If you were kind of tired from bashing the same enemy types in God of War (2018), then you’ll be glad to know that for God of War Ragnarok, the devs over at Sony Santa Monica focused on enemy variety, as well as having more options for combat.

As part of Game Informer’s cover story on God of War Ragnarok, Sony Santa Monica shared details about the game’s combat along with new screenshots. Aside from the devs pushing for more enemy variety, there’s a new combat move in the game called “Weapon Signature Move.” Back in the 2018 GOW game, hitting triangle would call back the Leviathan Axe. If you already had the axe, hitting the button wouldn’t do anything. If you had the Blades of Chaos equipped and ou pressed triangle, Kratos would just revert his on-hand weapon to the axe. That won’t be the case in Ragnarok. According to Sony Santa Monica, triangle attacks are now Signature Weapon Moves. 

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Depending on whether Kratos has the Leviathan Axe or Blades of Chaos equipped, the weapons can then be infused with ice or fire. The elemental moves called “Frost Awaken” and “Whiplash” do extra damage to enemies by freezing or incinerating.

In addition to that, Sony Santa Monica elaborated on the different shields Kratos will wield in the game. Back in September last year, we reported that Kratos would have multiple shields at his disposal in Ragnarok. The ones mentioned in the story are the new “Dauntless” and “Stonewall” shields. The Dauntless Shield is focused on parrying. When the player parries at the last possible moment, the shield glows red, which lets the player know that they can unleash a smash attack that stuns and hurls enemies. As for the Stonewall Shield, it’s more defense-focused, and when equipped, Kratos won’t be able to parry. However, there is a benefit to using it, as the more hits the Stonewall Shield takes, the more kinetic energy it absobrs. Once it’s fully charged, players can bang the shield into the ground, which will then deliver a screen-wide pulse, knocking enemies off their feet.

Check out the screenshots from the cover story, which features some of the new enemies Kratos and Atreus will face in Ragnarok.

Check out the full write up which also describes a proper combat encounter that was demoed.  

If you need a refresher course on the story so far, go check out this awesome official recap video voiced by Mimir himself.

God of War Ragnarok launches exclusively for PS5 and PS4 on November 9, 2022.