From Elemental Attacks to Shields: 5 Revelations About God of War: Ragnarok’s Combat

Brand new details about the combat in God of War: Ragnarok were just revealed in an interview with the game’s lead combat designers Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh.

The interview comes courtesy of Game Informer and also debuted new screenshots of Kratos and some of the enemies you’ll face. It taught us a lot about God of War: Ragnarok ahead of its November 9 release date, so we’ve rounded up the best announcements and reveals from the interview below.

You Can Now Perform Weapon Signature Moves

Pressing the triangle button in God of War: Ragnarok will infuse Kratos’ weapons with fire or ice and perform a powerful Weapon Signature Move. The Leviathan Axe’s signature move is called “Frost Awaken”, while the Blades of Chaos have a signature move called “Whiplash”.

Anyone who’s played God of War (2018) will know that this is a big upgrade over the last game, which used the triangle button exclusively to recall your axe or switch to it.

Kratos Now Has Two Shields

When you parry at the right moment with the Dauntless Shield, Kratos will unleash a devastating counter-attack that stuns enemies and throws them back. It’s geared towards situations when you need to be nimble and react to an enemy with twitch reactions.

On the other hand, the Stonewall Shield turns Kratos into a tank that can hold out during slower-paced fights. The Stonewall Shield builds up kinetic energy as it blocks attacks and can send out a powerful pulse when it’s fully charged that knocks back nearby enemies.

Yeh also teased that there’ll be additional shields in the game.

New Enemy Types

Sheth and Yeh tease some of the new enemies you’ll face in God of War: Ragnarok, like bipedal lizards called Grims and a “Cursed” Grim that can fire toxic bile at Kratos. The designers didn’t go into too much detail about the new enemy types, but the screenshots give us a glimpse at some of them.

There’ll Be Optional Content and Challenges

Like realm tears in God of War (2018), Ragnarok will offer players a range of challenging side content. Additionally, locations you’ve already cleared will occasionally be repopulated with more powerful enemies, and optional territories will be especially hard to clear without the right crew.

Combat Will Be Fun

Overall, Sheth and Yeh emphasise that combat in God of War: Ragnarok will be fun, varied and satisfying to pull off.

“That’s an internal philosophy 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.”

Yeh added that it will also be challenging: “Maybe don’t play with all your food, because there will be food that can eat you pretty easily.”

The God of War: Ragnarok release date is November 9 for PS5 and PS4, and pre-orders are now live.

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