The God of War Ragnarok synopsis video makes the game’s story even more confusing

This is just a wild guess, but I don’t think I’ll be the only person whose first game will be God of War God of War Ragnarok. Luckily for me, the developers have already anticipated players who haven’t played God of War (2018). When booting Ragnarok A very handy option will appear at the top of the main menu entitled “God of War recap.”

At first I thought it would help people like me get in Ragnarok know for sure what happened in the previous game and what to expect in this game. However, after watching it, I’m more convinced that it’s actually intended for those who just haven’t played God of War in a while. That’s because the minute and a half long video jumps incoherently from scene to scene and is delivered without any context and/or an actual direct synopsis of the first game’s action. Although I saw it, I have no idea what happened. So I decided it would be fun to write a post about what I think happened in God of War

Let’s start.

There’s a big, strong, bearded guy named Kratos and a little kid named Atreus. I can find out at least that much because, surprisingly, I already knew who they were. The game begins because Atreus’ mother is dying and he and his father want to scatter her ashes on a mountaintop.

Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

It seems quite a difficult task because a random lady says that the region is a realm of the gods. I don’t know if that’s the region of the mountain they need to go to, but I’m assuming it is, otherwise why on earth would they want to go there. Kratos tells someone he is a god; However, I cannot say whether it is addressed to Atreus or to this lady, Freya. I’m assuming it’s Freya because the synopsis shows her using magical powers that can make plants grow and she’s referring to being the leader of the Vanir.

Kratos chops off the head of a guy named Mimir, then promptly presents it to a giant dragon thing. I don’t know why Mimir asked Kratos to cut off his head, but the clip shows Kratos raising a head, so I think Kratos did the thing. Mimir mentions that Kratos killed the children of Odin, who I suspect are gods. Then Kratos gives a little hot gossip about himself. Apparently he decided to become a man, but actually he is a god. So I don’t know if he’s a god now or a man or just a really strong man.

Atreus learns that he is a god. He says he’s a giant, but he seems normal height to me. This causes Atreus to think that as a god he can do whatever he wants, so he goes and kills another god. (This god doesn’t seem to put up a fight against a child somehow.) Kratos seems very upset because he’s yelling and telling Atreus that if you kill a god, there will be consequences.

Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

This is where the story gets particularly dramatic. Another guy named Baldur enters the picture. He doesn’t seem to like Kratos or Freya. And I assume Kratos and Freya have reconnected, so I assume Freya is serving as a guide for Kratos. But now everything seems bad because this Baldur guy gets mad and Kratos turns his head and kills him. I don’t really know why he’s mad, but it could be because Atreus literally killed a god. Meanwhile, Freya mourns Baldur and calls him her boy, so I assume that’s her son.

Then Atreus mentions that someone called him Loki and he asks about it. Kratos doesn’t seem bothered to explain anything! He deflects the question from Atreus. So I’m assuming that Atreus isn’t just a god, but a very special god because Loki is a pretty important Marvel character.

In the end, we see them high up in the clouds and reasonably peaceful, so it seems like they’ve accomplished their goal of spreading the ash. (Though again I wish I knew why that was important.) The synopsis doesn’t say if Atreus is directly related to Kratos, which seems pretty damn important. Overall, it looks like there’s quite a lot of unresolved plot points from the first game to be developed Ragnarok. The synopsis wasn’t amazing, but you know what? I’ve just resigned myself to looking up wikis when I need additional background.