If you’re taking down your Christmas decorations this week, you’re not alone. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will do the same this Thursday, 7th January when its festive Yuletide event comes to an end.
You’ve still got a couple of days to drop in if you haven’t done so already, and there’s a couple of things worth seeing. But while I’ve long thought Valhalla’s settlement area is one of its most promising features, its potential is never quite fully realised in the base game, and despite it being the focus of this seasonal update, the same is true again here at Yuletide.
If you’re yet to check in, you’ll have two short questlines waiting for you. The Case of The Missing Ale is a straightfoward mission which asks you to raid a bandit camp for a barrel of missing brew. It features new character Ake, your regular brewer’s new apprentice, and it is seemingly bugged for a lot of people. (Don’t go to Sciropescire to finish the quest as directed, Ake is actually just stood nearby the bandit camp.)
Cow Catcher, meanwhile, is another quick quest which introduces Bertham, the farmhand who tends your settlement’s cattle farm. If you’ve gone round and read all the notes in your settlement’s various buildings, you’ll have heard about Bertham and his love affair with another local villager – and this is expanded in the mission’s dialogue. It’s the better and more original of the two missions, though a little buggy too. Also, playing both only reminded me of the far more elaborate Lost Tales of Greece offered for free on a regular schedule by Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Even taken together, these missions don’t really come close.