Assassin's Creed Valhalla is being updated today with a bunch of new additions to its fun if repetitive river raiding mode.

Title Update 1.3.1 launches this afternoon for all platforms, and weighs in at 26-34GB (or a more slender 14GB on PlayStation 5).

River raids get the most attention today, with a sizable helping of fresh content. Three new maps, set in countries visited in Valhalla's expansions, effectively double the mode's size. There's also new cosmetics and abilities to unlock.

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You can now leap around Assassin's Creed Valhalla dressed up as the series' legendary Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Specifically, this is the eye-catching Renaissance clobber Ezio wore back in Brotherhood - his fan favourite look.

You can acquire the free costume by logging into your Ubisoft Connect account on console or PC - but there's a twist. For now, Ezio's clothes are only available if Ubisoft detects you have played two previous games in the series.

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Ubisoft appears to be planning the return of a major Assassin's Creed character in a forthcoming update for the Viking-set Valhalla.

Details of the character are included in datamined quest data and dialogue lines found within Valhalla by the ever-reliable Assassin's Creed leaker J0nathan.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW.

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UPDATE 3pm UK: This season's event, the summer Sigrblot Festival, will run from 29th July to 19th August, Ubisoft has now announced.

Valhalla's The Siege of Paris expansion will land right in the middle of all that, on 12th August.

Preparations for the above will come as part of tomorrow's 1.3.0 patch, alongside a handful of new skills. These include Light Fingered (auto pickup nearby loot), Thrill of War (gain adrenaline while in conflict), Heidrun Slam (press R2 while sprinting to knock enemies back), Idunn's Heart (passively regenerate recent health loss after a short delay), Survival Instinct (when at less than a third of health, hold -> for partial healing in exchange for adrenaline) and Wolf Warrior (damage increases the lower your health).

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If this screencap is real, Assassin's Creed Valhalla's upcoming Paris DLC, Siege of Paris, is set to release on 5th August.

Though not officially confirmed by developer/publisher Ubisoft, the second DLC instalment seemingly popped up on an Italian Windows store and was promptly screen-capped before the announcement was removed again.

While all we can do is chalk this up as an unsubstantiated rumour for now, the screencap - shared via CriptAssassINI (thanks, NME) - certainly looks convincing.

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UPDATE 2.25PM UK: Ubisoft has now formally acknowledged Assassin's Creed Infinity and detailed more of how it will be run, and who will work on it.

The lengthy blog post contains mention of two teams led by two creative directors. Clint Hocking, formerly of Splinter Cell and Watch Dogs Legion, will lead a team at Ubisoft Montreal. Jonathan Dumont, a veteran of Assassin's Creed Syndicate and Odyssey, will lead a team at Ubisoft Quebec.

The Infinity project that will include the games made by both these teams will be led by Marc-Alexis Côté, who will now serve as executive producer of the entire Assassin's Creed franchise. Côté worked on Brotherhood before becoming creative director on Syndicate, and is one of the most senior staff at Ubisoft Quebec.

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Pottering around a Viking-era version of your home in Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an enormous amount of fun - as I discovered from my adventures in Gloucestershire - but could it also encourage others to visit your country? That's what Tourism Ireland is banking on, as the organisation has teamed up with Ubisoft to use Assassin's Creed Valhalla in a promotional campaign.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's first expansion, Wrath of the Druids, brings Viking protagonist Eivor across the seas to embark on new adventures in Ireland. Locations such as Dublin, Benbulben, the Giant's Causeway and the Hill of Tara are all visitable in-game, and Tourism Ireland has collaborated with Ubisoft to create a comparison video showing the game versions and their real-life counterparts:

The campaign doesn't end there, however, as streamers in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia will help showcase Irish landscapes in Wrath of the Druids as part of the collaboration. This is the first time that Tourism Ireland has worked with gaming content creators.

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This week's big Assassin's Creed Valhalla update added a new mode to the game, Mastery Challenge, which offers a series of repeatable maps to stomp and stealth your way through in return for fresh rewards.

We knew the gist of all this already - and we'll go into more detail below - but what has come as a nice surprise is the new narrative this mode folds into the game, including a tease for something else being added to Valhalla down the line.

The Mastery Challenge questline begins with a bang, as a meteor hits Eivor's Ravensthorpe. The impact reveals a door, apparently concealed within the cliffside all this time, and a mysterious woman, Hildiran, who's now investigating what's going on.

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The live-action Assassin's Creed series in the works at Netflix has signed up Jeb Stuart as its writer, according to Variety.

Most recently, and perhaps most relevantly, Stuart created Vikings spin-off Vikings: Valhalla, a spin-off from the popular Norse telly drama which is also Netflix-bound.

Further back, more years than I care to mention, Stuart also wrote the screenplay for the legendary Die Hard.

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Tomorrow's update for Assassin's Creed Valhalla adds a new Mastery Challenge mode to the game.

Update 1.2.2 will arrive for PC, PlayStation, Stadia and Xbox around 1pm UK time and also adds new skills, river raid cosmetics and other improvements.

Mastery Challenge mode is the big addition, and can be found at "numerous shrines hidden in the world", Ubisoft said in its patch notes. Each shrine will host a Trial of the Bear, testing your combat strength, a Trial of the Wolf, testing your ranged ability, and a Trial of the Raven, testing your stealth.

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