Ravenswatch's new $7.99 hero is an axe-swinging folk legend who rides a giant bear, and a free talent rework changes how every other hero plays too.
Ravenswatch, the top-down roguelike action game from Passtech Games and Nacon, has a new paid hero. Kintarō, based on the Japanese folk hero, costs $7.99 and fights with a giant axe alongside his bear, Kuma.
A free update arrived at the same time and reworks Talents, the abilities that shape every hero's build. Some were rebalanced, merged, added or removed after player feedback, so every hero now plays a little differently.
Kintarō is the game's fourth DLC character. Ravenswatch is on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, supports co-op for up to four players, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version is planned for later this year.
Ravenswatch’s newest hero brings a giant axe to a fight and then climbs onto a bear. Kintarō, a paid character from Japanese folklore, is out now for $7.99, and he arrived with a free update that changes how every other hero in the game plays.
That second part is the bigger deal for most players. You don’t have to buy anything to get the reworked Talents, the special abilities that shape each hero’s build. If you shelved Ravenswatch after a few dozen runs, the update gives you a reason to dust off old favorites, and the new hero is there if you want something different.
Kintarō is a playable hero sold as downloadable content from publisher Nacon and developer Passtech Games. He is based on the Japanese folk hero of the same name, who in the game swings an enormous axe and fights with his bear, Kuma.
He is the fourth DLC character added to Ravenswatch. PlayStation announced his arrival on PS4 and PS5 with a trailer on its YouTube channel, and the DLC is priced at $7.99 in the US.
Kintarō is really two characters in one, which is what makes him stand out from the rest of the roster. He has two full sets of abilities, and you switch between them depending on whether he is riding Kuma or fighting on the ground.
The developers pitch this as extra complexity with extra flexibility. In practice, it means you can change your approach mid-fight to suit the situation, instead of committing to one playstyle for an entire run. Players who like learning a harder hero will have more to master here than with most characters.
Talents are the active and passive abilities that heroes pick up during a run, and they decide how a build comes together. Passtech Games says it watched how people actually play and listened to player feedback before reworking them.
The changes go in several directions at once. Some Talents were rebalanced to be stronger or weaker. Others were merged into a single ability. Some are brand new, and some were removed entirely. The result, according to the studio, is that every hero now has fresh ways to play.
This was an update many players had been waiting for, and it arrives free for everyone who owns the game. Because it touches the whole roster, the builds you relied on before may play differently now, so expect to experiment again.
If you already own Ravenswatch, the decision is simple. Download the free update first and see how your usual heroes feel with the new Talents. If you want more after that, Kintarō costs about the price of a lunch, and his two-mode style is the most distinct addition to the roster in this update.
Ravenswatch itself is a top-down roguelike action game, the kind where each run is different and dying sends you back to the start. You play as heroes drawn from tales and legends and fight hordes of nightmare creatures, alone or in co-op with up to four players. It comes from the team behind Curse of the Dead Gods.
The game is widely available. It first arrived in 2024 on both Xbox and PlayStation generations as well as PC, and reached the original Nintendo Switch in 2025. That matters if your friends play on different systems and you’re thinking of joining a co-op group.
Is Kintarō worth buying? His two-mode kit asks more of you than a standard hero, because you need to judge when to ride and when to fight on foot. If you mostly play quick solo runs and prefer simple heroes, you lose nothing by sticking with the free update. If your co-op group wants a fresh face, $7.99 is a small ask.
Update Ravenswatch first, since the Talent rework arrives as a normal free patch. Then open the game’s page in the PlayStation Store and look in its add-ons section for Kintarō. Once he is bought and downloaded, he joins the rest of the roster on the hero select screen. On other systems, check your store’s add-on listing for the game.
Xbox players got a free taste in mid-October. Microsoft added Ravenswatch to its Free Play Days event, which ran from October 15 through October 18 for Game Pass members on the Essential, Premium and Ultimate tiers, and used it to spotlight Kintarō and the Talent rework. During events like that, players can usually buy the game at a discount and keep their achievements.
Next up is Nintendo’s newest console. A Nintendo Switch 2 version of Ravenswatch is planned for release later this year, which would bring the game, and likely its growing hero roster, to another platform.
Kintarō costs $7.99 in the US as a paid DLC character. The Talent rework that came with him is free for everyone.
Yes. The rework of hero Talents is a free update, so you get the changes even if you don’t buy Kintarō.
Yes. You can play alone, or team up with as many as three friends for four-player co-op.
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