God of War Ragnarök’s lead combat designers Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh recently sat down with Jason Guisao fromGame Informer, who was lucky enough to try the game and get a feeling for the new combat systems. The two designers build upon the philosophy of creating engaging systems with a lot of different choices, and now they are greatly enhancing each previous battle component to add more variety for aspects that were underutilized before.
For God of War Ragnarök, the biggest changes lie on a micro-to-macro scale. If they tinker a bit with the smallest of things, it will have a grander effect on the overall scheme. This reflects mainly on how Kratos handles his iconic axe. In the last game, the triangle button was only a viable option when you needed to recall the axe. However, if you already had the axe in your hand, you wouldn’t give the triangle button a second glance. This was an issue that had to be resolved, and so the developers set out to give the button more of a purpose when wielding the axe.
The triangle button now unlocks a variety of special attacks called Weapon Signature Moves. Depending on the weapon you have at hand, you can infuse that weapon with an element like Ice or Fire. These moves charge the axe while you have it in hand, enabling you to benefit from holding it at bay, as much as you would if you decided to throw it at enemies. Game Informer’s report also describes an engaging spectacle between the player and bipedal lizard enemies called grim, where the upgraded weapons and shields made a noticeable difference in the overall experience of God of War Ragnarök.
Credits to Game Informer
There is now more than one shield Kratos can wield, and the developers have gone above and beyond with how much tinkering and uniqueness they have added to each one. According to the report, there are two new shields named the Dauntless shield and Stonewall Shield respectively. The former enables players to parry and counterattack enemies at the right moment, while the latter recycles the hits the player receives as stored energy in order to generate a powerful kinetic pulse attack.
More shields will be available down the road, but the developer warns that not every shield will have just pros, and there might be some cons as well. The report also confirmed higher enemy lethality and aggression on harder difficulties, in addition to new side challenges, optional territories, and revamped old locations. Atreus seems to have a bigger presence as well alongside his dad, and a lot of new in-game screenshots have been shared to give fans a closer look at the ongoing battles and the new gameplay elements that will be implemented in the upcoming Sony exclusive.
God of War Ragnarök is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9th, 2022.
