Eric Williams, director of God of War Ragnarök, said the sequel won't be an "evolution" of the last game.
Speaking with GamesRadar+, Williams said he and the team at Santa Monica Studio were more focused on honing the gameplay from God of War than completely transforming it. "Sequels are not always going to be as major a step," he explained. "They're going to be refined, and they're going to be a continuation - especially in the story space. It would have taken us forever to rebuild the whole game and then take on that story. If you liked [the reboot], we'll give you that [again, but] we're going to do a lot more refining."
Williams also discussed the new features and abilities at Kratos' disposal, allowing players to personalize their gameplay experience. "There's a lot going on real fast, and it gives you time to start to express Kratos in a different way," he said. "Like, if I want to be a tank Kratos, or a Magic or status affect Kratos … you can make those choices now. Last game, it was there, but it wasn't as accessible to make a whole build that goes one way or another. That's the stuff we were more focused on." Games journalist Jason Guisao described the developers as taking a playful approach to Ragnarok's action, encouraging players to "play with their food."
Ragnarök Is a Massive Game
While the gameplay will likely be familiar to God of War veterans, the scale of Ragnarök is said to be much greater than its predecessor. Journalist Tom Henderson reported that the sequel will take approximately 40 hours to play Ragnarök through completely, with half that time focused on the story campaign and half on side quests and collectibles. The game is so big that Santa Monica Studio considered splitting it up into two separate God of War games, but producer Cory Balrog decided to keep the sequel as one complete entity and expand it to include more story moments and additional characters.
Storywise, Ragnarök will introduce new members of the Norse Pantheon to challenge Kratos and Atreus. Already confirmed are the giant wolf Fenrir, the vengeful thunder god Thor and the tricksy king of the Aesir, Odin the All-Father. Art director Raf Grassetti described Odin as the most difficult character to design, while the first look at Thor generated some controversy for depicting the Norse hero as significantly heavier than previous interpretations. Williams said the team was inspired by real-life strongmen, saying "They have a presence immediately. And it's not always because of muscles. They're just like that is a wall of a human being, you know. So this is a wall of a God, you know, and that's why it was very important."
God of War Ragnarök releases on Playstation 4 and 5 on Nov. 9.
Source: GamesRadar+