GOWR: Valhalla is the best DLC I have ever played and it probably will stay that way for most of my life. I cannot believe how amazing this DLC is. It is UNREAL how incredible and fun this DLC is. I am just in genuine awe how amazing the existence of this is.

To put things into perspective, God of War Ragnarök is one of my favorite games of all time. I had finally finished this game a couple months before the DLC came out and felt very content and satisfied with my experience. So when it was announced at the Game Awards that it was getting a FREE DLC in just a week or so from the game awards, I was ecstatic. Like, I had never thought that GOWR would get a DLC, and I was totally okay with it not having any expansions, the game was already perfect. So, to see Santa Monica Studio announce a FREE expansion to an already amazing game in an age where corporate greed is seeping into the video game industry, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Just this expansion EXISTING for FREE is a gift from the heavens, but what's even crazier (but not unexpected) is that it's actually really fun.

The roguelike mechanics work really well here, I feel like most players tend to lean towards one or two builds and stick with them in the base game, so there's not much motivation to change things up in terms of Kratos' armor and augments. In Valhalla, you're constantly pushed into creating different builds and there are so many resources at your disposal to acquire these upgrades. It shares a lot of mechanics with Hades, but Hades is pretty much the perfect roguelike, so it's a good game to take inspiration from.

The combat is the same as it was in the base game, so it's still very enjoyable. However, there are some new additions to the areas and enemies. There's new maps which are like these mashup versions of the different realms, which I liked, but there's also an entirely new Greek inspired area which was so cool. This game goes back to Kratos' roots and because there is an entire Greek arena to explore and fight in, there are also Greek enemies, which was really cool. Fighting Greek soldiers, harpies, cyclops, sirens, minotaurs, wraiths, and centaurs was really fun. I also love that we got to see parts of Kratos' Greek past realized in the modern age of God of War.

The story and writing is as good as ever. It's a very introspective and personal journey for Kratos, so for the most part it's just him and Mimir, but I appreciated the reflective, kind of laid-back vibe that the story had. However, that does not mean this story is without drama. There are some powerful moments in this story that add a lot of weight to the plot. I was impressed by how much effort was put into the storytelling as well. This game isn't just a few new maps either. There are full-fledged cutscenes and everything, this feels like a genuine continuation of the base game's ending.

My favorite part by far though, is the final boss. I don't want to spoil anything major, but all I will say is that the boss was the one part of the base game that I felt slightlyyyy dissatisfied by, but honestly it wasn't a problem in the main game and I could overlook it. However, Valhalla not only fixes my minor issue, but makes it the highlight of the DLC and gives us one of the coolest boss fights in the series. I was so impressed by the final boss fight on all fronts. From a story, gameplay, and cinematic perspective it was perfect.

Overall, Valhalla is a very rare and special kind of DLC that we probably won't see again for a very long time, so cherish it. I would be okay paying $30 for this so the fact that it's free still blows my mind.

Thank you Santa Monica Studio. You are incredible and I love you so so much.

I think I've put about 30-something hours into this game so far, but then one day I suddenly just lost interest and stopped playing, I'm not really sure why.

So far, the combat is pretty fun, and the special abilities are really cool. The boss fights are great as well, really cinematic.

However, the story and characters are sooo lame. I imagine the characters were much better in the original and I will agree they are iconic, but they're not very well adapted in this game. It's really hard to get emotionally invested in anyone's story, for the most part I was just trudging through it.

I do like the environments and the art direction though, this is a highly imaginative world and it's really fun to look around at all the different environments. However, the actual task of exploring the world itself can get a bit stale.

Also, you'll probably hate me for this, but I don't always vibe with the soundtrack. I will say there are some absolute bangers in this game, but sometimes when I'm exploring or just walking around some songs get annoying.

I will say that I like this game's approach to its levels. It drops you into this big area with lots to do and then you can spend as much time as you want doing sidequests or other exploring before moving on with the main story. It does help get you immersed in your surroundings, but then again a lot of the sidequests are kind of forgettable, so this can feel like a slog at times.

I will come back to this game one day, especially because I hear Rebirth is really good so I want to eventually play that one as well. But from what I've played so far, I feel kind of "meh" about it, but I enjoyed it enough that I want to come back and finish it at some point.

Yakuza Kiwami, while not as memorable as Yakuza 0, is still a game worth playing and a strong entry into the series.

The gameplay is largely the same as it was in Yakuza 0 and Kiryu has all of the same moves he had in Y0, with maybe a couple new additions. You're still playing in Kamurocho and many of the activities are still there. Because of all the similarities, I recommend that you don't play this game directly after you play Y0, play one or two games in between.

Regarding the combat, I believe Kiryu's combat in this game is much better than it was in Y0. First of all, you're still able to switch between different styles, but this time, the dragon/legend style is accessible from the start. I really like what they did with the dragon style. When you first start out, it's practically useless, I would only use as a desperate last resort to try and get a couple extra hits in. However, as you progress through the game, you gradually unlock the full potential of the style and it becomes Kiryu's strongest style by the end (tiger drop is so broken and I love it). Also, I prefer how they set up the skill tree in this game as opposed to how they did it in Y0. In Y0, you used money to upgrade the skill tree, and even though it was really easy to get money in that game, I still found myself unable to max out the skill tree in the 90 something hours I put into the game. However, this game uses upgrade points that you get from defeating enemies. Because you're not able to use upgrade points for anything else, this system works much better in my opinion, and I was able to max out the skill tree after about 30-40 hours or so. Because of this, I enjoyed the combat in this game much more than I did in Y0 (at least for Kiryu).

The side activities in this game are also still just as fun as you'd expect from a Yakuza game. I will note however, that this game has more erotic activities than I remember the other games in the series having (although to be fair I haven't played most of the games so I'm only guessing). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I thought I'd point it out.

Perhaps the highlight of this game is the Majima Everywhere system. Majima popping up all over Kamurocho was so funny and Kiryu's reaction every time was just golden. I never got tired of fighting Majima and I really liked how his encounters really felt random, like he was truly popping up out of nowhere.

Finally, Kamurocho has always been a really fun location to explore and it's still done justice in this game.

Okay, I'm going to tear into this game a bit, but I want you all to know that I still like this game and you should definitely play it if you like JRPGS or are into the Yakuza series.

Perhaps my biggest complaint with this game is its boss battles. They suck. There are twenty four boss battles in this game, and only like three of them are actually good. What's more is that two of them are against Majima, who by those points in the game you've already fought dozens of times. The rest of the bosses are honestly just pretty lame. Some bosses, like Hayashi and Lau Ka Long, have a decent move sets, but their large health pools and defense combined with the lack of QTE's make their fights feel repetitive and stagnant. The lack of memorable bosses was a real letdown, especially after playing Yakuza 0, which had a lot of incredible bosses.

Second of all, the story for this game is not as good as Y0's. Again, I haven't played past Kiwami 2, but so far Yakuza 0 has had the best story. That being said, I do think the story is pretty solid and is definitely better than Kiwami 2's. Nishiki's journey in particular was very compelling, it gave a lot of emotional weight to the story considering the relationship that Kiryu and Nishiki had in Yakuza 0. Haruka is a great character as well and adds a lot of depth to Kiryu's character. Also, I love Shinji, he's awesome. Overall, I would say the characters are good for the most part while the plot itself is a little shaky at times.

My last big issue with this game is its substories. For the most part, they feel very repetitive and aren't very creative or memorable. This is especially apparent when you compare it to the substories in Y0 or Kiwami 2, which feature some incredible and hilarious substories. There are a few standouts, but by and large they're not very interesting.

Overall, this is a great game and a solid entry into the Yakuza series, though it is lacking in areas that the series is known for.