God of War Ragnarok Focuses on Refining God of War (2018)’s Mechanics Rather Than Reinventing Them, Director Says

2018’s God of War has to be one of the most radical reinventions we’ve ever seen for a gaming franchise, and the fact that it managed to do so while also feeling very much like a sequel to its predecessors (and do it well) only makes it that much more of an impressive accomplishment. Obviously, God of War Ragnarok, as a direct sequel to the 2018 title, is less concerned with reinventing the wheel, and in a recent interview with GamesRadar, director Eric Williams spoke precisely about that.

“Sequels are not always going to be as major a step. They’re going to be refined, and they’re going to be a continuation – especially in the story space,” he said. “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 gave a few examples of mechanics that Ragnarok brings over from its predecessor and refines them further, including Odin’s ravens and Nornir chests. Of course, the game’s combat has also made several tweaks and improvements to offer a more fleshes out experience.

“The ravens, for instance, I think you’re going to be surprised when you see that that has its own story with its own culmination at the end of the game,” he said. “Even the Nornir Chests, we talk about those in a bit of a different way to think about how and why they’re placed where they are. And we try to acknowledge it all so it all makes sense within the world. But at the same time, we’ve got completely new stuff as well, so I think it works, there’s no reason to get rid of it.”

God of War Ragnarok is, of course, supposed to be the conclusion of the series’ Norse saga, which means that its next instalment, whenever it arrives, will move on to a new mythological settings. Whether that’s something goes hand-in-hand with another gameplay reinvention remains to be seen- but if it does, we can only hope that it will successful replicate the 2018 title’s success.

God of War Ragnarok launches for PS5 and PS4 on November 9.