New combat details revealed for God of War Ragnarök
"Kratos plays with his food."
New details have emerged about the combat in God of War Ragnarök, including how Kratos can "play with this food".
The information comes from an interview with lead combat designers Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh by Game Informer.
In Ragnarök, players will have more options than ever to dish out damage to enemies, controlling both Kratos and Atreus in unison.
"Kratos plays with his food," said Sheth. "We tried to create systems you want to engage with that are fun, very playful, lots of different routes. And when we looked at the combat in the last game, we were like, 'We can push this further; we can find new toys and ways of playing with enemies and strategies.' That's been the guiding principle more than anything else."
One addition is the inclusion of Weapon Signature Moves, tied to the triangle button which was little used in the previous game beyond recalling the axe.
Now Kratos can infuse his weapons for powerful elemental attacks on triangle. For instance, the Leviathan Axe freezes enemies with Frost Awaken, while the Blades of Chaos incinerate enemies with Whiplash.
There will also be new shields to vary combat tactics.
The Dauntless Shield, for example, allows Kratos to unleash a devastating smash attack by parrying at the last second.
Contrastingly, the Stonewall Shield removes the parry ability but allows Kratos to absorb attacks and, when fully charged, pound the ground for a screen-wide pulse.
Yeh confirmed other shields will be available, but warns: "Maybe don't play with all your food, because there will be food that can eat you pretty easily."
Other details confirmed include heightened aggression and lethality on harder difficulties, respawning enemies in old locations, and some formidable side content for fans of the previous game's realm tears.
God of War Ragnarök is set for release on 9th November.
Sony Santa Monica is also teasing more information from the community team with a series of riddles suspected to hint towards a Discord server.