After 4 years of an unbearable wait caused by the cliffhanger of the conclusion of God of War 2018, a certain God of War Ragnarok is finally about to land on PS4 and PS5. We were able to go through the first chapters of the new way, here are our first impressions of what will certainly be one of the biggest events of this end of the year in the small world of video games.
when the North wind came
Fimbulvetr has plunged the 9 Kingdoms into a new era and at its end will take place Ragnarök, the ultimate fight between peoples. A pre-apocalypse context in which Kratos and Atreus train tirelessly to try to counter the spell, once this fatal prediction comes true. But peaceful of the small family will soon be jostled by two divine troublemakers, forcing them to leave to explore the world again, in search of a way to change destiny. A particularly successful and very spectacular introduction that we will not detail here, but which allows you to have a small overview of the gameplay of the fights. The excellent foundations of 2018 are still here, so Santa Monica chose to feed it all with new options added to weapons, the most notable of which is an elemental charge. By infusing ice (holding triangle with the axe) and fire (tapping triangle with the blades) on his instruments, the Greek God has access to a whole new range of movementsexcellent when it comes to inflicting an affliction on opponents.
Kratos is also more agile, since his blades of chaos are no longer only used for combat: many hooks are scattered in the arenas and with this momentum, our good bearded man is able to unleash powerful aerial attacks which will create a shock wave. on the ground. Another novelty: there are several types of shields to equip and they now all have a special effect giving them their own functionality. At this stage, many combat options are still blocked (rune attacks in particular), but there is little doubt that Santa Monica will succeed in transforming the excellent basic formula into something even better thanks to a multitude of small new ideas and adjustments.
In the footsteps of Tire
Svartalfheim is the first big Kingdom you will explore. Composed of islets and a large city built along the river by the Dwarves, it is also a very hostile land on which live many kinds of calamities., one of the new enemy types in this sequel. The main arc is carried out at a good pace, in particular thanks to the many dialogues between the characters which hit the mark almost every time: between the humorous traits and the history lessons, the trio formed by Kratos, Atreus and this good old Mimir walks even better than in the first episode. During these first hours of play, the characterization of its main protagonists amazed us just as much as its technique or its staging, always in a single sequence shot: a few minutes spent with the small troop and you want to follow it until in Valhalla and beyond. Atreus has grown a lot since the events of their first trip, it shows in his combat skills, but also in his psychology.
As a teenager now, his desire to know more about his true identity and his desire to do battle with Odin are stronger than ever, to the chagrin of his daron, always ready to let out a grumble as soon as these subjects are mentioned.. Kratos’ love for his son will still push him to follow Atreus’ instincts by going in search of Tyr, a giant who could potentially still be alive somewhere in the Kingdom of Svartalfheim. Along the way it will be possible to complete some side objectives, some of which we are not allowed to mention in this preview and we understand why: we will simply recommend that you now complete the secondary quests when you have the game between the hands, some of them are surprising. Also, this first big zone is already an opportunity to see that the Santa Monica teams have made great efforts regarding the bestiary, with encounters against mini-bosses (main or annexes) interesting in terms of gameplay