Gaming News God of War Ragnarok: Towards a more tactical approach? The fights are inspired by chess, says a developer
If Kratos, the hero of God of War, has always been viewed as a nag, God of War: Ragnarok might change that a bit. In fact, as surprising as it may seem, Stephen Oyarijivbie, the game’s combat designer, has admitted that this new opus is heavily inspired by chess games.
In God of War, Kratos plays chess but with an axe
God of War is not a series to put in everyone’s hands, it must be said that Kratos, the main character, doesn’t bother when it comes to killing his enemies, quite the opposite. The Santa Monica and Sony antihero is also better known for his extraordinary violence. He does not hesitate to tear off jaws or cut mythological clocks into several pieces… For this reason, all the works in the series are not recommended for people under 18 in our territory.
sure, God of War: Ragnarok does not change this series-specific mentality and will once again challenge players to draw blood, but this time the clashes go deeper. According to Stephen Oyarijivbie, designer of the fights, everything is inspired by chess games.
Our philosophy when creating brand new enemies is to think of a puzzle like chess and focus on the different pawns. Each pawn has its own theme, how it works. Stephen Oyarijivbie, God of War: Ragnarok combat designer
What you need to understand by this is that each enemy is considered a pawn with a utility and a very different functionality. So it’s up to the players to adapt accordingly. For example, some antagonists will force Kratos to show agility, while others will push him to play the shield. We also imagine that in the manner of Doom Eternal it will also be necessary to show ingenuity to get rid of the enemies, for example by tearing the weakest opponents to pieces before attacking the fiercest, or on the contrary focusing on it most dangerous to be able to breathe later. In other words, A tactical dimension seems to come to life in this new opus.
Furthermore, this isn’t the only similarity God of War: Ragnarok has shared with DOOM Eternal ever since the confrontations gain in verticality with this new opus. In particular, we learn that Kratos can attack his enemies located below or swing from one platform to another to gain distance from his opponents or, on the contrary, approach them faster.
Towards more mini-bosses?
Besides introducing this extra tactical dimension, thanks to the making-of available above, we also learn that Santa Monica wanted to please the players by fixing one of the previous game’s mistakes. We will therefore have the right to more mini-bosses, which does not displease us.
After the previous game, the community asked us for more mini-bosses, bigger and more diverse enemies. So this time we put the package on top. Stephen Oyarijivbie
For his part, Atreus has grown, which also means that he is now stronger and Kratos is now a great help.
In God of War: Ragnarok we improved the Kratos-Atreus duo. Atreus is more in the lead, he is more aggressive. He will fight by your side and sometimes surprise you with his combo skills. Stephen Oyarijivbie
As a reminder, God of War: Ragnarok is expected to release on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9th.
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