Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s first major expansion delayed until May

Ubisoft has announced that it’s pushing back the release date of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s first major expansion, Wrath of the Druids, until May. 

The announcement, made by the official Assassin’s Creed Twitter account, states that the delay is being implemented in order to give the game’s development team time “to deliver a more refined experience.”

The new release date for Wrath of the Druids, which was originally slated to release on April 29, is now May 13. In its announcement tweet, Ubisoft has committed to release an article that it says will “provide transparency and share insights ” into its development process. 

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With the ongoing pandemic disrupting workflow, delays are fairly common at the moment. Given some games have been pushed back months and others have been pushed into 2022, this delay of two weeks feels like a relatively brief amount of time for the sake of improving the expansion's quality.

When Wrath of the Druids is released, it’ll see players travel to Ireland where Eivor will battle a druidic cult known as the Children of Danu, delving into Gaelic folklore and the emerging Norse-Gael culture. It’s the first of two confirmed expansions, with the second being The Siege of Paris, which is due to release in summer 2021. 

Ubisoft hasn’t yet given any indication if the delay of Wrath of the Druids will have a knock-on effect on the release date of The Siege of Paris but, given the second expansion only a rough release window at the moment, it seems unlikely. 

Looking ahead

While Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues its post-release journey, its senior writer, Alain Mercieca, has been looking ahead to the next game. In a recent interview, Mercieca touched on where the next Assassin’s Creed might be set and while he said there were “too many” possibilities to choose from, he highlighted Malta and Brazil as particularly exciting prospects for him personally. 

It’s possible, but not guaranteed, we’ll hear more about the future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise at E3 2021. The event, which is running between June 12 and June 15, is going all digital this year and Ubisoft is confirmed to be in attendance alongside Nintendo and Xbox. 

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