God of War was an immense success when it launched on the PlayStation 4 in 2018. As a soft-reboot of Kratos featuring a continuous-shot throughout the whole game, it defined the PS4 generation in an instance.
And now, with the PlayStation 5 set to release in November, all attention turns to a sequel. Following months of speculation, rumours and shut downs by God of War director Cory Balrog, Sony Santa Monica finally confirmed a sequel exists during the latest PS5 event.
Now that it's official, what will God of War: Ragnarok, the fifth instalment in the series, entail? Here's what we know about the axe-citing sequel!
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God of War: Ragnarok reveal trailer
While most of the chatter following the PS5 event focused on the console's price and release date, alongside a somewhat hectic pre-order window, the God of War reveal sent fans into a frenzy online.
The trailer, which you can view below, gives very little away, slowly revealing the God of War logo in a cool blue colour, followed by the phrase "Ragnarok is coming".
However, since the trailer dropped, fans of the series have taken time to analyse the trailer in more detail. One user on Reddit managed to decode the runes in the logo shown, which combine to make the word Ragnarok.
What's curious about this is that six of the runes in the logo are associated with Freyja, strongly hinting that she will play a significant role in the sequel.
Alongside the title card, Sony Santa Monica did reveal one more thing...
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God of War: Ragnarok release date
The trailer revealed that the God of War sequel will launch in 2021. There was no specific date or time window, but given that all Santa Monica showed us was a logo, we'd be more inclined to think this will come towards the end of the year, especially considering that Horizon Forbidden West, of which we have seen a full trailer for, is also slated for a 2021 release.
Still, the 2021 release window is a pretty impressive feat given that the first game, which launched in 2018, took five years to make, according to Kotaku.
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What could happen in the God Of War 2 story and gameplay?
But what could appear in this sequel? First of all, let’s not forget that it looks like Thor is coming, as the secret cutscene showed. It seems as though the iconic Norse god is indeed coming to the series.
God Of War: Ragnarok could also bring further exploration into the dynamic of Kratos and Atreus, which is what a good sequel should do, build on from the dynamic of the previous entry.
It certainly feels like there is more to explore with Atreus' unique ancestry, and what it could mean for his abilities. Perhaps we could even see a fully playable Atreus this time!
Given that Norse mythology played quite a big role in the last time, perhaps we could see a different subset of gods appearing in the next game. The Egyptian gods, for example, could make for an interesting paradigm shift.
Of course, the no-loading and the continuous shot is something that will be a sight to behold in a 4K PS5 sequel, alongside any new environments that could be coming.
Indeed, the powerful PS5 SSD and ray-tracing will make sure that God Of War: Ragnarok runs smoothly and looks awesome on the PlayStation 5. Fingers crossed that we'll see some gameplay soon!
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