The combat system in God of War Ragnarok has received some new information, including how Kratos can “play with his food.” Lead combat designers at Santa Monica Studios, Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh, provided their thoughts on the combat improvements for God of War Ragnarok.
An interview with Game Informer mentions that the game will have a wide range of enemies, equipment with elemental effects, steadily more complex challenges, and more resounding support for Atreus.
According to the lead combat designers, players will have more options than ever in Ragnarok to fight opponents while controlling Kratos and Atreus. “Kratos plays with his food,” Sheth explained. “We tried to create systems you want to engage with that are fun, very playful, lots of different routes. And when we looked at the combat in the last game.”
Kratos’ equipment set offers a variety of melee options and debuff possibilities for enemies. For example, with only one press of the “Triangle” button, the Blades of Chaos and the Leviathan Axe can be enhanced with ice and fire and personalized.
In the last game, if you pressed Triangle, you recalled the axe. But if you already had the axe, nothing happened. If you had the Blades of Chaos and you pressed Triangle, you just went back to the axe. We looked at that concept and wondered, ‘What if you could do something a little bit different with that button – a whole new suite of moves.’
The game will also include new shields to change up battle strategies. Kratos, for instance, can launch a deadly smash attack by dodging at the last second using the Dauntless Shield. Also, the Stonewall Shield disables Kratos’s ability to dodge but still lets him deflect blows.
Sheth and Yeh said that the visited locations will regularly be repopulated with even more powerful enemies. Optional regions will also gain new difficulties and require upgrades assigned to heroes.
God of War Ragnarok will be released on November 9 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It is also planned to be the standard and Jötnar Edition for God of War Ragnarok.
