'Assassin's Creed Valhalla' expansion becomes a standalone series entry to be released in a year, report says

Ubisoft’s plans for the “Assassin's Creed Valhalla” Year 2 roadmap were big enough that one of the planned expansions had reportedly been turned into a standalone project. The game, codenamed Rift, is expected to launch in a year or so.

The report comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who spoke with people familiar with the project, claiming that the initially planned expansion was turned into full game development in late 2021. Details about the game, including an official title, are still scarce. But the report indicates that the project, albeit a standalone title, is still very much connected to the world and story introduced in “Assassin's Creed Valhalla.”

While Rift is expected to launch as a separate installment of the series, sources noted that it would not be as big as the typical “Assassin's Creed” main series entry. The game would still feature open-world RPG elements with a focus on stealth gameplay, but a report on Eurogamer compared its scope to a smaller map region. Ubisoft is also rumored to feature Baghdad on the map.

Ubisoft, unsurprisingly, declined to confirm the details in the Bloomberg report. But the publisher said it has a “solid and exciting line-up of titles in our pipeline” planned for established franchises and new IPs.

With expansions and other content updates planned for “Assassin's Creed Valhalla” this year, it is still unclear how the standalone game will connect to the main title. But the same report suggested that Basim Ibn Ishaq would be one of the featured characters in the game and that it could offer more about the villain’s backstory.

Basim, a villain introduced in “Assassin's Creed Valhalla,” has quickly become one of the fan-favorite antagonists in the series. And he appears to play another significant role in the standalone release. Early last year, he was also one of the characters added to the mobile free-to-play game “Assassin's Creed: Rebellion.”

Even though reports are saying the “Assassin's Creed Valhalla” expansion-turned-full-game is smaller, its development is still expected to continue possibly for another year. Bloomberg said it could be launched in late 2022 or sometime in 2023.