and engage in a new story, new mechanics, and hunt down a whole host of collectibles. It?s a decently sized add-on for the base game, something that helpfully scales in difficulty regardless of your place in the story (provided you?ve gone past the prologue) and easily adds another dozen hours or so on to an already lengthy base game. 

The only real caveat when it comes to enjoying Wrath of the Druids is that you?ve already got to be digging the base game of Valhalla. While this expansion does introduce new mechanics, it doesn?t make any sweeping changes to combat or exploration. I?d also say that the story is solid, but not something that struck me as exceptional, and it?s also not something that impacts the overall story of Valhalla in any considerable way. It?s strictly focused on the fledgling High King Flann and his attempts to unite Ireland. Eivor?s connection to this story comes from a somewhat distant relative who helps kick things off. I won?t spoil story details as it?s a fun enough ride, but again, doesn?t have any major ramifications for the main story. 

As far as new stuff goes. Wrath of the Druids introduces a few new things. One of the biggest has to be the introduction of an Ireland specific trade system. When raiding in Wrath of the Druids you?ll be looting materials that can be spent to upgrade and unlock new trade posts that are scattered throughout the region. Upon first encountering the trade post, you?ll need to clear it of hostile elements and then hunt down the deed for the post. Once done, you?ll gain access to the trade post and be able to spend your raiding supplies on unlocking a few different buildings. These buildings will then generate resources over time. You can spend these resources through a new vendor back in Dublin that will essentially trade resources for money, gear, and other cosmetics. It?s a solid way of earning a lot of new gear, and offers yet another side activity that is generally rewarding to engage in. 

Other additions include the Dublin Renown system and Royal Demands. With Dublin as sort of your main hub city, you?ll be able to increase Dublin?s overall importance in Ireland by either engaging in the aforementioned trade system or taking on Royal Demands. Royal Demands are little mini quests, generally just combat or assassination focused missions that contribute to building up the five available levels of renown you can gain. Increasing your renown level will open up new opportunities to gain unique gear via trading, which again is worth engaging in, as the rewards and new skins are worth seeking out. 

Another addition is the Children of Danu, which is a sect of Druids that are one of the primary antagonists within the Wrath of the Druids expansion. Think of this as a smaller version of the Order members you?d hunt down using clues in the base Valhalla game. Much like the base game, certain members of the Children of Danu will be uncovered via  the main storyline, but hunting them all down is optional. However, out of all the side activities available in Wrath of the Druids, this is the one I enjoyed the most, and the item you can obtain at the end of this quest is well worth obtaining. 

Overall, I enjoyed revisiting Assassin?s Creed Valhalla for this expansion, and consider it to be a fine add-on to the game. Whether you?re in the middle of a current playthrough or would be coming back to the game after completion, you?ll find you can jump into Wrath of the Druids at pretty much any point, which is a good way to handle an expansion in an open world game like this one. Admittedly I?m not particularly wowed by any one element here, but if you?ve already enjoyed Valhalla up to this point, I can?t really see a reason to not pick up the expansion as well. You?re definitely getting a sizable amount of engaging content for the asking price, and some of the new mechanics and gear available makes for a pretty entertaining time overall. 

Note: Ubisoft provided us with aN Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids DLC Xbox Series X code for review purposes.