God Of War Ragnarök: Valhalla – Kratos isn’t done with Scandinavia just yet (Picture: Sony)

Sony has announced free DLC for God Of War Ragnarök and it’s going to bring a new roguelike mode to the game next week.

The rumoured half-sequel for God Of War wasn’t mentioned at Thursday night’s The Game Awards but there was the unexpected reveal of free DLC – unexpected because previously developer Santa Monica Studios said there wasn’t going to be any.

Apparently, the change of plan is because God Of War Ragnarök has now sold over 15 million copies and Sony wanted to give fans a treat. As such, Valhalla is designed as both a roguelite mode and an epilogue to the main story, featuring Kratos and Mimir as they explore the Norse afterlife.

It sounds a bit like the Niflheim mazes from the original game, which also used some roguelite elements, except in Valhalla you’re expected to die again and again as you accrue more weapons and skills to allow you to get further.

Armour is purely cosmetic, but Kratos will start the mode with all his weapons and fully unlocked skill trees, although you do have to choose a specific shield and path of Spartan Rage before each run.

There’ll be five different difficulty settings, so the mode won’t necessarily be very hard, but the higher you turn up the dial the more rewards you’ll get.

Everything is entirely separate from any progress you might have made in the main campaign, but since it is an epilogue you’re advised to beat the campaign first.

Sony didn’t have any other first party games at The Game Awards but they did have a number of other PlayStation 5 exclusives by thirty party studios, starting with Team Ninja’s Rise Of The Rōnin.

The game was first announced last year and since then they’ve released the underwhelming Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, but Rise Of The Rōnin always looked more interesting – with its setting late in the Edo period, where samurai routinely use guns.

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Also shown in a brief new trailer was third person co-op shooter Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead Game Studios, which is also coming to PC on February 8.

And then finally there was the Final Fantasy 16 DLC, with two expansions, one of which was, unexpectedly, released on the night itself.

Surprisingly, there was nothing more on Dead Stranding 2 though, even though Hideo Kojima was at the event to unveil his new Xbox exclusive OD.

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Sony has announced free DLC for God Of War Ragnarök and it’s going to bring a new roguelike mode to the game next week.