I finally finished Assassin’s Creed Valhalla last time around and decided to jump right into Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wrath of the Druids DLC. The emerald green of the Ireland map was a great change over England. Game mechanics were familiar, but with an Irish twist. I felt the length of the story was perfect.
The Beautiful Emerald Green of Ireland
Ireland in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is gorgeous. The environmental artists outdid the work from the main game. Grass throughout Ireland was that trademark emerald green. Purple flowers spread out across the land and the fog shared that purple tint. The waterfalls are the best of any other game I’ve played. Even the clouds are near perfect.
My Irish journey began in the Viking city of Dublin. It was an impressively large port city. Traveling outside the city, the super green grass was often cut up with stone sculptures (think stone henge).
Later in the game, Cashelore fort is the highest I’ve seen in the game. The stone fortress spanned the distance between two cliff faces. From the fortress entrance, the game offered a perfect vista of the rest of Ireland.
The game does such a great job of recreating many landmarks of Ireland, that the Irish tourism bureau used it in their marketing video. It captures landmarks like Benbulben, Giant’s Causeway, Hill of Tara, etc.. I guess they realized the beauty of the game may encourage players to want to see the real thing.
Assassin’s Creed Wrath of the Druids Story
To kick off the DLC, I met with a stranger named Azar at the Raventhorpe docks. Azar was obviously foreign and rocked an eye patch. Azar led Eivor to his cousin Barid, now king of Dublin. Their plan was to seek favor with the new King in the South, Flann. Part of that plan was to help Azar and Barid build Dublin into the largest trading part in all of Ireland.
King Flann loved the trade idea, but also sent us on errands for kings across Ireland. Completing those earned their favor for Flann as the high King and they lent troops to help conquer the rest of Ireland. There were castle sieges like the main game, but the new surrounding gave a bit of fresh feel.
The real star of the game was Ciara, she was the poetess for king Flann. When she sang at Flann’s coronation, while playing her harp, it completed the Irish feel of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wrath of the Druids. Her accent and help on several missions was a welcome addition to the game.
Setting Up Trading Posts in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wrath of the Druids DLC
To guarantee Dublin became the main trading port of Ireland, I setup trading posts across the Country. The multi step setup process was fun. First step was find the deed to the post, setup the post using the deed and then upgrade it.
Adding a workman’s cottage produces more of the resource for that trading post. The storehouse increases the maximum storage of that resource. A supply depot provides arrows and rations. Raider tents increase rewards earned by completing Royal Demands in that area.
Raiding monasteries is back, but Assassin’s Creed Wrath of the Druids DLC requires those supplies to complete those upgrades. After waiting a bit, resources from that trading post are available at Azar’s shop. There’s a chest to pick up the buildup of supplies. Those resources complete trade contracts for rewards (weapons, clothes, more supplies) and upgrade Dublin’s trading renown to open new contracts with new Countries.
It was a welcome twist on building up the settlement in England. There were also few enough trading posts to keep it fun and not repetitive.
Completing Royal Demands
The Royal Demands for each territory of Ireland were a combination of setup missions for alliances and contracts from the main game. They were short and varied enough to keep things moving. Only 3 were required in each area, but there’s an option to do more. Each increased the favor for Flann from that area’s King, but also rewarded trading resources.
Overall goals were simple, kill someone or recover something valuable, but each came with a back story. That was enough to ensure they felt like part of the story. For added challenge and higher rewards, each demand included a King’s plea. Each plea raised the difficulty of the demand. They included things like: remain undetected, don’t kill anyone unnecessary, etc..
Taking Out Crazy Druids
There were no members of the Order of the Ancients to kill in Ireland, but there was a crazy group of druids, the Children of Danu. The hit list from the main game remained, but the Children of the Danu were the new targets. Assassin’s Creed Wrath of the druids is the name of the game, after all.
I discovered Ciara was an ex-member of the crazy group. Good news was she was on our side and helped track them down. It’s a good thing too because, I’m not a huge fan of searching for the clues. Investigations are fun and the DLC was fun, but I spent enough hours on the game already.
Unfortunately, the Children of Danu bred distrust of all druids among all kings. Their proposed inquisition of druids upset Ciara enough to use her magic to betray us. I won’t spoil the ending, but I feel I made the right choice and was satisfied with the ending.
The End of the Wrath of the Druids DLC is a Start of Things to Come
For anyone that enjoyed the main game, I highly recommend the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wrath of the Druids DLC. The environmental art is gorgeous and the story was good. Thing were fairly short and sweet, yet felt like a small game more than a DLC. Definitely worth the price of admission, especially as part of Uplay+.
Although I was happy to finally be done with this Assassin’s Creed (now at 130 hours played), I’m really looking forward to the Siege of Paris DLC.