Highlights

  • God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla incorporates the popular roguelike genre, providing an engaging and addictive gameplay experience for fans.
  • The game takes care to guide new players through the mechanics of roguelike gameplay, ensuring accessibility and an immersive storytelling experience.
  • Valhalla's DLC not only offers a roguelike mode but also delivers a captivating story that serves as the perfect conclusion to Kratos' character arc, with major cameos and hints at the franchise's future.

The roguelike genre has become one of the hottest trends in gaming over the last few years, just like battle royales and Soulslikes before it. The general premise of a roguelike sees players progress through a series of often procedurally generated arenas, facing off against randomized enemies and collecting randomized loot, eventually coming up against a specific boss. Though the arenas themselves tend to be randomized, the general structure of the game and the order of its levels are often kept pretty rigid. Though they've been around for quite some time, Hades breathed new life into the roguelike genre a few years ago, expertly meshing story with the roguelike formula. Now, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla does the exact same thing.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla sees players take control of Kratos in an epilogue that sees him make his way through the depths of Valhalla, gradually climbing his way to the top in search of some impossible answers. While the roguelike genre definitely isn't for everyone, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla goes above and beyond to prove that it's worth playing regardless of that, delivering a must-play experience that'll be necessary reading for all fans of the franchise.

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God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla Is a Must-Play for Fans

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla's Roguelike Formula Eases Players In

A lot of modern-day roguelikes assume that players are already fully aware of what a roguelike game entails, and how to utilize all of its usual interweaving mechanics and systems. As such, many roguelikes can feel a bit inaccessible to newcomers of the genre, throwing players in at the deep end and just expecting them to get the hang of it after dying a few times and getting into the usual roguelike loop.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla, on the other hand, goes to painstaking lengths to ensure that its players are eased into the new roguelike experience. The first hour or two of God of War's Valhalla DLC slowly takes players through a few initial loops, with each one gradually introducing the player to new roguelike mechanics such as weapon upgrades, player upgrades, stat boosts, and the general loop structure of the mode. Not only is this a great way to ease new players into the roguelike genre, but it also acts as a great storytelling device, putting players in the same position as Kratos, who himself is learning at the same time how Valhalla's rules work.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla Is Far More Than Just a Roguelike DLC

But the truth of the matter is that God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is far more than just an extra roguelike mode. While Valhalla's core gameplay loop is just as engaging and addictive as some of the best roguelikes out there, it's Valhalla's story that really captures the attention of long-time God of War fans. This story makes the DLC a must-play regardless of personal preference for genre.

God of War Ragnarok's Valhalla DLC contains multiple new cutscenes, many new lines of dialogue, and acts as not only the perfect epilogue to Ragnarok's story, but the perfect epilogue to Kratos' entire character arc, tying both the Greek and Norse God of War sagas together in a masterful way. Without spoiling too much, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla's story contains some major cameos, and gives multiple big teases about where the franchise could be heading in the future, which makes it a must-play piece of the franchise.