There’s a lot to be proud of in 2018 God of war, but one of its best features comes from its semi-open world design. Players could navigate Midgar by boat to discover hidden areas, complete side quests, and fight new enemies. As more players progressed, more areas opened up for Kratos and Atreus to explore.
After about seven hours of playing God of War Ragnarökcontinuation God of war, I can tell you that Studio Santa Monica just doubled down on that aspect. In fact, I’ve done so much research by now that I’ve barely even begun his story.
While a large part God of War Ragnarök It might seem familiar to returning players, exploration is where I notice the most changes so far. It gives me more freedom to tackle side objectives near the start of the journey, making it easier for me to immerse myself in Kratos’ world before getting into the heart of his adventure.
God of riddles
After a few scenes of the story at the very beginning God of War Ragnarök (which I won’t spoil), we find Kratos and Atreus traveling through the realm of Svartalfheim. Using a boat similar to the ones our protagonists used in the first game to navigate around Midgard, I began rowing around different parts of Svartalfheim, looking for casual things to do.
And there’s a lot of it.
One of the side quests I tackled involved shutting down three separate portals scattered around Svartalfheim, which would reduce pollution around the kingdom. Each of the three portals incorporated hydraulic lifts into their series of puzzles. Similar to the first game, Kratos would sometimes have to use his Frozen Ax Leviathan to hold his gear in place with the ice while jumping over a large rock.
I also got to experience a new type of puzzle, which had me freeze a geyser so that the pressure would cause water to come out of another geyser somewhere else. The resulting water would run a turbine below, opening something like a door to the next area.
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The puzzles I’ve come across so far are perfectly balanced: not too easy, not overly challenging. Admittedly, there were a few times when I got stuck, as it wasn’t always entirely clear what I needed to do to progress through a particular puzzle. In one case, I didn’t know that my Leviathan ax could also freeze water leaking from pipes. Once I figured that part out, the rest of the puzzle fell into place. Sometimes I just had to try random things like throwing a weapon at an item to trigger Atreus’ dialogue hints, which would give me a bit of guidance on how to solve the puzzle.
Fortunately, the game’s accessibility options package helps with such moments. Building on the excellent work that The Last of Us Part II and Horizon Forbidden West started, God of War Ragnarök there are some great tools here. I absolutely love the option to have Kratos automatically pick up every single item off the ground, including health stones, resources, and out-of-combat loot. It takes something from the game that I find tedious, and I make that decision myself.
My favorite accessibility feature in recent Sony games is always the high contrast mode, and it returns here. IN God of War Ragnarök, you can adjust the different aspects you want to apply contrast to. As for me, I set the interactive game objects to blue. So whenever I’m stuck on a puzzle, I’ll be able to more easily figure out what I can interact with to solve it.
Sail away
IN God of war, ship banter was an integral part of the game. Kratos and Atreus would have casual conversations about the events as they sailed around. If you had interrupted them by docking, they would have made a mental note to resume the subject when you reached the ship again. Excitingly, the ship banter is back Ragnarök and it’s just as enjoyable as before.
I loved hearing more of the conversation between Kratos and Atreus, but Mimir is an early favorite. The God of Wisdom’s rich knowledge of Norse mythology made for some fascinating world-building conversations in the previous game while the crew just sailed from place to place, and the same holds true here. This time he is with you from the very beginning, and the conversations this time are just as funny and entertaining as before.
One of my favorite interactions happened when Mimir asked Kratos if he ever thought about cooking food with his Chaos Blades, considering they can be used for something like kitchen knives. Kratos says no because that would destroy the meat, and Mimir goes on to ask why. Kratos replies with “because of the blood on the blades”, to which Mimir simply replies, “Ah OK, carry on then!”
It’s these little conversations during the break between fighting and exploring that add a lot of personality God of War Ragnarök. There were many points where I would avoid docking the ship just to let the crew finish their current conversation.
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As for the story itself so far, it is too early to determine how the fateful destruction of the world, Ragnar, isonk, will be played. Atreus had always been curious, and this time he was even more so. He wants to find a way to stop Ragnaronk.
Atreus has now grown a bit, as evidenced by the fact that his voice is noticeably deeper. It reminds me of the transition between Square Enix Royal Heart and Kingdom Hearts II (Sora’s voice actor, Haley Joel Osment, went through puberty during those first two games). Atreus also shows more maturity as he doesn’t seem as rash and hot headed as he was in his first outing. Despite this, there are still moments where he responds to his father when they disagree, but this time in a calmer, if slightly impatient, tone.
Ragnar’s Prophecyonk states that a great battle will take place that will cause the death of many Norse gods – and Kratos and Atreus are at the center of it. It is not known where God of War Ragnarökthe story will go. I’ll have to stop my curious glee sometime if I want to find out.
I’m glad about that God of War Ragnarök opened his horizons earlier than his predecessor, because I already consider his research to be a bright spot. There are many new puzzle elements as well as familiar ones from the previous game, such as the Nornir chests where Kratos must ring bells with his ax within a time limit to unlock them. Similarly, the fight also starts early with Kratos gaining access to both the Leviathan Ax and Chaos Blades near the start this time. The variety of options the game offers early on already makes it feel like a different beast than its predecessor – one that I can’t wait to conquer.
God of War Ragnarök out November 9 for PS4 and PS5.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn