Ubisoft is releasing a big update tomorrow for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla across all platforms, aiming to balance combat, improve performance, and generally smooth out a game that’s not without its fair share of bugs. But the biggest blessing comes in the form of several planned fixes for broken objectives.
Fixes for more than two dozen quests, world events, and other optional missions — all of which have been plagued by progression-blocking bugs — are planned as part of the 1.1 update. For example, during “A Cruel Destiny,” one of the game’s earliest missions, the boss fight (no spoilers!) will now proceed to its second phase where before it might not. In “A Sword-Shower in Anacastre,” the climactic Lincolnshire mission, a key character should now move to a key position (no spoilers!), allowing the quest to be completed.
Call me a sucker, but I love the nerdy references Ubisoft works into patch notes. (Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku)
Crucially, the new update will also provide a fix for the “Madness of the Stones,” a world event in Cent beset by a unique problem. Most broken activities bug out in a way where you simply can’t progress past a certain point, and that’s that. It’s annoying, but whatever, you load an earlier save — or fast travel elsewhere — and move on with your life. “Madness of the Stones” is a different beast.
Alongside bugs meaning you may not be able to move on past a certain point, some players have also found their game file corrupted with a strange, vision-limiting bug. Whenever you load up the game henceforth, Eivor will start hallucinating, then lose sight entirely. You can still see icons and other markers on your heads-up display, but everything else will be pitch black. The best known way to restore your field of view is to find any communicable non-player character and speak with them. (Pro tip: Gunnar, in Ravensthorpe, is the easiest person to fumble to in the dark.)
Last month, “Madness of the Stones” wasn’t even listed on Ubisoft’s list of known issues for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It’s unclear whether tomorrow’s fix will simply allow for progression in the mission or if it will also remedy this strange, persistent bug. We’ll find out when the 1.1 update goes live at 7:00 a.m. ET tomorrow.
Beyond fixing quests and massaging out general kinks, a handful of other specific adjustments are en route. Those in the endgame will now find lootable chests in the hideout for the Grand Maegester of the Order of the Ancients. Doppelhander — a two-handed great sword and the indisputably best weapon in the game — will now show its proper stats, as will a handful of other, lesser weapons. You’ll also be able to place oil jars on the ground with the push of a button. After spending a month accidentally exploding myself, I can’t say I didn’t wish this one came sooner, but I’m happy for all of you who are just stepping in and now won’t immolate yourself in the name of good loot. The patch should be available to download by early tomorrow morning.
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I heard how bad they broke the Asian release that Ubisoft is getting roasted for overly censoring the game with no blood… huge drama, getting review bombed.
Has the bug been fixed for the mission where you get the key off some dude in Lunden? I think you do it for your artifact collector dude. The key doesn’t appear if you lure him away and there’s no way to reset it.
Also, would be nice to see 60fps at quality mode on the new current gen consoles. They’re easily capable.
Plus improving custom button mapping. Tried moving attacks from the triggers (y TF were they on triggers in the first place – first thing I changed in Odyssey) to X and Y like a normal game, but then you have conflicting buttons and there’s no way to fix it because every time you change something, it affects something else
Oh, I had that one, I had to finish the Lundon arc, report in to the settlement lady and return to Lundon again before it came right.
Wait… why couldn’t you place oil jars? I’ve been gently placing oil jars on the ground as a matter of puzzle-solving routine since launch, on the PS5. Is this platform-specific?
Might be, I’ve not had that issue yet either.
No idea. I’m on XSX and haven’t had a problem (after messing with controls for another 15 minutes)
im loving the game, i just wish they would fix the screen tearing on xbox one.