Assassin's Creed Valhalla update adds New Game Plus and PS5 Pro PSSR

Ubisoft has released “The Most Requested Update” for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a free patch that is live now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro. According to the PlayStation Blog, it adds New Game Plus, a progression update and upgraded PSSR support, which is exclusive to PS5 Pro.

The update is described as bringing several player-requested and quality-of-life features. The full list:

• New Game Plus
• Two new achievements
• An Enhanced Progression Mode option
• A new Power calculation
• A Master Assassin Naoe outfit
• Upgraded PSSR optimizations
• An Animus Hub synchronization update

Priscilla Nguyen, Engineering Studio Manager at Ubisoft, said the PSSR work meant integrating the upgraded version into the game to get better graphics when upscaling, at a better framerate. She described it as slightly more efficient than the game’s current Temporal Upscaler, and as crisper and more visually stable.

Nguyen said the team did not have to overhaul the game’s content or visual assets. Instead, it used the upgraded PSSR within the engine and rendering pipeline to improve 4K image quality and to deliver the Quality mode at 60FPS on PS5 Pro. She named the main challenge as balancing image quality, performance and integration in a game built years before the PS5 Pro existed.

Why it matters

Valhalla launched a few years before the PS5 Pro, so this update brings a newer upscaling technique to an older game without reworking its assets. Nguyen said Ubisoft had already integrated the upgraded PSSR into Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and that this was the reason to add it to Valhalla as well.

The split matters for who gets what. The PSSR changes are limited to PS5 Pro, while the update itself is available on both PS5 and PS5 Pro. Nguyen said the upgraded PSSR proved efficient enough to deliver a visible uplift and stronger performance without extensive changes to the game’s content.

What we don’t know yet

The PlayStation Blog post does not say whether the update is coming to other platforms, and it gives no detail on how New Game Plus or the Enhanced Progression Mode option work.