In 2018, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio released God of War, which was at the top of its genre because of its unique storytelling, narrative-based exploration, and satisfying fighting style. The sequel of that game, God of War Ragnarok, will be released on November 9, 2022. The fans are greatly motivated after watching its trailers and gameplay of the final preview. The story of Ragnarok starts from the ending of God of War 2018.
In this sequel, Atreus is much older now and has a deep bond of care and understanding with his father, Kratos. At the start of the game, it is easily noticeable how much he has matured and can make his own decisions independent from his father. They fight for survival, fending off enemies they made in the first part while tackling the winter. Freya, who seemed friendly initially, appeared to be the real villain in the story arc. She wants revenge on the father-son duo due to her son’s death.
This game is highly advanced in graphics. Even the most minor details and character models appear realistic, making it aesthetically appealing in every way, which is a big step forward from the previous game. The game offers performance mode and resolution mode. You can use the performance mode to get the maximum framerate possible without losing many details.
The game utilizes continuous camera shots. When interviewed, God of War animation director Bruno Valazquez said to IGN, “The goal of that is so that the player feels that they are going along in that journey with Kratos and Atreus and you know, you never really leave their side.” He also commented on the storyline during the conversation,
We try to approach God of War Ragnarok with ‘the story never really ends.’ So you’re always being told a story even through combat, even throughout the encounters, dialogue that happens between the characters outside of combat and the cinematics while you’re exploring. So we just always think the story should never really end. There shouldn’t be a clear divide. So by having that approach it helps us to sort of blend or string the two together.
In God of War Ragnarok, you won’t get the upgraded armor and weapons from the first game since that would remove the fun of progression. They added weapon-specific kills, meaning there will be a unique animation for specific weapons. In the previous GOW game, the kill animation was the default for every weapon. So, this is an excellent addition to the gameplay mechanics. The game also includes checkpoints during boss fights, saving you from the anguish of starting fights from the very start. The fighting experience is much smoother due to the increased variety of movesets and better performance. The enemies are also diverse in appearance, attacks, and movements. Overall, the game is incredibly refined now due to the developer’s continuous efforts while simultaneously maintaining the story’s essence and offering the potential to break the records of its predecessor.