Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Editions Differences and Season Pass Guide

There are five AC Valhalla editions available. Ubisoft has made a habit for themselves to offer their games in as many varieties of packages as possible and in both digital and physical form. This guide will help you choose the edition of the game that best describes your needs and desires as a gamer. Valhalla has extensive post-launch support planned, we’ll cover that as well!

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the name of the next game by the developer Ubisoft, part of the popular franchise. Valhalla will take you into the Dark Ages of the Vikings’ expansion into Europe and more specifically – England.

The game releases at the end of 2020 and is already available for pre-order in several editions. There is no official date set yet. The first trailer announced it as arriving in “Holiday 2020”. As soon as a date becomes available, VULKK.com will let you know, of course!

Each one of the Valhalla editions offers a different pack of bonuses and additional perks on top of the base game.

The game will be available for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Stadia and PC. Currently only the PC versions are available for digital pre-order and only the console versions are available for physical pre-order. Exception is the Collector’s Edition. As soon as this changes, I will update this guide.

A Season Pass will also be available, the game will receive post-launch support in the form of free and paid DLC.

AC Valhalla Standard Edition

The Standard Edition of Valhalla brings you the game itself with no additional gifts or bonus content. The Season Pass will be available as a separate purchase, of course.

You can get it as a digital purchase or a physical copy for all platforms – Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC.

Currently pre-orders are only available if you choose the Standard Edition for PC. Here is what you will get if you purchase the AC Valhalla Standard Edition:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game
• Way of the Berserker pre-order bonus mission

AC Valhalla Gold Edition

The Gold edition builds upon the Standard by adding the Season Pass to the items included. Right now this edition is not available for pre-order on consoles in digital format, only as physical copy. Here are the items included in the AC Valhalla Gold Edition:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game
• Way of the Berserker pre-order bonus mission
• The Season Pass

AC Valhalla Gold Steelbook Edition

A special version of the Gold Edition is available only in a physical form, because it contains a unique Gold Steelbook. Here is what’s included in this edition:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game
• Way of the Berserker pre-order bonus mission
• The Season Pass
• Ubisoft Store exclusive Steelbook with design inspired by in-game emblems

AC Valhalla Ultimate Edition

The Ultimate Edition is what I personally have pre-ordered for myself. This arrives with the standard Gold Edition package, plus the Ultimate Package.

Here’s what’s included in the Ultimate Edition:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game
• Way of the Berserker pre-order bonus mission
• The Season Pass
• Ultimate Package

The Ultimate Package contains the following items:

• The Berserker Gear Pack, with the Bearded Axe, the Ursine Guard Light Shield, a new skin for your raven, the ferocious Hati Wolf Mount, and the Berserker Set for Eivor.
• The Berserker Longship Pack, which packs in a majestic longship with a unique figurehead and a set of new sails.
• The Berserker Settlement Pack, which includes new ways to customize your settlement.
• A Set of Runes to sharpen your weapons or improve the gear of your choice.

You can see a full overview of the Ultimate pack and all of its contents in my review article linked here.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will offer a vast open world, available for exploration by foot and on water. Your Long Boat will need upgrades and changing it looks and style might make it less boring during those voyages across the sea.

The In-Game items might give you a slight boost in the early levels, but I doubt they will hold off against the more powerful loot that awaits you in the later game.

AC Valhalla Collector’s Edition

For the most loyal and fanatic fans of the franchise, Ubisoft offers a giant physical pack stuffed with all kinds of goodies. This edition is available for pre-order for all platforms. it is, however, only available in a physical form, because of all the goodies that it packs on top of the Ultimate Edition. Here is what you will find inside:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla base game
• Way of the Berserker pre-order bonus mission
• The Season Pass, which will expand your experience with new content, new lands, and new gear.
• The Ultimate Pack
• A high-end, 30cm-tall Ubicollectibles statue of Eivor standing at the prow of her longship, the Drakkar.
• A 5cm-tall Viking statuette of Eivor with his raven and Dane axe.
• A Collector’s Case with a unique artwork.
• The Ubisoft Store Exclusive Steelbook with a design inspired by in-game emblems.
• A set of three lithographs showcasing some of the most stunning concept art created for the game.
• A Premium Certificate of Authenticity, serialized with the unique number of your Collector’s Edition.
• A soundtrack CD with a selection of music from the game.

AC Valhalla PC System Requirements

The game arrives on PC with (almost) all of its bells and whistles. While there is no support for DLSS and Ray Tracing (RTX), the game officially supports full HDR and ultrawide screen gameplay. Below are the system requirements, as designed and presented by Ubisoft:

Minimum:

• Avg performance: 1080p / 30 FPS
• Graphics settings: Low Preset
• GPU: AMD R9 380 / GTX 960
• CPU: Ryzen 3 1200 / i5-4460
• RAM: 8 GB (Dual Channel Mode)
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit only)
• Storage: 50 GB HDD (SSD recommended)

Recommended:

• Avg performance: 1080p / 30 FPS
• Graphics settings: High Preset
• GPU: RX 570 \ GTX 1060
• CPU: Ryzen 5 1600 / i7-4790
• RAM: 8 GB (Dual Channel Mode)
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit only)
• Storage: 50 GB SSD

High:

• Avg performance: 1080p / 60 FPS
• Graphics settings: High Preset
• GPU: Vega 64 / GTX 1080
• CPU: Ryzen 7 1700 / i7-6700
• RAM: 8 GB (Dual Channel Mode)
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit only)
• Storage: 50 GB SSD

Enthusiast:

• Avg performance: 1440p / 60 FPS
• Graphics settings: Very High Preset
• GPU: RX 5700XT / RTX 2080 Super
• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X / i7-8700K
• RAM: 16 GB (Dual Channel Mode)
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit only)
• Storage: 50 GB SSD

Ultra:

• Avg performance: 4k / 30 FPS
• Graphics settings: Ultra High Preset
• GPU: RX 7=5700XT / RTX 2080
• CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X / i7-9700K
• RAM: 16 GB (Dual Channel Mode)
• OS: Windows 10 (64 bit only)
• Storage: 50 GB SSD

These tables prove one thing – the game is not optimized properly for high resolution at high framerates. However, it’s worth noting that there is no mention in this chart of Nvidia’s new RTX 30 graphics card lineup. These along with the brand new Ryzen CPUs (or Intel’s 10th generation) might give you the frames you desire if 4k is your resolution of choice.

UPDATE: I tested my own hardware with the in-game benchmark tool and here are the results (if you don’t see the video, please, disable your AdBlocker):

What is included in AC Valhalla Season Pass

The game will offer post-launch content in the form of free patches and paid DLC. The Season Pass is included in each editions starting from Gold and upwards. For the rest, you will have to buy it separately.

It will allow you to travel to new lands, access epic new content and discover new gear. A special Story Mission will be available at launch if you get the Season Pass early.

There are two expansions planned for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla:

Wrath of the Druids
In the first one you will explore haunted wilds and beautiful landscapes of Ireland as you embark on a battle against a cult of druids known as the Children of Danu. This new open-world adventure offers also conquering of ring forts, smuggling missions and more.

The Siege of Paris
The second expansion will take you to Francia. You will sail there to engage the forces of Charles the Fat as you participate in the Viking’s most daring conquest. You will be able to experience first-hand the infiltration of Paris, forge alliances within its walls and strike a shattering blow at this empire.

A bonus mission will allow you to explore The Legend of Beowulf. As the legend tells it, a mysterious beast is ravaging the countryside and it is up to you to track it down and reveal the secrets behind England’s first great epic. This mission is available with the launch of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla!

There will be free Seasonal content for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Everyone who owns any version of the game on any platform will be able to enjoy additional new in-game events, like the Yule Festival (around Christmas), new game modes such as the River Raids, Jomsviking updates and more.

Pre-Load times and the Day-1 Patch

The game launches on November 10 2020. Here is a full breakdown of the exact timings for the launch in each time zone:

AC Valhalla has a day-1 patch for downloading. Even if you pick up the game at a later point, you will not be able to just install it from your discs and play. Unless you purchase a digital edition, of course. Then the base game along with any currently available up to this date updates and additional downloads will be included in the installation process.

Here is what the developers have seen fit to sneak into the game in the last moment before launch in Game Update 1.0.2:

• Fine-tuned the balancing of the game
• Addressed various quest-related nuisances
• Improved performance and stability
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Added additional localized audio packs. Availability differs per region
• The Codex: We’re excited to reveal that the beloved Animus Database will return with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as “Codex”. The Codex has two parts, the Database & Tutorials.
• The Database provides information about the world and its people
• Tutorials provides insights on everything you have learned so far

AC Valhalla Uplay+ Availability

Ubisoft’s monthly subscription, called Uplay+, will allow you to play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as well as the Season Pass content. This includes the following:

• The Base game
• The Season Pass
• The Ultimate Pack

As you can expect, if you let your account subscription expire, you will lost access to the game as well. I am not certain if you will get access to the bonus mission that is usually granted only if you pre-order the game. It is more likely that you will not have access to it, even if you are a monthly subscriber from before the game launches.

Editions pricing and available discounts

The price given belowis for the pre-order of the editions. It does not include any special discounts or coupons you might have. I, for example, spent 100 Upoints to get myself a 20% discount code for my pre-order at the Ubisoft Store. You can do the same if you have points to spare.

• Standard Edition – $59.99
• Gold Edition – $109.99
• Ultimate Edition – $119.09
• Collector’s Edition – $199.99
• Uplay+ – $14.99 per month

If you are going to buy your game from the Ubisoft store, apply a discount for the Ubisoft Club. You can spend ~100 Units and convert them into a 20% discount.

I pre-ordered the Ultimate digital edition from the Ubisoft Store and I got it for €87.99 instead for the regular price of €119.99 or as it was currently discounted at the moment I made the pre-order – €109.99.

Just head to the discount generation page and convert 100 Units into a 20% discount. Ubisoft will send you a code that you place before you complete your pre-order and the new price should be 20% lower. Enjoy!

To earn Units, simply complete challenges in the other Ubisoft games you own. Be careful, because the earned units have an expiration date. They do not stay yours forever, so check back your account status from time to time and spend your units before you lose them.

This guide is based on personal research as well as information officially announced by Ubisoft.