Ubisoft released “The Final Chapter”, the last content update to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It arrived with Update 1.6.2 and offers closure to Eivor’s story and a number of game improvements and bug fixes!
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update 1.6.2 was released a week earlier than the originally planned and announced date. It was expected to arrive on December 6th. And, in fact, one part of it, will start working from that date.
The update itself is quite large, but this is something we have come to expect lately not only from Ubisoft games but from all games in general. Here are the sizes for the various platforms:
Xbox Series X and S: 15.1 GB
Xbox One: 13 GB
PlayStation 5: 1.8 GB
PlayStation 4: 1.5 GB
PC: 13.2 GB
New Story Content: The Last Chapter
The Last Chapter is a new mini story arc available for players, who have truly completed the game. This story unlocks only after you have finished the following:
- Complete the main storyline by pledging to all territories of England
- Complete the mythical story arcs of Asgard and Jotunheim
- Upgrade your settlement to level 5 and construct the Jomsviking barracks
- Kill all targets of the Order of the Ancients and unveil its leader
If you have played Assassin’s Creed regularly over these past two years, you have most likely completed all of these. I can safely say that by the time you complete the fourth requirement, you would have most likely already completed all previous three requirements as well.
The requirements only include elements from the core game, nothing from the expansions. This content is available to all players, who own the base game.
The Last Chapter is a collection of cinematic cutscenes. Eivor roams around England and Norway talking with old friends. I will not spoil the contents of the conversations nor how, when in the timeline and why they happen, but let me just tell you there’s an interesting twist to how these conversations are shown.
You will receive a full armor set as a reward for completing this: Jarl of the Raven Clan armor set. It’s the same armor that you see Eivor wearing in the cinematics during the mission.
This isn’t just The Last Chapter for Eivor. This is also the final bit of content Ubisoft is adding to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. From here on we can expect patches with bug fixes, maybe some new mini-feature added here or there, but I think the developers are now ready to say their final farewells to the game and focus on the next.
As you might expect, I have a guide to walk ou through and show you how to unlock and complete The Last Chapter Story arc in AC Valhalla.
New Free Mission: The Raven and the Cuckoo
There is also one separate mission taking place in England. It’s called “The Raven and the Cuckoo” and you can find it under the “Shared History” tab in your quest log.. I am not quite sure how this one relates to the Final Chapter. I saw no connections between them while I played them yesterday other than the mission being available as part of the 1.6.2 update.
Here’s what Ubisoft has to say about it:
“Shared History is a new free quest for all Assassin’s Creed Valhalla players, featuring Roshan, from Assassins Creed Mirage, voiced by Shoreh Agdashloo in the English version of the game. After first meeting Basim’s mentor in Mirage’s announcement trailer, you will be able to see her in action in the word of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, as she and Eivor discover that they share a common enemy.“
If you play the game in English, there is no way you will not recognize the voice of Shoreh Agdashloo.
In this mission, Eivor teams up with Roshan in assassinating Edward, the Earl of Westerna. Roshen then takes down their leader Al-Si’la.
This is a very straightforward mission. It is unique in the fact that it is a hint at the classic Assassination missions in Assassin’s Creed. It’s designed in a way that provokes you to sneak and try to remain hidden.
Your best approach is to avoid direct confrontation, remain hidden, and sneak to the podium in the middle of the camp where Edward is talking to a crowd.
You get a full set of armor as a reward: Mendor of Alamut. You can see a preview below:
New Feature: Hood Always On
It took Ubisoft two years, but they finally released an option to have the Hood of your armor set to always appear to be on or always off.
This is an option you find in the Gameplay tab on the menu of the game. Sadly, it’s not per set setting. You can tun it on and off at any time, but you’d still have to do it from the menu and it’s globally affecting all of your sets at the same time.
This is a cosmetic change. Having your hood up or down will not affect your stealth or any other parts of your gameplay.
One Free Store Item Every Week
Starting December 6th 2022, Ubisoft will offer one random (they say it’s random) item for free. You will be able to just start up the game, check the Store and get this one item.
The new item available will reset each Tuesday at 14:00 UTC. You will need to be in the game to redeem it, you can’t be in the main menu before starting a saved game file.
This is not much, but yet another opportunity to get the so-called “premium items” without spending real-life money. You can already do that at Reda’s Shop in Ravensthorpe. Now, you will be able to get an extra item each week directly from the store.
Ubisoft designed this with marketing in mind most likely. A typical scenario would include: You get one item, but now you want all the others from the pack. And you have to spend Helix Credits (real-life money) to get the rest.
No more Festivals in Ravensthorpe
The Four unique (well, not so unique any more) festivals available at different times over the past two years in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will not return any more. Ubisoft is wrapping up the support for the game and this includes the festivals.
If you have missed the Yule, Ostara, Sigrblot, or Oskoreia Festivals and the rewards they offer, you will be able to find and purchase all of these items from any vendor in England now.
To unlock them, of course, you have to complete the Gleicesterscire mission in England “The First Night of Samhain”. There are also new items available with 1.6.2, so stop by any of the merchants in England and check out their expanded contents. The new content includes new mounts and a raven skin.
Final Update for Stadia and Future Plans
Stadia is on its way out, as you surely know by now. Google is shutting the service down in the beginning of 2023. Update 1.6.2 is the final update to Stadia for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You will be able to play the game until January 28th, 2023.
Ubisoft announced work in progress on bringing any Ubisoft games you may own on Stadia to PC through their own Ubisoft Connect. There are no further details at this point, though.
If you played on Stadia, but also own the game on PC or a console, you can easily move on from Stadia to your other platform, thanks to the Cross-Progression feature.
No New Game Plus mode
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will not receive one of the highly-requested features in the past two years – New Game Plus mode.
Ubisoft explained this with the complexity of the game’s story:
“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been built as a unique Assassin’s Creed experience, one that is very different from its predecessors in its structure, offering new ways of engaging with the world and its characters. When investigating the implementation of New Game+, we realized that the depth of the game gave us limited options to make replayability unique and rewarding.”
AC Valhalla 1.6.2 Patch Notes
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Update 1.6.2 also features a number of bug fixes and game improvements. You can read all about them in the official patch notes from Ubisoft below:
TOMBS OF THE FALLEN
Addressed:
- The damage animation doesn’t activate when walking into the spiked poles.
- Eivor will remain in the grabbing state when pushing a stone onto the descending platforms.
THE FORGOTTEN SAGA
Addressed:
- Abilities cannot be activated during other combat actions.
- The quest “A gift from the Otherworld” remains after completing The Forgotten Saga.
- Eivor gets stuck under Nidhogg when the dragon is stunned
MASTERY CHALLENGE
Addressed:
- Hildiran’s Health Bar does not match their actual Health total.
- In some rare instances, encountering a crash during a cutscene with Hildiran can cause gear to go missing and some quest flows to break.
- Explosive jars are already blown up before starting the Dunwic: Trial of the Wolf.
- Unable to progress the quest “A Challenge from the Gods” after the first cutscene.
- Enemies hit with the rush and bash ability will not die or give points.
DAWN OF RAGNAROK
Addressed:
- During the quest “Finding Fritjof” Tyra won’t move inside the Foundry area.
- Instances where Odin would become stuck upon loading into Svartalfheim
- Unintended behavior occurs when reloading the game after buying runes from Kara.
- After battling Riekr, the Jotnar Bearded Axe was not awarded.
- Suttungr’s Outriders are not appearing on the map.
- During the Quest “The Scholar and the Sunstone” walking over lava doesn’t charge the stone as intended.
- During the quest “The Scholar and the Sunstone” Einar would stop moving.
- Daily Quests can sometimes set a friendly Jotun NPC as a target to assassinate.
CROSSOVER STORIES
Addressed:
- The cargo shelf in the Caves of Gold cannot be moved.
RIVER RAIDS
Addressed:
- Legacy of Saint George markers are visible outside of River Raids.
- Jomsviking crew members will run toward locked doors during Raids.
- In some instances, the Jomsviking crew’s health would be reduced when discovering a new location.
THE SIEGE OF PARIS
Addressed:
- In some rare instances, players would not be able to leave to Francia after speaking with Pierre.
- During the quest “A Hidden Weakness” Bernard can get stuck in a loop preventing the quest from progressing.
- Unable to speak to Toka at the start of the quest “Strangers bearing gifts”
WRATH OF THE DRUIDS
Addressed:
- Azar has died in England preventing the completion of “Dublin’s Reach”
- When being grappled by an Irish Hound Eivor can get stuck in the animation.
- “Man’s best friend” ability is not unlocked after completing the quest “A little problem”
ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
MAIN QUESTS, WORLD EVENTS, AND SIDE ACTIVITIES
Addressed:
- Eivor’s cape obscures the camera during the Flying event in Eurvicscire.
- The quest “Bound to Fate” was not added to the quest log after completion of the Jotunheim Arc.
- Crashing issues can be encountered on PS5 during the quests “Restless Dreams” and “Beyond Fear”.
- The quest “Twist and Turns” not updating after defeating all the enemies.
- In some instances, the quest “Firing the Arrow” cannot be started.After building Valka’s hut, the objective is not marked as complete.
- While fighting Basim, abilities that cause damage over time would simplify his phase 1.
- Unable to kill Bishop Herferith during “A Sword-Shower in Anecastre”
- Cannot interact with Loki in the quest “View above all”
- “Stoneman” Mysterynot be marked as complete upon completion.
- The quest “A Mild Hunt” can’t be completed due to the NPCs not being interactable.
WORLD
Addressed:
- Everold’s shop vanishing after being built.
- Rocks can be seen floating in the mountain area in Fornburg.
- Riding a mount around Ravensthorpe can result in your mount slowing in some places.
- It isn’t possible to confirm the kill against the Zealot “Callin” as he has clipped under the map.
- In the quest “Breaking Teeth, Not Hearts” the mystery NPCs all spawn in dead.
- Notification for leaving the boss area for Daughters of Lerion can appear when visiting the areas after the boss has been defeated.
- It isn’t possible to kill Leofgifu because she is stuck in a hut.
- When loading into the game it is always raining.
- In some instances, the shelves couldn’t be moved to obtain the key in Saint Hadrian’s Priory in Cent.
ARMORY & INVENTORY
Addressed:
- Corrected the 10% critical chance per kill for the Jorogiri short sword.
- The damage buff perk from the Yurei Bushido doesn’t activate when weapons are ignited.
- Items purchased in the Helix Store can disappear from the inventory.
- The Amalgam Sword perk activates incorrectly in some circumstances.
- The Yurei Bushido armor (Ghostly) perk doesn’t work as intended.
- Dwarven hairstyles and beards are duplicated in the inventory.
- The Scythe light attacks can sometimes break shieldbearer’s guard stances.
- The Light-Fingered skill does not work around some lootable items.
MISCELLANEOUS
Addressed:
- After using Photo Mode the pause menu will not function as intended.
- Some of the taller NPCs in Ravensthorpe shrank in size.
- The Celctic Armor is missing visual elements.
- Unintended behavior occurs when performing transmog on some weapons.
- Unequipped Store Items still appear present on a Mannequin after saving or loading.
- Finisher animations do not always play out on stunned enemies.
- Using a ration while interacting with a movable object causes an unintended animation.
- NPC sizes can alter when doing certain tasks and actions.
- Idunn’s Heart Effect is visible while inactive on the Dublin Champion gear set.
- Irregular behavior occurs when using the alternate combo ender with the Hammer and free off-hand.
- Added additional stability improvements to Valhalla.
- Using the ability “Rush and Bash” in some fights could prevent interacting with an NPC afterward.
- After slamming enemies into a wall the follow up attack of Rush and Bash Level 2 does not trigger.
UI / HUD
Addressed:
- Changing tabs in Blacksmith rapidly causes unintended behavior with the menu display.
