‘God of War Ragnarök’ Gets ‘New Game Plus’ and More, Update Arrives
God of War Ragnarök gets its biggest update ever.
God of War is one of the most beloved PlayStation titles of all time. The original trilogy had players go on a bloody rampage throughout Greece to get revenge on the entire Greek Pantheon while slaughtering mythical creatures and heroes alike. After Kratos killed them all, players were sure that was the last of the God of War’s journey. In 2018, Santa Monica Studio released a new God of War title that found Kratos raising a son in the woods of ancient Scandinavia. On a journey to spread his wife’s ashes with his son, they run afoul of Norse gods and end up starting the process for Ragnarök. The game was critically acclaimed, changing the way everyone looked at Kratos and a masterclass on how sometimes deviating from what came before isn’t always a bad thing in sequels.
In 2022, Santa Monica released the finale of the new Kratos story for both PS4 and PS5. God of War Ragnarök takes place three years later with Atreus looking for ways to stop Ragnarök and stop a prophecy that involves his father dying. Father and son once again find themselves against incredible odds with them hoping they can divert destiny itself with the sheer force of will and/or violence. The game also was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards at many awards shows like Game Awards and the D.I.C.E. Awards. The game has been out for some time, but the good news is that the studio wasn’t done improving it.
A Godly-Sized Update
In December of last year, Santa Monica studio confirmed the game would be getting a New Game Plus in 2023. That time is now upon us and with it comes even more than I possibly could have expected. Grace Orlady, Lead Community Manager of Santa Monica Studio, sat down with Sony on a new PlayStation Blog to discuss the, now available, big update to Ragnarök. The game now has New Game Plus that lets you use most of the equipment you unlocked for Kratos and Atreus from the start. The only exceptions are that the Sonic and Hex Arrows will not be available from the start nor will the traversal areas work with the Draupnir Spear until you get far enough in the game where you unlock it originally.
The update also brings over way more content than what was mentioned before. The game will feature a “Black and White Render” mode in the Graphics & Camera settings menu and lets you skip the cinematics of the game during the replay. The game also has a major update to the Niflheim Arena where you train. You now can play either Kratos or Atreus and take any side character the game had in the story with you. So Kratos and Atreus can fight alongside Freya, Brok, Sindri, Angrboda, Ingrid, Thor, and Thrúd. This will make for some great use of the Photo Mode. Unfortunately, they said it was only in Niflheim where you can do this.
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New Armor, Shield, and Level Caps
One of the coolest things in the update is that they listened to fan feedback and you can now use the “Armor of the Black Bear” outfit Kratos has at the beginning of the game. Its stats focus on Strength and Defense with a perk that rewards last-second evades with a volley of Bifröst shards. The outfit will be the first thing he is wearing in New Game Plus whenever you start a new campaign.
The other thing introduced is called the “Spartan Armor.” It is an outfit that is always at Level 1 and has zero perks or stats. It is the ultimate outfit for someone looking for a challenge unlike any other in the game before. The good news though is if you want to still look like you have the outfit, but without the downsides, you can transmog the armor onto another set for their perks and this look.
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Kratos’ armors, Ares’ and Zeus’s, from New Game Plus in 2018 have also come back. The Ares gives better chances of health drops and rage gain from health stones. The Zeus armor greatly increases melee and runic damage, but you take way more damage than before. This is a good suit for a similar challenge as the Spartan armor, but with some perks. The Spartan, Zeus, and Ares armor can be bought with Hacksilver at Huldra Brothers’ Shop in the game.
via Sony
The only new thing for combat use is the “Spartan Aspis” Shield. This shield is similar to the Guardian Shield except the parry window is much smaller and increased parry damage. If you are feeling brave, this is a great shield for the Spartan Armor or Zeus armor for a big challenge. It will also be available at the Huldra Brothers’ Shop like the armors.
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via Sony
NG+ also has a brand new level cap for all of your equipment past Level 9. This new conversion with new levels of progression will also give you a “Gilded Coin” that can be used to upgrade new enchantments at the shop. The Gilded Coins help with equipping even more enchantments than before on your equipment.
The last update for the armors is that the existing ones now have different colors that can be bought at the Huldra Brothers’ Shop on existing Level 9+ equipment. There is also a new Berserker Armor look you can get from defeating the Berserker King in New Game Plus.
New Enchantments, Progression Paths, and New Enemy Attacks
Speaking of the Berserker King, they have also added brand new attacks to some enemies in NG+ to keep things fresh for people replaying the game. They also have given all bosses and mini-bosses Runic armor in the NG+ Give Me No Mercy and Give Me God of War difficulties. Also defeating Berserker Souls gets you new enchantments to equip in NG+.
via Sony
NG+ also will have more ways to earn resources from chests and Platinum Tier Labors to make upgrading even easier. The last update is that you can also equip negative status boosts called “Burdens” for even more of a challenge. So to recap if you want to just be the “Ultimate Spartan” you just equip Spartan Armor, the Spartan Aspis Shield, and turn on Burdens for just a crazy challenge. Not to mention the new additions to the Give Me God of War difficulty. Streamers are going to have a hell of a time with that idea.
As a huge fan of God of War, this is all incredibly exciting and I definitely want to try out New Game Plus when I get a chance.
God of War Ragnarök is currently out on PS4 and PS5 with this update available now.
“Death can have me when it earns me.” – Kratos
