Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s free New Game+ update rebuilds the endgame loop

A second journey built around stronger progression

New Game+ unlocks after the Holy Day Quest and can be repeated at increasing difficulty. The intent is not merely to replay the campaign, according to Lead Game Designer David Larouche: players retain their endgame character while pursuing more granular upgrades and greater power. When active, Extended Progression Mode makes gear upgrades, runes and masteries contribute to the overall power level.

The new progression systems also support players who are not ready to enter New Game+. Larouche said the Extended Progression Mode, further divine-gear upgrades, the new rune tier and more than 300 rune perks are all available without New Game+ as well.

Divine gear, New Game+ loot and a deeper stash

Divine gear can now reach level 27, up from level 13. Mithril provides another route to improving it: players can receive the new resource from gear, interact with a book of knowledge they already own while in New Game+, or find it in Nilfheim and Mastery and River Raid shops.

New Game+ also changes some Wealth Chest rewards: Carbon, Nickel and Tungsten are replaced by Platinum. A new Stash in Ravensthorpe lets players store any gear piece or rune in their inventory, making it easier to hold different builds while managing that expanded progression.

The Rune Forge becomes a broader build-making system

Players can now upgrade runes for silver directly from the menu and push them to a new Superior tier. More than 300 engravable runes have also been added, broadening the combinations available when shaping a character’s build.

Larouche said the team added basically every perk found on an item as an engravable rune, including perks introduced through the extended experience, an expansion or the Store. He is particularly interested in the synergies players will create by combining those perks, while expecting some combinations to become overpowered.

Why the team revisited Valhalla now

Larouche described New Game+ as the feature fans requested most. The team wanted to give dedicated players a reason to experience Eivor’s journey again from a different perspective while carrying much of what they had already earned.

Although Valhalla’s final content update arrived years ago, Larouche said players and the team had not stopped caring about the game. When an opportunity arose to implement the long-requested feature, the team pursued it; he described the production process as smooth, supported by developers experienced in adding New Game+ to existing games.

The update reflects how the team monitors player feedback. Larouche said he regularly checks social networks for what players are discussing, while the team follows feedback and conversations across the internet and values seeing what players create and share around its games.