New God of War Ragnarok gameplay footage and story details have been revealed. Here is everything we learned about the game.
"Ragnarok is Coming." That phrase and a logo are the only things that that fans have had to chew on since last September when Sony officially announced the sequel to the critically acclaimed God of War (2018). The wait is now over. Sony has finally shown us footage and revealed more details about the game.
The Game
Throughout the God of War Ragnarok gameplay footage, we see a lot of familiar traversal and action that we used to from the previous game. The chains, axe, and shield make a return. We see new finishing moves, and environmental traversal (grappling blades of chaos anyone?). We also see a large variety of enemies, the lack of which was a common complaint about the last game.
It was also confirmed in a blog post that players will be able to visit all nine realms in this game which will bring a more "diverse, beautiful, and mysterious variety of locations than in any other God of War game." While six of these realms were available to visit in the previous game, there will be brand new areas to explore in those locations as well.
The Story
Set a few years after the last game, Fimbulwinter has come to Midgard, creating harsher living conditions for everyone. In the trailer, we see a slightly older-looking and sounding Atreus, worried about prophecies that state Fimbulwinter leads to Ragnarok. In mythology, Ragnarok is a series of events that involves great battles, deaths of prominent figures, natural disasters and ends with the world being submerged in water.
The Characters
We see a few familiar faces throughout the trailer. Mimir, our knowledgeable and witty talking head companion is back. As are the magic weapons and transportation expert dwarves, Brok and Sindri.
A few new characters are shown as well. We get a glimpse at a short sturdy fellow sporting a monocle with a squid in his hand. We also see Tyr, the Norse god of war, standing up and towering over Kratos.
At the end of the trailer, we meet a girl that seems to be around Atreus' age, named Angrboda. She is one of the last remaining giants and is seen making a promise (presumably to Atreus) to provide some answers.
We were also shown some of the antagonists we'll be facing in the game. First, we see the familiar face of Freya, who had a major role as an ally previously, now turned against us after the events that took place in the last game.
Thor, who had a cameo in a post-credits sequence in the last game, is heard talking in the trailer and we are given a glimpse of his iconic hammer, Mjolnir. Played by Ryan Hurst, who people may know as Opie from Sons of Anarchy, Thor is one of the most powerful Norse gods who wiped out nearly all the giants at Odin's command. The part of Odin, Thor's father, will be played by Richard Schiff, best known for his role as Toby Ziegler on The West Wing.
The End?
During the post-show, Eric Williams, the game's director said "You can't call the game God of War Ragnarok and not have Ragnarok happen. It's gonna happen, we're gonna cap off the Norse series with it." This should alleviate the fears some in the community had that this game would only be a lead-up to Ragnarok based on the phrasing in last year's teaser.
God of War Ragnarok is shaping up to be an epic and action-packed journey and is set to release on PS4 and PS5 in 2022.