PS5 players are getting free DLC for Santa Monica Studios’ God of War Ragnarok very soon, an update that is something of a ‘thank you’ to the community for supporting the 2022 action-adventure game over the last 12 (or so) months. Alongside confirmation that it sold over 15 million copies by November 19, which is just marginally over a year after launch, a free title update introducing God of War Ragnarok Valhalla – a roguelike mode aiming to push Kratos and you to your limits – was announced at The Game Awards on December 7.
God of War Ragnarok isn’t just one of the best PS5 exclusives available right now (even though it definitely is one of those), it’s one of the best RPG games of this console generation – yes, even when compared to all the fantastic new Xbox games we’ve seen in the past year. When you sit down and think about the emotive narrative, the incredible performances of the main cast, the slick combat gameplay, and the impressive graphics, you could even argue that it’s one of the best games of all time, period. So, it’s safe to say that the fact the recent God of War Ragnarok leaks were right and we’re getting some post-launch DLC soon is quite exciting. And, the fact that this post-launch DLC is going to be free to everyone is really almost too good to be true.
But, we’re not joking around with you this time, there really is some free God of War Ragnarok DLC on the way – and it’s on the way very soon. As this PlayStation Blog post explains, God of War Ragnarok Valhalla will be released and made available for God of War Ragnarok on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 from December 12 at 09:00 PST / 12:00 EST / 17:00 GMT – which is just days away. The aforementioned PlayStation Blog also says that this will be available on the PlayStation Store, but we can imagine a free title update for God of War Ragnarok will prompt you to download it regardless of checking the PlayStation Store.
Set as an epilogue for the main God of War Ragnarok narrative, PS5 players may want to finish the main story before embarking on this new adventure. However, you won’t actually need to do so if you don’t want to. Although, as much as we know finishing the main story might sound like a little bit of a pain, it will be well worth your time. God of War Ragnarok Valhalla sounds like it will be the perfect place to hone your skills before tackling God of War Ragnarok New Game Plus, too.
Through the Valhalla DLC, Santa Monica Studios is aiming to present players with something different to anything it has done with the God of War series before – although Niflheim would beg to differ. As a fresh roguelike mode that will challenge players to master a different element of Kratos’ kit with each run – be that the Leviathan Axe, the Blades of Chaos, the Draupnir Spear, or otherwise – you can expect to come across new combinations of enemies and new gameplay modifiers as you try to earn exclusive resources that can be used to upgrade both Kratos and Valhalla itself.
If you’ve played a roguelite game before (like the PS5 exclusive Returnal) or a roguelite game mode before (like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Forgotten Saga expansion), you should find this a familiar experience. We know Santa Monica Studios is hiding some surprises in God of War Ragnarok Valhalla, but this DLC still sounds like a quintessential roguelite mode – not that that’s a bad thing, of course. Making a game as good as God of War Ragnarok even more replayable isn’t the worst thing to happen.
Before this arrives, though, you might want to look into the best PS5 SSD options out there. God of War Ragnarok isn’t a small game and you might find yourself struggling for storage space if you need to reinstall it to give this new mode a go. There is, of course, a whole host of other new PS5 games worth checking out over the holidays. So, having some spare storage space isn’t a bad idea either way.