The release of God of War Ragnarok has been met with universal acclaim from both critics and fans, vanquishing any lingering thoughts that it would fail to live up to its 2018 Game of the Year-winning predecessor. The continuation of Kratos and Atreus’ journey will take gamers anywhere between 25-60 hours, depending on how much of the Nine Realms they wish to explore. The Realms have much to see and do, with challenges ranging from straightforward to extremely tough. Thankfully, we’ve put together some simple tips to make your journey a little easier.
1: Choose Your Difficulty Wisely
While it isn’t a Soulslike title, God of War Ragnarok‘s combat can still be extremely unforgiving. Whether your primary focus is the challenging combat or the engaging narrative, you will want to make sure you select the difficulty that aligns with your priorities. Ragnarok offers 5 difficulty options:
Give Me Story: Look at this as Very Easy mode. For players who have no interest in the combat and are simply there for the narrative.
Give Me Grace: Easy mode. For players who have a passing interest in combat, but don’t want to find themselves challenged in any real way.
Give Me Balance: The standard difficulty setting. The way the developers intended the game to be played. Combat will be challenging, with some late-game or optional content putting a player’s skills to the test.
Give Me No Mercy: For those who are looking for an extra challenge- look at this as hard mode. Any lapses in concentration will be punished heavily.
Give Me God of War: The toughest challenge available. Only action games and God of War veterans should attempt to play it on this difficulty. Note: If you do begin with this difficulty, you can lower it during the game, but you cannot change it back.
2. Listen to Kratos’ Friends
Ragnarok is far from a lonely adventure, with Kratos almost always joined by at least one of his family or friends. From his son Atreus, to the wisecracking talking head, Mimir, there is always someone around to assist Kratos in combat. The over-the-shoulder camera style can sometimes mean Kratos is fighting with his back to enemies. Even though a colored marker on the floor indicates when an attack from behind is coming, in the heat of battle it can get a little confusing. Thankfully, if you listen carefully, there are vocal cues that will help. Mimir will almost always give you the heads-up (pun intended!) whenever someone is attacking you out of sight.
It isn’t always combat that allies help with either. Ragnarok is puzzle-heavy, and the solutions to these puzzles can sometimes be a little perplexing. Thankfully though, whoever is accompanying Kratos at the time will usually point you in the right direction with a vocal cue if you’re struggling. Some may not want this though, preferring to figure the puzzles out themselves. For those that prefer, you can switch these vocal cues off in the Accessibility menu.
3. You Can Change Some of Kratos’ Loadout Mid-Battle
While some action games choose not to let gamers pause the game at all (yes, YOU, Dark Souls!), Ragnarok is all the way at the opposite end of the scale. You can pause during cutscenes, during battle, or at any other time you want to. This has a few strategic advantages too. Having the ability to change certain things mid-battle can provide you with a tactical boost at a crucial moment.
Kratos’ rage meter, activated by clicking L3 + R3 together, is a great example of this. At a certain point in the game, the player is given the option to switch this from an offensive move to a defensive one, allowing the player to use a full rage meter to restore health. For aggressive players, this will not be an attractive proposition, but having the ability to switch it on the fly allows players to make the decision to sacrifice their rage meter in the middle of a tough fight in order to restore their life meter. Experiment with these mid-battle changes for yourself, and you’ll be sure to find more marginal gains like this one.
4. Experiment With the Accessibility Options
The range of accessibility options that God of War Ragnarok makes available for players is truly impressive. A quick look at the Settings in the pause menu displays a range of customizable mechanics. Players can adjust the camera so that it centers on attacking enemies rather than Kratos, they can map the entire control scheme to their liking, and also switch on several other settings that make life a little easier. There’s an auto-loot pickup option, removing the need for players to press a button to pick up loot. And for the extra lazy gamers out there, there’s even an auto jump/climb option, so Kratos will automatically jump or climb surfaces without pressing a button.
5. Don’t Sleep On the Side Content!
In direct contrast to its Game of the Year rival Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok can be a pretty linear experience for those who just wish to pursue the main story. While the narrative is more than strong enough to carry the player through to its conclusion, doing this would mean missing out on a wealth of optional content. Not only will this content ensure players are appropriately leveled up for the end-game challenges, but it also contains some of the most challenging and engaging activities in the whole game. In order to remain spoiler-free, we won’t disclose what this side content is, but trust us – you won’t want to miss it! When you see a side mission pop up, go check it out, it will usually present you with some shiny new equipment or even a challenging new boss encounter.
For more tips and tricks, keep it Lords of Gaming.
