God of War - Heart of the Mountain puzzle, Ascend the Cave Shaft and Free the Chain

A walkthrough for the second part of the God of War story mission, Inside the Mountain.

Guide by Chris Tapsell Deputy Editor

Updated on 14 Jan 2022

Heart of the Mountain is the next area you'll find in the Inside the Mountain mission, tasking you with the objectives to Ascend the Cave Shaft and Free the Chain as part of your quest in God of War PS4's main story.

Here on this page, we'll take you through everything you need to know about this section of your quest, including how to solve any puzzles, take down any bosses and find any useful loot along the way. For guides to specific collectibles we also have pages on Valkyrie locations and how to open Hidden Chambers, Lost and Found locations and Faces of Magic locations, too.

This page follows on from God of War - Inside the Mountain, Ascend the Mountain and Traverse the Dark Caves.

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Otherwise, you can always cycle back to our main God of War walkthrough and guide hub, too.

Heart of the Mountain puzzle and Ascend the Cave Shaft

You'll now find yourself in a rather cavernous room, filled with old machinery and a variety of secrets and puzzles. Your task right now is to get to the top, so hang right to the big wheel that's sitting in the orange lantern light on the right.

Interact with it and - Atreus will muck it up. Instead of calling down another lift like the one outside, he breaks it, traps the big chain and attracts a ton of Draugr attention. Go deal with them! Beware these now glow and explode when they get close, which can be troublesome.

After they're defeated then, you need to find a way to free up that big chain.

Free the Chain

Okay, so there are lots of things to explore here but not all of them are to be dealt with now. Come back later for the Hidden Chamber, the area covered by Hel's bramble, and the are covered in more of that red sap.

The main things to do now are twofold: first, there are some runs on the back of a grounded mine cart in the middle of the room for Atreus to read.

Then there's also a smashable wooden wall to the left of the newly opened entrance that the Draugr came from, with a chest behind it.

Now, press on down that newly opened tunnel and, of course, it's Brok! Take the chance to buy or upgrade anything here and then continue.

First, climb up the gold-marked wooden pannel just to the right of Brok, to a ledge with a Hacksilver chest, a big healing crystal and a little slope on your right that goes back down to a coffin chest contianing more solid Svartalfheim Steel.

Hop back down from there and continue on to your left, where you'll find a spiky trap with another of those spinning pannels just above it to the right.

Throw your axe at the yellow-marked panel as you've done before and it'll spin, gradually pulling back the spikes. Do it until the panel won't spin any more then sprint through the trap and you'll be fine.

Knock open the next door by hitting the yellow panel in the corner and prepare for another bit of a fight with some assorted Draugr in the next chamber.

Now, you have another bit of puzzling to do - this time pretty much everything in the room can be gathered now though, which is nice!

Looking for more help? Our God of War walkthrough and guide helps with the main story progress, including The Witch's Cave puzzle solutions. We also have articles on God of War Valkyrie locations and how to open Hidden Chambers, plus collectables including God of War Faces of Magic locations,God of War Lost and Found locations, God of War Treasure Map locations and God of War Nornir chest locations.

Your aim here is to open the big gate to the left as you enter, and push the huge mining cart through it to the other side. Go to the mining cart straight ahead and grab it to pull towards the gate - only you'll find it's still attached, so quickly hack at the glowing disc on the rope and then continue dragging it across under the left hand drawbridge.

When it's across to the left, there are two things to do on this ground floor before climbing up. First, go behind the big dead creature that would have once pulled the cart, and you'll spot a load of loot on the ground (this may have been from killing a little wild purple lizard that was running around, but for us it was just already loose loot!)

Then, look at the spot where the cart used to be: there's another of those spiky doors for you to knock open with your axe, and an Artifact inside.

Now, climb up onto the top of the mining cart and then the raised level above that. Before you raise the gate and continue, first explore these upper areas by hitting the glowing discs that are holding up the two sets of drawbridges.

Cross the first bridge and drop down through the hole to open a coffin chest, then exit that area and circle back round up onto the cart and back to where you were.

Now head across to the other end of this raised platform, taking out the Draugr, and take out the Odin's Raven that's perched just ahead of you.

Knock down the second drawbridge in the same way, by hitting the discs, then cross and deal with more Draugr, and then shoot the Crystal for some light, revealing a couple ledges just next to it. Climb up the ledges to the South for another coffin chest.

Drop down on the other side and you're back where you first climbed up from the cart, and continue into the next room (the one where Atreus broke the lift).

Head down the torchlit tunnel, smashing through the wooden barricade in the way and you'll come out on top of one of the raised platforms on the other side of the gate. You can now pull the chain there to raise the gate, then take a shortcut back through the smaller gate just next to you to go back to the cart.

Push the cart through the gate until it's in line with the platform you were just on, and hop up onto it. Now you can jump across to the ledge to the East, and open a legendary chest just ahead.