"You have always been more than what others saw."
Hello everyone!
I hope that you had a wonderful celebration with friends, family, or others who bring you as much joy as they possibly can, and that you ended 2023 on a good bang.
Also, that 2024 will bring you everything you may want or need, even if you yourself don't think you do. Because sometimes, getting the unexpected and realizing that it's exactly what we would have asked for if we'd known to ask, is probably the best solution.
As far as this blog goes, well, we're back on the regular grind now!
And boy, do I have a banger for you tonight.
Released at the start of December, completely free of charge and made specifically for the fans, this particular subject has probably garnered plenty of praise purely based on that alone.
Then you figure out the what, who and why, and it gets even better. Because it's God of War, Ragnarok, to be precise, and its DLC: Valhalla.
Links to previous related posts from the franchise (and I have a fair few) can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual.
VERY briefly, however: Kratos, the former Greek God of War, who annihilated the pantheon after it had promised him one thing but never delivered, relocated (or was relocated to) Midgard, where he tangled with the Norse pantheon (as you do).
At times hindered and then aided by several deities of that same pantheon, he managed to show audiences that he, of all beings in the universe, is the father to Loki, dealt with teenage tantrums and his own insecurities, and in the end conquered a SECOND pantheon by taking out Odin in the end of the world as they all knew it.
And this is where Valhalla begins.
Freya, now Queen of the Realms, is assembling a council that will rule them and make those decisions that one person alone should never be making. She's asked Kratos to join her, but - knowing everything about this guy and how complicated it is - he's obviously reluctant, because he'd had power like that before and doesn't feel ready to have it a second time.
So then he finds a note nailed to his door, inviting him to the fabled and mystical Valhalla, although with no signature. But a definite challenge, so naturally, he's not going to say NO.
Then, against the advice of even Mimir, the Smartest Man Alive, he forces his way in, manages to die in combat, and is confronted by Freya and the Valkyries outside the front door, who are all in disbelief that he even managed to get in to begin with.
But, even if reluctant, they decide to help him, and the mechanics of Valhalla, and your journey with Kratos through it, are explained: the realm draws from your memories to create environments catering specifically to you. After having run that gauntlet, you will join your other fallen comrades in a separate space where they feast, spar and prepare, but for Kratos, that's not happening.
HE's in a special pocket where apparently personal issues get solved, if at all possible. And boy, do we know this man has them.
By the time you get dumped in front of a broken stone throne that is SO CLEARLY GREEK it's not even funny, you know this is going to be a good one. And this is BEFORE Helios replaces Mimir on the belt as Head.
Oh yes, it's back to basics for this DLC while Kratos grapples with the crimes he'd committed in his past, repeating several cycles but eventually getting to his summoner: Tyr, the Norse God of War, who apparently decided that he'll speed up the thinking process and get Kratos to where he needs to be so he can sit on Freya's council and help them all out.
I mean, considering how different this action is to the Greek gods, I'd say Tyr has a leg up on everyone.
Once you solve that mystery, you then enter a cycle with Kratos that takes you through various stages, enemies, and contemplations, as Tyr guides you through remembering some of the things that you know our favourite did or didn't do. But the perk here is that they're looked at from a different perspective, truly driving home that the legacy Kratos established and is still forging for himself is and will always be a complicated one.
Because every choice he's ever made has always been fueled by two different motivations (if not three or more), so it's never just SIMPLE. Nothing ever is with this guy.
And each cycle, you also get to fight Tyr, who draws out multiple different weapons from his arsenal, indicating there might be a future to the franchise in different realms, somehow (but also getting his ass whooped because Kratos won't be stopped).
Eventually, this helps Kratos realize that it's not actions, but the choices which lead to said actions that make or break someone - and that he isn't the man he used to be, nor the god.
Incidentally, that he was always more what others thought him to be rather than who he ACTUALLY was. And in the most emotional scene of the entire DLC, Old Kratos looks into the eyes of Young Kratos, and accepts all he'd done, finding peace within himself to ascend the throne he's being offered, as a tentative God of Hope.
But even with that, the DLC isn't quite over yet, because the more you cycle through Valhalla, the more areas you unlock, and they're chock-full of nostalgia from the original Greek trilogy. Plus, if you don't salivate over the Blade of Olympus which you unlock in a special, Legacy rage, then I don't know what to tell you.
There's just SO MUCH MORE to this DLC than it just being a DLC. Santa Monica deceived everyone when they said it wouldn't be so heavily story-driven, because this is NOTHING BUT STORY, wrapping up Ragnarok and giving Kratos a measure of peace he's probably never had before.
It also brings back fan favourites like Mimir, Sigrun and Freya, adds depth to Mimir's romantic subplot (not the best outcome there, mind you), and has Norse and Greek gods interacting (somewhat) to the hilarity that ensues afterwards.
Mostly though, this is just a spectacularly strong epilogue that drives home a lot of points fans have come to themselves over the course of aiding Kratos on his journey. It's rich, deep, and undoubtedly one of the best ways to finish off the year with.
It is, in one word, brilliant.
xx
*images and video not mine
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