There have been some significant revelations regarding “God of War Ragnarok” combat, including the notion that Kratos will possess “a whole new arsenal” of elemental abilities in addition to two extremely distinctive shields.
The updated details were provided by Game Informer(opens in new tab), who also unveiled a few fresh pictures, one of which is shown above. Mihir Sheth, the main combat designer for the next sequel, explained that they wanted the fighting to feel like Kratos was messing around with his meal. Yes, truly.
“That’s an internal philosophy that we’ve had since back in the day,” Sheth said. “Kratos plays with his food. 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, we were like, ‘We can push this further; we can find new toys and ways of playing with enemies and strategies.’ That’s been the guiding principle more than anything else.”
Kratos receives additional ice and fire elemental abilities from one of those new systems, which he can switch between by hitting triangle. That will cause “Weapon Signature Moves” to be applied to Kratos’ axe or the Blades of Chaos. The first one, named Frost Awaken, freezes opponents, while the second, called Whiplash, deals fire damage.
Although we were aware that “God of War Ragnarok” would feature a variety of shields, we now understand how two of them operate. With the Dauntless Shield’s fast-paced fighting and parrying specs, the player can use a smash attack that stuns opponents and knocks them back. The Stonewall Shield cannot parry and is significantly more durable. Instead, as it deflects blows, it accumulates kinetic energy that, when fully charged, may be slammed into the ground to send forth a pulse that throws opponents off balance.
In Ragnarok, there will also be further new shields, though details on those are still being withheld. Other key weapons are also unknown, although we wouldn’t be surprised if we found out more information before the game’s November 9 release on PS5 and PS4.
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