Playing A Game God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla PC

The rogue-like genre, or more abstractly resetting progress as a game mechanic, isn't generally my thing. But sometimes a die-and-retry game does something cool enough to suck me in, like Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Desolation of Mordor's Batman-like gadgets. In God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla's case, it was story.

It seems light at first: Valhalla's premise, set after the events of God of War Ragnarök, is a thin mystery (who invited Kratos to Valhalla?) and a gradually-revealed post-ending beat (Freya setting Kratos up as the new, uh, God of War).

But as you push farther into Valhalla's labyrinth, a more meaningful narrative's dots start to connect -- referencing Kratos's previous exploits in Greece, his regret and guilt, and his desire to "be better."

It does struggle a bit with, well, the passage of time; I can barely remember what Kratos did 15-20 years ago on PS2. But Valhalla uses its Kratos-and-Mimir banter and some animated flashback scenes to recap the relevant points.

(Valhalla also re-introduces the Blade of Olympus weapon as a Rage ability, which is fucking rad.)

I'm still not a huge fan of re-playing combat gauntlets with randomized upgrades - which is why I only bothered with Valhalla's easiest "Show Me Will" difficulty - but this DLC mode gave me the narrative content I wanted without wearing out its welcome.

Better than: Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Desolation of Mordor
Not as good as: Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
Though...: I do not have the patience to re-run Valhalla enough times to see Sigrun's full story.

Rating: Good