Gaming in city Santa Monica. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is an unfortunate amalgamation of Norse words. However, the incoming free DLC (out today, 12th December) looks like a delicious second helping for fans of Sony Santa Monica's most recent release. We learned that Valhalla would serve as an epilogue to Kratos's story, and now we have a trailer showing it in randomly generated action.

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.

The end of 2023 is upon us, and as we look back on all the amazing gaming moments we’ve shared, the PlayStation.Blog team wants to thank you for making the past year a special one. 

Even by AAA standards, God of War Ragnarök is a colossal game. It interweaves tales of fatherhood, legacies, and cataclysmic events in a semi-open world replete with things to do. But in Valhalla, its free DLC, Santa Monica Studio boils combat and adventure down to a much simpler formula. In pulling from Hades’ approach to storytelling, God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla weaponizes repetition to engross you in its roguelite narrative, drip-feeding you deeper knowledge of the Ghost of Sparta and the characters around him with each successive run.

Over a year after its initial release, has returned with free DLC,. Taking players to Santa Monica Studio's imagining of the iconic Norse afterlife reserved for those slain in battle, presents a roguelite epilogue to 's story. While an unexpected expansion to the latest game is a welcome surprise in itself, the additional quests offer some rewards that are likely to pique the interest of fans who have been following Kratos' journey since the original Greek saga.

UPDATE

In the gaming space, the evolution of a franchise over the course of years is vital for it to stay relevant. If you can’t maintain a certain quality level, things will go badly for you. But, if you take the time to reinvent yourself, the results can speak for themselves. A great example from 2023 is Mario, who had a “wonder-ful” new title showcase how Nintendo isn’t afraid to change things up on a large scale. Last year had an equally big shift via God of War Ragnarok and how it depicted Kratos and those around him.

Following the ESA's announcement that E3 is no more, developers and industry figures have been sharing their memories of the event as they wish it farewell.

One of the coolest announcements at The Game Awards last week was the surprise reveal of the free Valhalla DLC for God of War Ragnarok. That DLC is out now, and players have been astounded to find just how rich and fully featured it is.

God of Ragnarok: Valhalla has launched, mere days after its surprise announcement at The Game Awards, bringing a free, story-driven roguelite mode to the acclaimed action-adventure title that serves as an epilogue to the base game’s story. Interestingly enough, however, it seems the game’s story still might not be done.

With God of War Ragnarok’s free DLCValhalla reportedly out in just a few hours for PS4 and PS5 players, co-director Mihir Sheth has confirmed that it will add new Trophies. The good news is that these will be separate from the base game and won’t affect the Platinum Trophy.

The file size for God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla has been confirmed.

The Ghost of Sparta, Kratos, is coming back for the God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla DLC, and we have everything you need to know about the gameplay details, release date and UK launch time.

Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarok DLC Valhalla is out today, December 12th, and offers a new rogue-lite mode to experience. Kratos and Mimir venture to Valhalla, with the former on a quest to “overcome trials within himself” and face the “echoes of his past.” How big is the DLC, at least in download size?

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla releases today (December 12), but before you adventure into this new story, the game directors have a couple of need-to-know tips. 

God of War Ragnarok is getting some meaty free DLC on December 12th with Valhalla. It adds a rogue-lite mode where Kratos ventures into the depths of Valhalla, challenging enemies and specializing in different weapons and abilities in order to survive. While players will deal with new combinations of enemies, there are also some “surprises” in store.

Sony Santa Monica has a new video available for God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla, its upcoming DLC for the critically acclaimed action-adventure that adds a separate rogue-lite mode for all players. Co-game directors Bruno Velasquez and Mihir Sheth discuss five things players should know before venturing into the mysterious new location. Check it out below.

While last night’s Game Awards show primarily focused on the biggest games of 2023 and the most anticipated titles for next year and beyond, one of 2022’s best games also got a fresh announcement that players will be able to check out very soon.

One God of War actor had some choice words for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign while presenting The Game Awards 2023. 

This is a surprise, free DLC for last year’s God of War Ragnarök and it’s out next week on December 12th. This explains why Kratos is featuring in the montage of PlayStation characters found on London buses at the moment, I was wondering why they were promoting a game that came out over a year ago.

An avalanche of new game announcements hit at The Game Awards 2023, ranging from the return of classic franchises to the reveals of all-new worlds. For those of you looking for a rundown of everything announced, we’ve got you covered.

One of the more surprising announcements at The Game Awards was that God of War Ragnarok would receive free DLC, specifically a separate rogue-lite mode. Valhalla is an epilogue to the base game, but as per the PlayStation Blog, players can jump in at any time, regardless of upgrades and story progress. Finish the story is recommended, though.

God of War Ragnarok is getting a free roguelite-esque DLC in a few days’ time in the form of Valhalla, and while that was certainly the big announcement related to the game today, Sony and SIE Santa Monica Studio have also provided an update on how the game is selling.

Sony’s Santa Monica Studio had a big surprise for God of War fans at Thursday’s The Game Awards: free DLC for God of War Ragnarök. There’s a second surprise — it’s out in just a few days.

God of War Ragnarok DLC is coming after all, and best of all, it's free. God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is a new roguelike mode dropping on PS4 and PS5 for all players on Tuesday, December 12. 

As of November 19, God of War Ragnarök has sold through more than 15 million units worldwide across PS4 and PS5.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla, a free DLC expansion, has been announced.

As of November 19, God of War Ragnarök has sold through more than 15 million units worldwide across PS4 and PS5.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

Santa Monica Studio has revealed a trailer for 's first DLC,. The surprise reveal came at 2023's The Game Awards.

Announced during The Game Awards, God of War Ragnarok is getting a free DLC roguelike mode called Valhalla, which will be released next week for free.

Good news if you own God of War: Ragnarok; you’re getting new content to play whether you like it or not. During the 2023 Game Awards show, a new DLC pack called Valhalla was announced, and it comes with the hefty price tag of “free.”

By Chris E. Hayner on

Grasshopper Manufacture, the punk rock video game studio led by CEO and game designer Goichi “Suda51” Suda, turned 25 years old earlier this year. This milestone firmly entrenches Grasshopper as a contemporary of larger and more well-known developers like Valve, Sony Santa Monica, and Retro Studios, which may come as a shock if all you know about the studio is that time Suda revealed a game while sitting on a toilet.

Sony’s Santa Monica Studio has wrapped up their epic Norse story arc with last year’s release of God of War Ragnarok, so now ever-inquisitive fans turn their attention to the future. What might Kratos get up to next? We really have no idea at this point, but we now know the name of somebody who will likely help chart the franchise’s next step.

Bonnie Jean Mah, who worked on the Gears of War series as Franchise Narrative Director, has announced that she’s joined Sony Santa Monica. She’s working with the team as Narrative Director and is “beyond thrilled” about the same. Along with working on Gears 5 and its live content, including the Hivebusters DLC, she’s also worked on Gears Tactics.

The former franchise narrative director for the Gears of War series has joined Sony‘s Santa Monica Studio.

The Game Awards 2023 is nearly here, which means it’s also the season of new game reveals. The show is famous for featuring some of the most significant announcements of the year, rivaling the status that E3 once held. The Game Awards has garnered tens of millions of viewers in recent years, making it one of the best times for studios to show off their titles to players. It only makes sense that this year will continue that trend, and it stands to be one of the most exciting years yet, with tons of high-profile games on deck for release in 2024.

Amazon has already sold out of this excellent PS5 game deal, but you can still pick it up at Best Buy during Black Friday.

Bungie has sent out a new press release claiming that Destiny 2’s final DLC, The Final Shape, is still releasing on February 2024.

Compared to what we’ve come to expect from Sony where its yearly output of single player games is concerned, 2023 has been a light year, with the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 being its only major release this year. With no major single player release officially confirmed for 2024 either – with the exception of Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin – should we expect next year to be a lighter one as well?

Blooper reels are a staple within film and television, but it's uncommon for game developers to share them outside the walls of their studios. However, God of War studio Sony Santa Monica hasn't been shy about revealing various pre-release quirks in their games, and they've released a follow-up to their fan-favorite Midgard Mishaps video from 2018 to celebrate the one-year anniversary of God of War: Ragnarok. In Midgard Mishaps 2, we see a showcase of the bizarre and somewhat creepy-looking bugs that popped up during the production of the massive sequel. We also see a quick look at some never-before-seen footage of the making of some standout moments and how the devs took the stumbles in good fun.

It has officially been one year since the launch of God of War Ragnarök. Since the very first time this game was announced, the support we felt from fans has been truly incredible. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to see players finally get ahold of the game and create so much wonderful conversation, content, and community around it.

Today, during its Q2 2023 earnings report, Sony revealed that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has sold five million units in the first eleven days it's been on the market (from the launch date of October 20 to the end of the quarter, which is on October 30).

Two months ago, renowned leaker The Snitch said a God of War Ragnarök DLC/standalone expansion was in the works and around 60% complete. The rumor was more than a bit surprising, as the previous installment received no DLC. Moreover, just after the game's launch last year, Game Director Eric Williams publicly stated fans shouldn't count on a DLC since the game was already very big.

Kratos and Nathan Drake will soon be able to flex their enormous strength on an all new PC store, as God of War and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection are both coming to GOG.

We’re back again. PlayStation Studios is taking part in our annual Extra Life livestream event for the second year in a row. Join Bend Studio, Guerrilla, Insomniac Games, and San Diego Studio for a four-day event of games, fun, and amazing prizes to raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. 

Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has sold over 2.5 million copies within its first 24 hours of release. The hugely awaited open-world superhero title was released on October 20th exclusively for PS5 and has garnered rave reviews from critics.

Almost everyone agreed that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be one of the biggest launches in 2023. After all, Insomniac Games was a crew that could be trusted with various things, including adapting the Marvel property, creating a fun and robust game world to explore, and having meaningful gameplay to participate in. It also helped that they had already made two games featuring two different Spider-Men and thus proved they could handle this particular superhero setting. The question was whether they could capture the magic of the first game and build upon it for the second one. The sales results clearly indicate that they could do that and then some.

The weekly UK physical games chart saw Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 easily securing the top spot, according to GI.biz head Chris Dring.

Bryan Intihar, creative director of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 took to X just the other day to sing the praises of game videographer Much118, whose recent video managed to mimic the Into the Spiderverse movie's Leap Of Faith scene almost perfectly.

Netflix is reportedly interested in adding a Grand Theft Auto game to its subscription service.

If you've ever spoken to the ripperdoc character Viktor Vektor in the Polish localisation of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, you've been talking to a cyborg. Technically, of course, most characters in Cyberpunk 2077 are cyborgs, but in this case, I'm referring to one voice actor posing as another using voice-cloning technology, following the second actor's death.

To craft Cyberpunk 2077‘s immersive world, plenty of voice actors were necessary. CD Projekt Red ran into a problem when Miłogost Reczek, a Polish performer who did the Polish voice acting for Viktor Vektor, passed away in 2021. As revealed by Bloomberg, the studio overcame this setback with the help of artificial intelligence.

One of the persistent mysteries following the release of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the fate of Sheikah technology. Nintendo, as it turns out, has an answer for this. But it probably isn’t what you want to hear.

A new rumor has come up for a new God of War game.

Deck 13 and Focus Entertainment have rolled out a new Atlas Fallen Update across all platforms, adding AMD FSR 2 support on Xbox Series X and PS5.

Naughty Dog, the renowned Santa Monica-based game development studio owned by Sony, is cutting jobs, albeit not internally. The news comes from a fresh Kotaku report. Citing anonymous sources, it reveals that at least 25 contract workers were cut last week, mostly in the quality assurance department (though art and production teams were also reportedly affected in some capacity). The report also says the affected employees received pressure not to disclose the news. They won't get any severance, either. Their contracts expire at the end of this month, and they are expected to keep working until then.

That's No Moon, a studio by former Call of Duty and Sony Santa Monica developers, is apparently working on an "upcoming game based on a major IP."

Netflix has released the first trailer for its upcoming Tomb Raider anime series.

There are some things that I never see coming, but brighten up my day. Dying Light 2 meets Vampire The Masquerade is, indeed, one of those things. Announced as part of Techland’s new DL2 winter roadmap, we can expect to stalk the Infected-ridden streets of Villedor as one of the World of Darkness’ many Kindred just in time for Halloween, and trust me when I say I am beyond excited.

If you're wondering how to watch today's PlayStation State of Play showcase on September 14, you've come to the right place.

EA has announced that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Star Wars Jedi:Fallen Order’s creative director, Stig Asmussen, is leaving Respawn Entertainment.

Industry veteran Stig Asmussen is leaving Respawn Entertainment.

Stig Asmussen, game director of Respawn's Star Wars Jedi franchise, is leaving EA.

Stig Asmussen, the director of such critically and commercially lauded titles as EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is departing from the company, per Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.

Stig Asmussen, the director behind the acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, is leaving Respawn Entertainment and EA to «pursue other adventures».

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

The director of both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and this year’s Jedi: Survivor is departing EA after close to a decade at developers Respawn.

It was announced earlier in the week that industry veteran Donald Mustard, who is the chief creative officer at Epic Games, will be retiring from his role and leaving the company. Now, it’s been confirmed who his replacement will be.

An influential former Marvel executive, who also helped design God of War’s iconic protagonist Kratos, has been appointed as Epic Games’ new chief creative officer.

If you've been wandering around rooms in Starfield wondering what would happen if you filled one with thousands upon thousands of potatoes, then wonder no more, as one player has done just that and recorded it for your viewing pleasure.

Charlie Wen, who previously designed Kratos from the God of War series, has been appointed Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games. 

Todd Howard has made an interesting revelation about Starfield in a new interview with Esquire.

Starfield allows players to fly to any planet they want, only it'll take hours upon hours, and you can't manually land on them.

Starfield is designed to keep the surface of planets and the space between them separate, but it is possible to fly directly to another planet — if you have the time and patience.

Sony Santa Monica writer Alanah Pearce set out to answer a question that many have been wondering since they got their hands on Starfield - can you fly to the surface of a planet? After seven hours of barreling towards Pluto, she found out that the answer is a resounding 'no'.

A Starfield player spent seven hours flying to a single planet to prove a point.