God of War: Ragnarok

Gear up because the boys are back in town for God of War: Ragnarok. Join angry and nuanced series protagonist Kratos and his boy, Atreus, as they fight through the Norse god version of the apocalypse. A lot of gods are expected to die here and I am sure it will be devastatingly brutal to play through; I don’t know about you but I can’t wait.

[DISCLAIMER: THIS GAME HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED. THE CONTENTS OF THIS REVIEW ARE SPECULATIVE AND BASED SOLELY UPON WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED THROUGH MARKETING MATERIAL, INTERVIEWS AND OTHER SOURCES. A NEW, UPDATED REPORT WILL BE WRITTEN WHEN THE GAME IS RELEASED.]

Story

If we look at the information that we have, we see that at the end of God of War (2018), during the post credit scene after Kratos and Atreus have completed their goal, their house is attacked by none other than Thor, God of Thunder, who is no doubt furious over his brother, Baldur’s, murder at the hands of Kratos.

Kratos and Thor are somewhat parallels so there is a large chance that Thor will be the final boss in this game. As the games are only loosely based on the actual Norse mythology and the events of Ragnarok, there is a large chance that events will transpire in a more narratively dramatic way, where Kratos fights his way through many of the minor gods to then duke it out with Thor himself at the end.

At the end of the last game, it is revealed through a prophecy drawn on the wall that Kratos will likely die at some point and it very well could be in this title. We saw that there were only a few realms we couldn’t visit in the Bifrost in the last game, so this could be leading up to the end. But at the same time, we could be looking at Thor as the main antagonist for Ragnarok but Odin as the final boss of the series in a succeeding game. Again. This is only speculation and only time will tell.

Passively, the subplot will still likely focus on the relationship of Atreus and Kratos. Watching them build a passable relationship as father and son. Could have some real tear jerker moments.

Gameplay

Given the effort shown in the documentary about the creation of the previous game, it would be very comfortable to suggest that the primary functions of movement and combat will remain the same. The super tight and responsive controls will continue on and the slower, more narratively pleasing cinematic style of movement will remain.

These games are no longer senseless hack and slash, mindless murder machine style games and they will continue on with the new theme of a more aesthetic action RPG like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Devil May Cry 5 or even classics like NieR: Automata.

Visuals

Given that it is to be released on the next gen PS5, there is a strong chance that it will feature greatly improved visuals, even compared to the previous game which was stunning in its own right. We could be staring down the barrel at proper 4K definition, HDR supported gameplay that blows us away.

Pros:

• An incredible story continued
• More excellent gameplay

Cons:

• It isn’t out already
• I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye to Kratos