Assassin's Creed Valhalla has received its promised New Game+ patch, and the update is actually way more in-depth than I think most people anticipated.

It's been over three years since Ubisoft released Valhalla's "final" patch, but the developer clearly felt as though it had unfinished business. New Game+ ended up being the single most requested feature — and now, it's finally here.

But this isn't just a casual implementation. The open world RPG now boasts an additional game setting called 'Extended Progression', allowing dedicated players to grow their Eivor's power even further by utilising a new resource called mythril.

The rare metal can be used to upgrade already maxed-out gear, essentially creating a whole new layer of progression alongside New Game+.

If Valhalla's 200-hour journey somehow wasn't enough for you, then this update should keep you playing until Odin himself returns.

And then there's the surprise introduction of support for PS5 Pro. Valhalla obviously launched a few years before Sony's supercharged system, and it was never fully upgraded (although it did run better overall).

This patch enables the Pro's recently enhanced PSSR upscaler, providing increased visual clarity without sacrificing performance. This means the game's 4K quality mode now runs at 60 frames-per-second.

For what it's worth, I think Valhalla still has one of the most stunning open worlds on PS5 — so booting it up again just to see this PSSR update in action will probably be worthwhile.

Oh, and a whole bunch of combat balance adjustments have been made as well.

Here are the official patch notes:

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Update 1.8 Patch Notes

Patch Highlights

New Game+

We know this has been a request for ages, and we appreciate your patience. You can now start your Viking quest all over again after completing the main story of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. To access NG+ you'll have to complete the Holy Day Quest, which is the last quest of the Hamtunscire region. (This is before the true ending of the game but since it is a very big game, we’ve decided to allow you to start NG+ a little bit earlier) Each iteration of NG+ will get progressively harder, offering new challenges to players who want to revisit the Viking Age again and again.

In NG+, receiving a piece of gear or interacting with a book of knowledge that you already own will instead reward you with a piece of Mithril, a new resource. Mithril will also be accessible in the Niflheim, Mastery and River Raid shops, offering an alternate source of material for players who simply want to continue their adventure in the endgame. Additionally, looting Carbon, Nickel and Tungsten in a Wealth Chest will instead give Platinum, an ingot previously only available in the Dawn of Ragnarok DLC, now available for free. This also means that upgrading a piece of gear to the Divine quality is now available without the DLC.

Naoe Master Assassin outfit added

Extra Upgrades

To keep up with each NG+, we are raising the maximum upgrade level of each piece of divine gear from 13 to 27, increasing your gear's potential strength. Each upgrade will require the new Mithril resource, so you will need a lot of it!

Extended Progression Mode

This gameplay option allows you to play through Valhalla with a more granular sense of progression. While Extended Progression is active, Gear upgrades and Runes will increase Power by 1 point, and Masteries increase Power every 5 skill points. This mode is intended to increase the impact of your gear. The challenge is greater, but the reward is great for the mighty.

Stash

As we all know, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a big game, and it keeps getting bigger each year. With this update, we’re adding a way to help sort and organize your gear and runes; the Stash. In Ravensthorpe, you'll be able to discover a newly installed Stash which, when interacted with, will allow players to store any piece of gear and any rune from their inventory.

Rune Forge Update

As an added bonus, we’ve decided to give the rune forge a couple of updates. Players will notice a new tab within the menu which will allow them to upgrade their runes in exchange for silver. From lesser to normal, from normal to greater AND from greater to superior, a new tier of rune which can be only obtained from the rune upgrade page. This last upgrade requires Mithril instead of silver and will allow players to obtain even more power from their runes.

The second addition to the rune forge is in the engrave page; we’ve added more than 300 available engravable runes, allowing players to engrave all of the perks that have been added since the release of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, including DLCs and those purchased in the Helix Store. As long as players acquire a weapon or an entire armor set, they will find the set of armor and weapon in the engrave menu which will be able to be engraved into a rune for 450 silver. This allows players to create a lot of different combinations of perks; we can’t wait to see what they do with these new opportunities.

New Trophies

The Most Requested Update also brings 2 new achievements for the completionists amongst you:

  • Ivaldi's Heir: Fully upgrade a Divine Gear
  • Circle of Renewal: Complete a New Game+ run

PSSR 2 Support

PSSR 2 support arrives on PlayStation®5 Pro console, enhancing image quality and performance as you journey through sweeping landscapes, vibrant cities and serene countryside.

Balancing Changes

We've added lots of small balancing changes, trying to make dual wielding feel better, improve stat runes as well as balancing skill masteries and their bonuses.

  • Skills that grant Assassination Damage now correctly grant 5.3 per point instead of 5.26
  • Skills that grant Stealth Damage now correctly grant 1.7 per point instead of 1.67
  • Skills that grant Melee Damage now correctly grant 2.3 per point instead of 2.33
  • Skills that grant Ranged Damage now correctly grant 2.3 per point instead of 2.33
  • Skills that grant Health now correctly grant 5.2 per point instead of 5.17
  • Skills that grant Evasion now correctly grant 4.2 per point instead of 4.17
  • "Way of the X" Skills that grant Evasion now correctly grant 0.6 per point instead of 0.62
  • Skills that grant Poison Damage Resistance now correctly grant 5.6 per point instead of 5.56
  • Skills that grant Poison Buildup Resistance now correctly grant 5.6 per point instead of 5.56
  • Skills that grant Fire Damage Resistance now correctly grant 5.6 per point instead of 5.56
  • Skills that grant Fire Buildup Resistance now correctly grant 5.6 per point instead of 5.56
  • Additionally, two nodes have been modified in the Skill Tree:
    • The Range Critical Damage node south of Combat Dive in the Dawn of Ragnarok Wolf tree has been changed to Light Attack Damage
    • The Range Critical Damage node east of Cunning Shot in the Dawn of Ragnarok Wolf tree has been changed to Light Attack Damage

Raven Mastery

  • Now grants +0.2 Assassination Damage per level
  • Now grants +0.2 Evasion per level
  • Now grants +0.1 Health per level
  • No longer increases Stealth Damage
  • No longer increases Ability Damage

Bear Mastery

  • Now grants +0.2 Melee Damage per level
  • Now grants +0.2 Melee Resistance per level
  • Now grants +0.1 Health per level
  • No longer increases Ability Damage

Wolf Mastery

  • Now grants +0.2 Ranged Damage per level
  • Now grants +0.2 Ranged Resistance per level
  • Now grants +0.1 Health per level
  • No longer increases Stealth Damage
  • No longer increases Ability Damage

Bearded Axe

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack Finisher:
  • (With Shield) x1 → x1.16 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.24 → x1.16 base damage
  • (With None) x1 → x1.16 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Attack Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.6 → x1.73 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.6 → x1.73 base damage

Dagger

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack 4, Regular Attack 5, Regular Attack 6, Regular Attack 7, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x0.95 → x1.05 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x0.97 → x1.05 base damage
  • (With None) x0.95 → x1.05 base damage
  • Regular Attack 7
  • (With Dagger) Removed duplicated data
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x2.12 → x2.21 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x2.39 → x2.21 base damage
  • (With None) x1.92 → x2.21 base damage

Spear

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1 → x1.17 base damage
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.08 → x1.17 base damage
  • (With None) x1 → x1.17 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.99 → x2.22 base damage
  • (With Light Weapon) x2.27 → x2.22 base damage
  • (With None) x1.89 → x2.22 base damage

Hammer

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.1 → x1.21 base damage
  • (With None) x1.1 → x1.21 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.59 → x1.4 base damage
  • (With None) x1.98 → x1.4 base damage

Greatsword

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack 4, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1 → x1.17 base damage
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.09 → x1.17 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.09 → x1.17 base damage
  • (With None) x1 → x1.17 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.89 → x1.75 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.89 → x1.75 base damage
  • (With None) x1.78 → x1.75 base damage

Dane Axe

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.49 → x1.77 base damage
  • (With None) x1.49 → x1.77 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.85 → x2.19 base damage
  • (With None) x1.9 → x2.19 base damage

Flail

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack 4, Regular Finisher
  • (With Flail) x1.28 → x1.1 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Flail) x1.77 → x2.05 base damage
  • (With Shield) x1.95 → x2.05 base damage
  • (With None) x1.95 → x2.05 base damage

Heavy Shield

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Finisher
  • (With Light Shield) x1.2 → x1.25 base damage
  • (With None) x1.2 → x1.25 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With None) x1.27 → x1.21 base damage

Light Shield

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Finisher
  • (With Heavy Shield) x1 → x1.24 base damage
  • (With None) x1 → x1.24 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Heavy Shield) x1.39 → x1.59 base damage
  • (With None) x1.51 → x1.59 base damage

Fist

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Finisher
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.06 → x1 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.06 → x1 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.84 → x2.22 base damage
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.62 → x2.22 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.62 → x2.22 base damage

Sickle

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack 4, Regular Attack 5, Regular Attack 6, Regular Attack 7, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x0.95 → x1.05 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x0.97 → x1.05 base damage
  • (With None) x0.95 → x1.05 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x2.39 → x2.21 base damage
  • (With None) x1.92 → x2.21 base damage
  • Now has up to x0.6 animation speed when speed stat is 53.5 or lower
  • Now has x1 animation speed when speed stat is 76.4
  • Now has up to x1.5 animation speed when speed stat is 99.3 or higher

Shortsword

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Attack 3, Regular Attack 4, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1 → x1.2 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.24 → x1.2 base damage
  • (With None) x1 → x1.2 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.6 → x1.75 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.6 → x1.75 base damage
  • Now has up to x0.6 animation speed when speed stat is 44.1 or lower
  • Now has x1 animation speed when speed stat is 58.8
  • Now has up to x1.5 animation speed when speed stat is 76.4 or higher

Scythe

  • Regular Attack 1, Regular Attack 2, Regular Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.38 → x1.34 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.1 → x1 health multiplier
  • (With None) x1.1 → x1.34 base damage
  • Alternate Attack 1, Alternate Attack 2, Alternate Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.53 → x1.6 base damage & x1.1 → x1 health multiplier
  • (With Light Weapon) x1.53 → x1.6 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.53 → x1.6 base damage
  • (With None) x1.46 → x1.6 base damage
  • Regular Scythe Combo 1, Regular Scythe Combo 2, Regular Scythe Finisher
  • (With Shield) x1.38 → x1.34 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.38 → x1.34 base damage
  • (With None) x1.1 → x1.34 base damage
  • Alternate Scythe Combo 1, Alternate Scythe Combo 2, Alternate Scythe Finisher
  • (With Scythe) x1.6 → x1.53 base damage
  • (With Heavy Weapon) x1.61 → x1.53 base damage
  • (With None) x1.46 → x1.53 base damage
  • Now has up to x0.6 animation speed when speed stat is 44.1 or lower
  • Now has x1 animation speed when speed stat is 58.8
  • Now has up to x1.5 animation speed when speed stat is 76.4 or higher

Atgeir

  • Now has up to x0.6 animation speed when speed stat is 30.9 or lower
  • Now has x1 animation speed when speed stat is 47
  • Now has up to x1.7 animation speed when speed stat is 61.8 or higher

Will you be diving back into Valhalla for all of this new stuff? Carve out at least six weeks of your calendar in the comments section below.

[source blog.playstation.com, via reddit.com]