I've spent a week draining Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok of all content

I was the lone weirdo that gave Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok a 10/10 when I reviewed it last week. There ain't no shame in my game - I believed in that score when I wrote the review, and I still believe it now after spending a week draining every bit of content I could locate out of Ubisoft's massive expansion.

In my review, I compared Dawn of Ragnarok to Far Cry New Dawn. What I didn't say outright in the midst of heaping praise on the game was the precise reason that I appreciate games of this size - because they are the only open world games in which I can do everything. I have OCD (I'm not just one of those people that say I have OCD because I think it is cute and quirky - I actually have OCD). Modern open world games defy my need to tie up loose ends and have everything neat and clean, simply through their enormous scope. By the time I peel off of a normal open world game, there are untouched points all over the map, half sets of gear that will never be completed, and a quest log that reads like a Dickens novel.

But with games like Dawn of Ragnarok and New Dawn, I can actually finish the thing, and by that, I mean I can finish the whole damn thing. I've been off work this week while I'm transitioning day jobs, and I have been a little bit under the weather, so I spent the majority of the week cleaning up Dawn of Ragnarok. After finishing Eivor/Havi/Odin's bitter quest (and discovering that this is not the end of the story - hooray!), I set about systemically cleaning up every little glowing point on the map, easily dropping an additional twenty hours into the game after rolling the credits.

I've raided every raid, I've found every piece of gear, I've freed every captive dwarf from captivity. All of those wolf guys - dead. That dwarf that collects the uncut gemstones is completely taxed out. Every fast travel point has been unlocked. My pig-horse and I have been over every stinking inch of that land with a righteous vengeance, solving every puzzle and killing every roving band of baddies I come across.

Okay, so there are a few things I haven't managed. Some dwarf asked me to hide a chest behind a waterfall and I lost it in a lake. And I'm pretty sure the guy looking for his kid's toy is bugged. The only major thing I haven't completed is unlocking all of the arena gear. Due to the fact that I'm only about 15 hours into the main game, there are only six or so boss fights unlocked in the arena, which draws content from both the expansion and everything that came before it. I'm just not able to grind out those same battles over and over again to get everything. I unlocked the bow and shield and a few of the more interesting runes and called it a day. But I'll be back. Oh yes, I will be back.

My Eivor is now completely overpowered for where I am in the main game. That's fine with me. I'm the sort that will run in circles in a Final Fantasy game, maxing out my characters before taking on the final boss. Its not enough to win a battle, I want to dominate - and my gear will now allow me to do just that, regardless of what Valhalla tries to throw at me. 

I wish there were more games this size. I would happily pay $40 for a game with a more modest scope that I can pound the hell out of. I feel completely satisfied with my experience with Dawn of Ragnarok - like I've wrung every last one of those ten points out of it's heaving corpse. Now, with the taste of ashes in my mouth, I'm moving back into Valhalla as a virtual god. I have no problem playing these experiences completely out of order. I have my sights set on Ireland next. I hear that one is pretty good.