God of War Ragnarök's Valhalla DLC Has An Endgame Challenge So Hard Nobody On The Dev Team Has Completed It

In , those looking for an added challenge for extra rewards should look out for the chance to activate Burdens. The Burdens of Valhalla are specific types of challenges that usually last for a specified number of encounters and then reward you for lasting through them. That being said, players should be cautious before activating a Burden, as they could cause far more harm than good.

The DLC for is not necessarily a modest addition to the game, but it isn't a full-blown expansion either. Regardless, it manages to add plenty of new content to the game. Throughout the base game, Kratos and Atreus manage to survive the last days of Fimbulwinter and play a key role in Ragnarok, an apocalyptic event in Norse mythology prophesied to result in the death of numerous gods. takes place after the base game's story in the eponymous mythical location.

In , players can now finally get their hands on the Blade of Olympus. Introduced in, the Blade of Olympus has not made a reappearance since the reboot of the series despite being present in several other games. However, when Kratos is forced to reckon with his past in the new DLC, he can also get this weapon from his past.

By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

We've reached the last month of an incredible year in gaming, closing the season with a final rush of exciting titles as the Christmas holiday period fast approaches. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X — is easily the biggest launch in December, transporting players to the never-seen-before Western Frontier of Pandora, teeming with awe-inspiring creatures and luminescent vegetation. It's a bit reminiscent of the James Cameron movies, in the sense that you awaken as a Na'vi orphan and are thrust into battle against the Resources Development Administration (RDA), the corporation looking to harvest natural resources from the beautiful alien moon planet.

Announced at The Game Awards 2023 and released as a free update shortly after, the DLC for sees Kratos fighting through the titular Valhalla in a fashion similar to a roguelite — making multiple runs which restart on death, and which offer both temporary and permanent resources and power-ups to make runs feel varied and distinct. Far from simply being a fun new game mode, however, also makes significant contributions in terms of story, with the DLC's narrative set after the events of and dealing with the disconnect between the classic games and the modern series.

In , players can take Kratos through the new roguelike mode, where they will want to get as many upgrades as possible as quickly as possible. Kratos is relatively weak at the beginning of this free DLC, and in the tutorial, he is cursed and defeated quickly. Luckily, there are permanent and temporary upgrades to get Kratos back up to his full strength.

The free, roguelite DLC for ,, isn't just a tacked-on additional mode, but an epilogue to the base game's story which sees Kratos directly confronting his past as the Olympian god of war. Part of this new chapter has Kratos reconnecting with an apparition of Helios – or more accurately, Helios' decapitated head. In the midst of Valhalla's ever-shifting locales, Mimir's head is occasionally replaced by that of Helios, heckling his murderer as Kratos navigates amalgamations of his memories. While allusions are made to Helios' decapitation and Kratos' motivations for performing it, doesn't expressly delineate the event from and its context.

God of War Ragnarok's free DLC is out now on PS5 and PS4. Adding a whole new component to Kratos' Game of the Year-worthy epic, Valhalla tasks players with battling through an increasingly dangerous gauntlet of opponents in roguelike fashion. For some, 'roguelike' is without a doubt a dirty term, but this expansion promises a personal journey for our favourite bald Spartan, as the grizzled warrior comes to terms with his past (and what might await him in his future).

Santa Monica Studios' free God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla DLC is proving to be much more than merely a tacked-on roguelike experience, surprising players with its narrative heft and implications for Kratos and the future of the God of War franchise. Santa Monica didn't do itself any favours by mainly focusing on the mechanical in its unveiling trailer, but you can't keep a good story down.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is the best kind of DLC — it makes an already fantastic game even better. Available for free to all who own God of War Ragnarok itself, this is an epilogue to the main story that gives you a very good excuse to dive back into the action. Not only does Valhalla contain some valuable narrative beats to enjoy, it does so while putting a roguelike spin on the brilliant combat, giving you effectively limitless challenges to conquer.

God of War: Ragnarok - Valhalla may be a roguelite take on the formula of the base game, but many are the mechanics seen in the main adventure that made the jump into the expansion with a couple of tweaks.