There has been a lot of talk about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:God of War Ragnarok since the trailer dropped a week ago, and as one of PlayStation’s biggest hitters, that’s to be expected. Unfortunately, so much of the discussion has been spent on irrelevant issues. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Thor being fat. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Angrboda being Black. Kratos not coming up with an entirely 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:new way of jumping into a boat. But the game looks set to build upon the original reboot in the best possible way, and it’s baffling that this nonsense is still getting in the way of t🅠hat.
As brilliant as the first game was, it could feel a little hollow. That’s what made 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:God of War, despite the violence, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:so relaxing. Though deliberate, and narratively justifiable, the world was empty. There were the two merchants Sindri and Brok, occasional appearances of Freya, scattered enemies, and the constant chatter of Mimir, but there were also a lot of open, expansive spaces you crossed over in silence. It gave God of War its haunting quality, and underscored Kratos and Atreus’ connection while also highlighting Kratos&rsqu🗹o; loneliness and isolation. It was a necessary story device used effectively, with the game leaning into the hollowness rather than fighting against it.
This is not a trick that would work twice, and it seems Ragnarok understands that. In the most recent trailer, though we di🅠dn’t see Kratos interact with villagers, we did see far more NPCs scattered around in the background, going about their work. Where the original ca𝔉ptured the essence of emptiness, it seems as if Ragnarok wants its world to feel lived in.
Of course, Kratos is blunt and brusque. It will not be a Fable-type situation where everyone chats and makes jokes about farting. Kratos will interact with people just as he did in the first game - only when completely and utterly necessary - but Atreus will be more involved. Far more outgoing and gregarious than his pa, Atreus will likely be the one to make the most of this new environment full of actua🎐l people to converse with rather than his father growling at him to “read it boy.” With Angrboda in the picture, Kratos might have to deal with Atreus getting his first girlfriend too.
It's not just the hubs, now full of NPCs and more in-depth interactions that Raganrok is bringing to the table here. As well as potentially experiencing romance with Agraboda, Atreus seems to be even more involved this time, both in terms of clashing with Kratos to drive the story and in combat. The trailer didn't hint at a playable Atreus, but with Ragnarok the conclusion of the Norse saga - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a smart move - it feels like now or never. Perhaps the next game after Ragnarok won't be quite as hard a reboot as the 2018 version, but this feels like Atreus' story just as much as it is Kratos'.
In the trailer, though everything is still over Kratos' shoulder - heavily implying he and only he is playable - Atreus is no longer peppering enemies with arrows or jumping on them to distract them before being tossed aside. We see him charging through enemies on a spiritual deer, in a clear nod to the fact he will be embracing what it means to be Loki in Ragnarok. The opening shot of Atreus, with the buck's horns framing his head in silhouette, was another nod to this incoming change.
Of course, seeing so much of Kratos in action means we get to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:take a closer look at the combat. Having picked up the Blades of Chaos late in the first game, he will have them from the start here, which will likely change the way combat scenarios are constructed. Kratos will, at all times, have the choice of two very different styles, and it will be fascinating to see how the game copes with that. Already, enemies seem more varied - a damn centaur?! - while the Leviathan Axe is now thrown in an arc rather than a straight line. It seems as though different moves can now be chained together more fluently too - though we won't know for sure until we can actually play it, all signs point to the fact that combat, the game's strongest element anyway, has been improved upon yet again. Just please let me play as Atreus. Please.
Exploration could add some new elements to the game as well. Sure, Kratos jumps in a boat the same way, but we also see him and Atreus sledding across the ice. Personally, I would love for exploration in a game where you play as a literal god to be far more fantastical, and it may be that the sled is just the boat but for land, but it doesn't seem as if Santa Monica would add another method of transport only to make it identical to the first one. What would be the point? Especially when the sled is moving across a frozen lake that could otherwise be rowed across.
That's before we even get to how the presence of Tyr will completely change things. The trailer only shows Kratos and Atreus, with Tyr appearing right at the end, but the fact the trailer tells us he is a) alive and b) rescued suggests it happens early enough in the game that this confirmation does not constitute a spoiler. Considering we see nothing of what happens after Kratos and Atreus free Tyr - or at least, Tyr is not in any of the gameplay footage - that suggests something around Tyr is a spoiler, and that his presence is more than just narrative, possibly transforming parts of the gameplay itself.
There has been far too much talk around unimportant whining in God of War Ragnarok, and not enough excitement for what these new changes could bring to the table. With the introduction of Angrboda, Tyr, Thor, plus the𝄹 developments to Atreus, the world, and combat, Ragnarok is shaping up to eclipse ඣthe might of the 2018 reboot.