One of the shocking bulletins in the course of the PlayStation 5 occasion in September 2020 was the reveal of the subsequent God of Struggle sport, which might later be formally named Ragnarok. This would be the follow-up to 2018’s God of Struggle, developed by Santa Monica Studio — the workforce answerable for most video games within the collection. Ragnarok’s displaying was transient, however following a brand new trailer throughout a PlayStation Showcase occasion in September 2021, there’s much more we all know concerning the sport.
We’ve scoured the web to assemble as a lot as we might concerning the sequel to 2018’s God of Struggle. Right here’s every little thing we learn about God of Struggle Ragnarok, together with its trailer, launch window, and extra. (Notice that we’ll be spoiling the plot of 2018’s God of Struggle, so don’t learn forward in the event you’re involved about spoilers.)
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Launch date
Initially, God of Struggle Ragnarok was presupposed to launch in 2021. That’s the discharge window that was given in the course of the sport’s announcement trailer in 2020. However the sport was then delayed to 2022. As part of the September 2021 PlayStation Showcase, many expected Sony to announce the game’s official release date, but that wasn’t the case. As it stands, the game may be ready to go sometime in the fall or even winter of 2022, assuming it hasn’t been delayed again.
In terms of the development timeline, a 2022 release window isn’t totally outlandish. Cory Barlog, creative director of 2018’s God of War, teased the sequel back in April 2019 via a clever Twitter thread. Disguised as a post about his time working on God of War, the first letter of each post spells out “Ragnarok is coming.” So, even assuming the studio started working on the sequel as late as April 2019, having it ready to go by fall 2022 isn’t out of the question — especially since the team could reuse some of the assets and animations from the first game.
In April 2022, Santa Monica Studio posted a video celebrating the four-year anniversary of the reboot, while carefully updating fans on the development of Ragnarok.
4 years ago, God of War (2018) released! We’re grateful to all of you who joined Kratos and Atreus on their journey, and we’re so proud of the team who worked to bring it to life.
While we’re not ready to share an update about what comes next, here’s a quick message from Cory! pic.twitter.com/Z5PHpKQppY
— Santa Monica Studio – God of Struggle Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) April 20, 2022
Barlog mentioned the workforce was nonetheless laborious at work, explaining that there wasn’t something to indicate fairly but. “I assure you, the second — the very second we now have one thing able to share — we’re going to share it,” Barlog mentioned.
One other factor to notice is that on the finish of Might 2022, a website known as Leisure Earth had an inventory for numerous God of Struggle Ragnarok merch, main many to consider the timing would coincide with a launch date reveal. For the reason that merch went stay, it picked up plenty of traction and was finally delisted, presumably indicating the validity {that a} main reveal is coming quickly. Together with that, the PS Plus video games for June 2022 have been revealed, one among which is God of Struggle (2018).
With that in thoughts, it’s attainable Sony may have an enormous God of Struggle Ragnarok showcase later in summer season 2022, forward of the sport’s launch.
Platforms
We all know God of Struggle Ragnarok might be coming to PS5, but it surely’s additionally coming to PS4, as confirmed by way of a PlayStation Blog post. It makes sense to launch for both platforms, at least from a business perspective. The tricky thing is that a game like Ragnarok is expensive to make, and surely Sony wants as many players as possible to buy a copy when it releases — even if that means the overall product is held back to accommodate for the less powerful hardware.
With that in mind, it will likely be lucrative to put it on PS4, just as Horizon Forbidden West — yet another PlayStation exclusive — was a cross-generational game. With Ragnarok’s expected 2022 release window, it makes sense for it to launch on both systems, so long as the previous generation version doesn’t hold back the PS5 edition. With over 117 million PS4s in the wild, the install base is plentiful, guaranteeing sales on previous-generation hardware.
Trailer
A teaser trailer was shown during the PS5 event in 2020, and in terms of official information about the project, that was all we knew about for a whole year. It didn’t show off any gameplay or much of anything aside from a logo and an expected release window. It didn’t even feature the game’s official name, other than including the text “Ragnarok is coming 2021.”
Then, in September 2021, Sony unveiled a three-minute trailer showing off new and familiar characters from the series. Most notably, we got a look at Mimir, Freya, Tyr, and Thor, along with an older version of Atreus. But it also featured our first look at gameplay, which harkens back to the first game, though it seems like it will have new features, as well. Atreus is seen riding a magical stag, while Kratos wields Blades of Chaos.
The trailer itself has a lot of gameplay footage without spoiling Ragnarok‘s story or twists. Given the leap forward in the 2018 game, it’s likely Ragnarok will have its fair share of surprises as well. At the end of the trailer, we get a look at a new character named Angrboda, a young girl who may play a large role in the overall narrative.
Gameplay
The September 2021 PlayStation Showcase gave us a first look at God of War Ragnarok gameplay, and while there were a couple of new inclusions (such as the Runic Summon for Atreus), Santa Monica Studios likely still has a lot more to show. Much of the trailer focused on returning aspects like the famous boat riding sequences, exploration, and fast-paced action.
“As a team, we’ve worked hard to take our learnings from God of War (2018) and improve upon combat to feel fresh, yet familiar,” said Grace Orlady, senior community manager at Santa Monica Studio.
“With God of War Ragnarok, one of our main goals was to push player choice in combat. Whether it’s through hard-hitting combos, a mastery of elements, or clever defensive tactics — you will find plenty of opportunities to fight alongside our duo in a way that feels uniquely expressive.”
We’ll likely get a more in-depth look at gameplay closer to release, but what we do know is that Ragnarok will feature even more locations to explore than its predecessor, such as “otherworldly jungles” and “intricate subterranean mining networks.”
One, unbroken shot like 2018.
— Matt Sophos (@mattsophos) September 9, 2021
Tying the whole sport collectively might be one more single digicam shot, similar to the earlier installment. This was among the best options of God of Struggle, giving the whole journey a extra private, intimate feeling. Given the premise of telling a heartfelt story of a father and son, the uninterrupted digicam shot provides to the whole expertise.
We additionally know that Ragnarok will implement a plethora of accessibility options, which has been a significant precedence for Sony lately. It can embrace numerous subtitle choices — together with the power to vary the scale and colours — full controller remapping, high-contrast mode, and a slew of gameplay help mechanics that enable as many gamers as attainable to benefit from the sport.
Completely satisfied World Accessibility Consciousness Day!
We're celebrating by sharing a few of the 60+ accessibility options our workforce will embrace in God of Struggle Ragnarök. #GAAD #AccessibilityDay #GodofWarRagnarok
Learn extra under 👇
— Santa Monica Studio – God of Struggle Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) May 19, 2022
Multiplayer
Whereas the God of Struggle collection has featured multiplayer earlier than (particularly in 2013’s God of Struggle: Ascension), it’s extremely unlikely Ragnarok might be something however a single-player journey. The primary sport was a masterpiece, notably as a result of the Santa Monica workforce targeted on the narrative with out every other distractions just like the addition of an arbitrary multiplayer mode. And given the time-frame of supposedly launching this yr, there merely isn’t sufficient time for the workforce to have carried out a sturdy on-line multiplayer section.
It’s actually not out of the query, however extremely unlikely. If something, an asynchronous on-line part might be carried out, much like the notes within the Darkish Souls collection. However by way of taking part in aspect by aspect with others — whether or not it’s cooperatively or competitively — we don’t anticipate to see something like that.
DLC
It is attainable we’ll see some form of DLC with Ragnarok, although contemplating we don’t know a lot concerning the sport itself, it’s nonetheless too early to say for positive. God of Struggle 2018 truly did get further content material after it was launched, together with some additional weapons and a New Sport+ mode. So far as additional story content material or main expansions, we wouldn’t guess on it. The God of Struggle collection just isn’t identified for that includes main DLC additions, and we wouldn’t anticipate that to vary with Ragnarok.
Pre-order
Lastly, you is perhaps questioning about pre-ordering the subsequent God of Struggle sport. Sadly, it’s not accessible to be pre-ordered but, however as soon as we get affirmation of the official launch date, pre-orders will most likely go stay.
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