By the time the next mainline game in the Assassin’s Creed series comes out, Valhalla will be the longest support Assassin’s Creed game ever, with Ubisoft having confirmed that the open world action RPG will continue to receive more new content throughout 2022 as well. Of course, the first year of the game’s post-launch support has been underway for a while now. Earlier this year, we got its first expansion in Wrath of the Druids, and soon, on August 12, we’ll be playing the game’s second expansion, The Siege of Paris. Quite a few interesting details have been reveled about it already, and as we edge closer to the DLC’s launch, here, we’re going to take a look at the most important pieces of information you should know about it.
SETUP
Just as Wrath of the Druids took players to Ireland, so, too, will The Siege of Paris expand Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s world further beyond England, with Eivor heading this time to, as the expansion’s name suggests, the kingdom of Francia. And why exactly is Eivor headed to France? The Siege of Paris revolves around the Viking invasion of Paris, which is one of the most ambitious battles and invasions in Viking history. Players will be heading to he kingdom to plunder its riches and raid its cities and towns, and will be coming up against Francia’s king, Charles the Fat. It’s unknown exactly how large the Frankish map is going to be in the expansion, but it’s supposedly going to constitute many of the kingdom’s territories, so expect it to be pretty large.
NEW ENEMIES
On top of new story content and a completely new region to explore, The Siege of Paris is also going to bring with it other new content on a more micro level. That also includes new enemies that will have their own unique attributes, strengths, and weaknesses. One of these new enemies that has been revealed so far are the Frankish Knights, who’ll come at Eivor during combat on top of horses and hit you with ride-by attacks. On top of using a spear from horseback, these enemies will also be able to throw javelins at you from a distance, and they also have a sword and a shield equipped, which, presumably, they’ll use if they get dismounted. Meanwhile, Ubisoft has also said that The Siege of Paris is going to feature new boss fights as well, so there’s clearly plenty to look forward to as fa as new enemies are concerned.
NEW ABILITIES
Like Wrath of the Druids before it, The Siege of Paris will also add new abilities for players to use during combat. So far, Ubisoft has officially revealed one of these, called “Plague of Rats.” Using this ability, you’ll be able to shoot a special arrow at an enemy that will summon a small army of rats to swarm that foe and them gnaw them to death. Obviously, it’s easy to imagine the applications of such an ability in stealth scenarios.
While that’s all that Ubisoft has officially revealed as far as abilities are concerned, data miners (as shared in a video by JorRaptor) have been able to discover other details as well. Apparently, there are going to be three new abilities in total, one of which will see you planting a bomb in an enemy that then explodes, and the other letting you shoot your enemies with an arrow to make them sick and eventually choke to death. Each of these abilities will, of course, be upgradeable.
NEW GEAR, SKILLS, AND WEAPONS
Given Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s focus on RPG mechanics and things such as gear and equipment, it’s not surprising that that’s something that Ubisoft has kept on expanding upon since the game’s launch even outside of the big tentpole expansions. The Siege of Paris will also keep that going, with Ubisoft having confirmed that the expansion will bring with it new gear and armour sets for players to find and equip, new skills in the skill tree, and completely new weapons and weapon types to use in combat. Exact details on these haven’t been shared yet, but some pretty interesting stuff was added in Wrath of the Druids, so we’re optimistic about The Siege of Paris.
NEW ANIMALS AND ACTIVITIES
Beyond the new map, enemies, gear, abilities, and what have you, there’s still other stuff that Ubisoft is adding to AC Valhalla with the upcoming expansion. For starters, there will be new animals to hunt (and to pet), which is a nice bonus. Additionally, Ubisoft says the expansion is also going to add new optional activities to take part in, including board games, minigames, fighting tournaments, flyting, and more. For all the completionists out there (of where there’s quite a few in the Assassin’s Creed fanbase), it looks like The Siege of Paris will have quite a bit of stuff to keep you busy.
BLACK BOX MISSIONS
This is probably one of the most exciting aspects of The Siege of Paris. Assassin’s Creed has been de-emphasizing stealth for a long time now, but back when Unity came out, the series was at its best, in terms of stealth gameplay and mechanics. That was primarily because of special set piece missions that operated a lot like a Hitman level, giving you a target, multiple ways to get to that target, and then letting you lose in the sandbox to finish the mission as you see fit. Ubisoft has confirmed that these stealth-focused infiltration missions, known as Black Box missions, are returning to the series in The Siege of Paris. It should be interesting to see how these are balanced in light of all the options constantly available to players thanks to the inherent build diversity in the game.
LENGTH
The last thing a game like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla needs is to be longer, but even so, you’d expect that the game’s second major expansion is going to offer a meaty experience. So exactly how long is The Siege of Paris going to be? You can expect it to be around the same size as Wrath of the Druids, which would make it about 8-12 hours long (or 15-20, if you engage with the side content more thoroughly). It’s a bit of a different approach, since with both Origins and Odyssey, Ubisoft gave us a relatively smaller expansion first, followed by a much longer expansion. The Siege of Paris isn’t going to be as long as The Fate of Atlantis– but still, 10-15 hours of new Assassin’s Creed Valhalla content sounds quite enticing.