Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids is an incredible DLC and brings an enormous amount of new items, abilities, cosmetic items, and locations for players to discover. Ireland makes for the perfect location to expand the Valhalla experience, keeping true to the region’s history, culture and beliefs. I’m especially fond of how much replay value has been encapsulated into Northern Ireland thanks to an endless supply of challenging side quests. In addition to the new raid locations, “Wrath of the Druids” takes the nice elements of the main game such as stealth and poison and brings out their full potential in amazing ways. Wrath of the Druids has pushed the bar even higher for the Assassin’s Creed series and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who has Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Ireland is beautiful beyond words, the hidden secrets make exploring the Emerald Isle more fascinating than the paint by numbers main campaign, and if you're looking for plenty of familiar bang for your Hiberno-Norse coinage, Wrath of the Druids certainly has all that and more.
Perfectly fine DLC, why some people hate on it? Because it wasn't extremely special? What did you even expect at this point? Some miracle? It adds more story, more locations, nice graphics, more enemies. It's solid.
If you are still enjoying Valhalla then Wrath of the Druids is worth a gander. Hopefully the Siege of Paris expansion breaks the mold a little, but for now this first expansion acts as a serviceable excuse to revisit Assassin's Creed Valhalla, if nothing more than to tour about 9th century Ireland.
I'm a massive fan of Assassin’s Creed and have found myself loving the latest games more than any which went before them. That is equally true of Valhalla yet, whilst the Wrath of the Druids is a strong addition to the library, it does at times feel more like a side quest rather than something capable of pushing forward the overall Valhalla narrative.
Wrath of the Druids is simply more Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with a few added twists and some of the same baggage. The benefit of not swinging for the fences is that you're getting more AC comfort food, even if it falls far short of a homerun.
If Valhalla is a love letter to the Assassin's Creed series, connecting each of the previous 11 mainline games and unifying their frayed plotlines into one cohesive thread, Wrath of the Druids is an unneeded and, frankly, unwanted postscript. It adds nothing worthwhile to Eivor's story and her overarching character arc of learning that there's more to life than subverting fate. And in terms of mechanics and features, it doesn't satisfyingly iterate on any of Valhalla's existing gameplay loops, providing another dozen hours of the same activities you'll already get from the existing 60+ hour main campaign. Those still playing Valhalla may find some benefit in going through Wrath of the Druids for some extra XP to boost Eivor's character level and find some awesome loot and combat abilities, but the DLC is a mediocre Assassin's Creed experience, even without comparing it to Valhalla's main campaign.
Wrath of the Druids is like a microcosm of the main game. There is around 15-20 hours of content packed into a brand new map of Ireland, split into 4 regions. The story is entirely disconnected from the main story back in England, but it manages to stand up on its own feet just as well. If you haven't played Valhalla for a while, didn't finish it or don't remember much of what happened, I'd still recommend giving this a try as you will quickly be re-immersed into the world again.
(Potential Spoilers below)
The story arc does everything that the best bunch of story arcs in England achieves. It has moments of intense action, raids and sieges. It has loyalty and betrayal that keeps you guessing until the end. It has memorable characters with moments of genuine development. It also has the softer, reflective moments that I've come to appreciate more and more in this game. The Children of Danu are the Druid version of the Order of Ancients, however they are integrated into the story a lot more seamlessly and actively require you to hunt them down during missions of the main Ireland storyline instead of a becoming a sort of side-job in the main game.
The care taken to portray Ireland in a historical context is excellent and learning more about Irish history and culture was a privilege.
The exploration is a lot more grounded in Wrath of the Druids compared to the main game. There are none of those random, eccentric world mysteries like searching for a brooch in sheep poo or playing hide and seek to name a couple of the tamer ones. Instead, it feels more meaningful to complete each exploration opportunity.
There are tons of new cosmetics and weapons available to earn through the new Trading system, as well as arguably the best weapon in the game after completing the Children of Danu storyline and defeating the mythical Balor in an impressively chilling fight.
The map is absolutely stunning. I think it's even more pretty than England, Norway and Vinland that the main game showcases, if that's even possible. It is genuinely breathtaking in places. Climbing to the top of a viewpoint and looking across the horizon at the vast green landscapes, rainbows, hill forts, druid ritual sites, dense towns. There is also a completely new OST for the Wrath of the Druids expansion with a ton of Irish influence that, once again, is just as, if not more, compelling than the main game.
A really fantastic expansion to an already fantastic game and a really pleasure to get another 20 unique hours out of it.
RUS
Достаточно среднее длс которое вообще не имеет отношение к вселенной АС.
Длс имеет как плюсы, так и минусы. Из достоинств я бы выделил неплохую центральную историю часов на 8, пару новых навыков, красивую Ирландию.
Из недостатков - отсутствие сайд заданий, огромное количество собирательства, отсутствие связи со вселенной.
Моя оценка 7 баллов
AC Valhalla Base Game is already a damn big game and with the DLC "Wrath of the Druids" it won't get any smaller. Ireland, the place you play in, looks very nice. The limestones, the hills and small lakes and ponds are well designed and believable. Unfortunately, as in the main game, the world itself is too empty and it feels like riding from point A to B is always an obstacle instead of a joy. The story, however, is quick to get through and unfortunately not something that will leave you floored. The soundtrack, as always in Valhalla, is very well done and sets the mood for the game, whether in battle or **** you already liked Valhalla, you won't go wrong here.
I haven't advanced too far in the story. However, I've completed all side quests, fully upgraded all trade posts, and collected all artifacts and treasures (other than one treasure that appears to be story locked in a fort). As of right now, it doesn't appear to be any better or worse than the main game. The landscape doesn't feel any different. The gameplay doesn't feel any more polished. The side quests are a bit lazy because they are all combat or puzzle mini-games, no side stories (I read a review from another website where they claimed to have put 15 hours into the DLC and were rejoicing about no cairn stone puzzles... I played maybe 45 minutes before hitting the first of a few in the DLC). There are still bugs galore (at one point, a character that I needed to speak with was chest deep in the ground and another quest required a reload in order to complete because it kept saying I needed to be anonymous in order to finish the quest).
All-in-all, it's definitely not an improvement to the main game but it's also not anything that hurts the main game. Whereas the DLC for Origins and Odyssey delved into the Egytian and Greek mythology and fantastical worlds, all while continuing the story of the main characters (Shadows of the Scarab in Origins and Lost but Not Forgotten in Odyssey), Wrath of the Druids feels like more of the same with Valhalla. If you liked the game and want a reason to spend more time playing, this DLC is for you. If you weren't too impressed with the game and there are other things you're interested in (ME Legendary or RE Village), then you can probably wait for this DLC to get improved (bug fixes) or go on sale.
Wrath of the Druids is a typical DLC from Ubisoft. A huge number of missed opportunities and mediocre implementation. DLC is completely memorable. Everything is made according to a template, a typical pass-through product of Ubisoft, which does not affect the lore of the Assassin's Creed series in any way. Wrath of the Druids can be missed, there is nothing to catch a regular player here
SummaryExplore the haunted wilds and beautiful landscapes of Ireland as you battle a druidic cult known as the Children of Danu. Conquer ring forts, master the art of smuggling, and gain the favor of Gaelic kings in a new open-world adventure.