New God of War Sons of Sparta Feature Addresses Fan Criticism

God of War: Sons of Sparta now supports a cheat code that allows players to access its co-op roguelite mode, The Pit of Agonies, without finishing the campaign first. The change follows days of confusion over how and when God of War: Sons of Sparta‘s advertised two-player option actually becomes playable.

Priced at $29.99, God of War: Sons of Sparta is a smaller-scale 2D metroidvania spin-off for the PlayStation 5, developed by Pittsburgh-based Mega Cat Studios in cooperation with Santa Monica Studio. It materialized as a surprise release during the February 12 State of Play showcase, offering a story centered on a young Kratos and his brother Deimos during the series’ Greek era. Although advertised as a co-op experience, the game sparked some confusion at launch for not clearly communicating how to access its multiplayer mode, which was not available from the outset.

God of War Sons of Sparta’s Deimos is the Exact Opposite of GOW Ragnarok’s Atreus, But That’s Not a Good Thing

God of War Sons of Sparta is a fun new take on the franchise, but Deimos may have players actually wishing for Atreus’ yapping.

God of War: Sons of Sparta Opens The Pit Early After Co-Op Lockout Backlash

On February 26, Santa Monica Studio shared a cheat code that unlocks The Pit of Agonies in the recently released metroidvania. The move allows players to access the co-op roguelite mode without completing God of War: Sons of Sparta’s story. The sequence is a variation of the classic Konami Code: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, R1, Touchpad. Entered from the game’s start menu, it adds a new Pit of Agonies option that normally requires finishing the campaign to unlock. Early player reports indicate the code only needs to be entered once, with the secret menu option then persisting even after restarts.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Santa Monica Studio said the decision to gate The Pit behind story completion was intended to ensure players were familiar with the game’s combat systems and enemy types before attempting a mode built around repeated arena encounters. However, the lack of clear communication led to enough confusion and frustrations among God of War: Sons of Sparta players that the developers opted to partially negate that design decision via the newly shared direct-access cheat code. The studio still strongly recommends that players become comfortable with the game’s movesets before entering The Pit, which features some of the toughest challenges that its latest title has to offer.

God of War: Sons of Sparta’s The Pit Unlock Cheat Code

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, R1, Touchpad

The code needs to be entered from the God of War: Sons of Sparta start menu.

Santa Monica Studio describes The Pit as a run-based roguelite experience where enemy sets and rewards vary, with “Agonies” acting as global difficulty modifiers that can change how fights play, introducing effects like, e.g., altered healing or explosions. Advancing through The Pit rewards players with several types of currencies, namely Symbols of Suffering to unlock additional Agonies and Ashes of Agony to buy permanent upgrades that persist between attempts. The mode itself does not support online play and is strictly local, with developers previously describing it as a retro-style couch co-op experience.

God of War: Sons of Sparta debuted to mixed reviews, as underlined by its average score of 67 and 27% recommendation rate on OpenCritic. While co-op was not widely cited as the game’s primary weakness, some critics questioned whether its combat system is deep enough to sustain a highly replayable roguelite mode. Player reception has been notably more favorable, with Sons of Sparta currently holding a 4.32-star rating on the PlayStation Store based on more than 7,400 user reviews. There have so far been no indications that the game is slated to receive significant post-launch support, suggesting the newly introduced co-op cheat code could be its final user-facing addition.