Here I thought Assassin’s Creed Valhalla might get away from those icky experience point boosters that Ubisoft love to put into their games, unfortunately it wasn’t. In Valhalla’s in-game store you can now buy XP boosts for real-life cash, effectively doubling your XP winnings. They are designed to save you time, so you don’t have to do tons of side missions to level up. But they caused quite a bit of backlash in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and I can’t say I’m particularly happy to see them return.
With Valhalla’s major 1.1.0 update coming out this week, XP boosts made their way to the store. For the price of 1000 Helix Credits (around £ 9 / $ 10), they permanently increase your XP earnings by 50%, or a slightly more expensive one will also double the gold you earn.
“As more and more post-launch content becomes available, we want to give players the opportunity to improve their progress,” Ubisoft told Game Informer. “Tools [the store category boosters are under] give players who don’t have time to fully explore the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to get the best gear in the game and other items by speeding up their progress. For example, these players can buy cards that reveal some interesting locations in the world, but they still have to visit and play them to get their rewards. “
XP boosts came under fire when Odyssey came out as some players felt the game was intentionally grindy to make you want to buy them. While Alice Bee in her Assassin’s Creed Odyssey review didn’t feel the grind was worse than most open world games: “[Boosters] are tempting when you really can’t be encouraged to do side missions, but not essential. I don’t agree that the game is a deliberately slow grind to force you to get more out of the closet. “
This is also consistent with what I have experienced with Valhalla so far; the pace is quite nice and I certainly don’t feel like I need the extra XP.
I’ve always found XP boosts a bit gross, especially in single player games. Call me old fashioned, but I think it would be nice not to feel the need to spend extra money to level up. That said, I think it’s nice to have the option if you want to explore higher-level areas a little earlier.
If you need help with the game without your hard-earned cash, check out our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla walkthrough.
Our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review called the Viking adventure “a vibrant grab bag of the best things from Assassin’s Creed games past.”