Sony is going all guns blazing into the roguelite arena and I’m absolutely here from it. This week we got another signal of intent after God of War fans were treated to a huge, free roguelite update on December 12.
There’s a lot to unpack, but the main headline is that God of War Ragnarök is now rocking a completely free roguelike mode called Valhalla.
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla is completely gratis to existing players, and it’ll be included as part of the package for noobs.
As per the game’s listing on the PS Store, the devs at Santa Monica Studio wanted to give players a new way to engage with the game.
The studio embraced that challenge to create an experience where players are pushed to “master different aspects of Kratos’ arsenal during each attempt as you face new combinations of enemies and some surprises along the way!”
Also pulled from the PS Blog, this paragraph summed up the more technical aspects of the mode pretty neatly, so I cheated and copied it directly for your convenience.
“Kratos will have access to his weapons, skills, shields, and abilities, but each new attempt will reset his Stats, Runic Attacks, and Perks. As Kratos progresses through each attempt, you will be presented with choices between rewards that will help you push deeper into the mysterious depths of Valhalla while building resources towards persistent upgrades.”
Still with us? Of course you are! If you want to keep reading about great hand-picked rogues, the following articles represent a huge collection of the best roguelike games ever made.
Next, there are genre-specific lists that delve into the best roguelike games of all types. I’ve pulled out the best examples from each category, alongside the links to more in-depth articles!
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all. There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
