‘God of War Ragnarok’ release date, gameplay and latest news

Here's the release date for God of War Ragnarok.

God of War Ragnarok is official – for a long time, the name of the game was assumed, and the rumour mill was working hard to try and dissuade fans that Ragnarok would indeed be the final suffix for the title. The game is already making some big promises: developer Sony’s Santa Monica Studio has promised that the incoming game will complete the Norse storyline from the 2018 game, God of War so you know the stakes are going to be high.

Fan appetite for the game is clearly quite high, too: God Of War Ragnarok currently has the most views of all the trailers released at the last Sony PlayStation Showcase that took place on September 9, 2021. Given that most of those trailers are well into the muiti-million hit-count, that’s impressive. God of War: Ragnarok currently sits at over 12million views. Whoever said that fan desire for Sony exclusives was on the decrease?

The game will carry on more or less straight from the previous title, with Kratos and Atreus venturing once more into the ancient Norse world, attempting to put a halt to that eponymous world-ending Ragnarok. For everything you need to know about the game – including the God of War Ragnarok release date – read on below.

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God of War Ragnarok release date

God of War Ragnarok is set to launch on November 9, 2022. Sony’s Santa Monica Studio shared the date with a new CGI trailer, which depicts Kratos and Atreus fighting a horde of foes before facing off against Fenrir, a giant wolf.

In a blog shared on July 6, Santa Monica Studio shared that pre-orders for the game will begin from July 15. The blog also details several different versions of the game that will be available, including a collector’s edition that comes with a 16″ replica of Thor’s hammer.

The confirmed release date is good news for fans, who have been waiting for months on news about the game’s launch. At the Sony PlayStation Showcase on September 9, developer Sony Santa Monica and publisher PlayStation Studios announced that God of War Ragnarok has been delayed to 2022.

Speaking during a Q&A, Herman HulstSony Interactive Entertainment‘s head of worldwide studios, talked about the pushback:

“So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War,” explained Hulst at the time. “For both of those, they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent. For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn’t quite certain yet, and we’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can.”

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“For God of War, the project started a little later. So we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.”

 

Reveal trailer

Check out the reveal trailer for God of War Ragnarok below. It shows off gameplay, as well as the new setting and story details.

Why the delay?

Christopher Judge, the voice actor behind Kratos, has revealed that God Of War: Ragnarok was delayed due to an illness he faced in 2019.

Taking to Twitter, Judge stated “Ragnarok was delayed because of me” and explained that in 2019 he faced significant health issues leaving him unable to walk. The illness required “back surgery, both hips replaced, and knee surgery” as well as rehab, which Sony Santa Monica waited for him to recover from.

Judge added that he received “nothing but love and support” from Sony Santa Monica, who “never said a word about the delay, and what caused it.”

What can we expect with God of War Ragnarok?

Grace Orlady, the senior manager of Santa Monica Studio, has already teased some key details about what we can expect from the game when it launches in a PlayStation Blog post.

“As you can see in the trailer, we’re picking up a few years after the events of God of War (2018). The freezing winds of Fimbulwinter have come to Midgard, making survival for Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir in the Norse wilds even more challenging than before.”

She added: “While the last game built an enormous amount of trust and understanding between father and son, there is still a great deal of complexity in their interactions – especially after the revelation of Atreus’ Giant heritage and the hidden prophecy only Kratos saw.”

The God Of War: Ragnarok trailer also revealed two of the main antagonists of the game. The first was Freya, who was an ally of Kratos in the previous game.

“We wanted to remind players that Freya isn’t just a terrifyingly powerful user of Vanir magic, but also that she’s a formidable warrior in her own right. Enraged by Kratos’ evasion of justice by her hand, Freya will turn every weapon at her disposal towards her son’s killer.”

Finally, Thor was also revealed as a foe to contend with “Referred to disparagingly by Mimir as the ‘Biggest Butchering Bastard in the Nine Realms,’ Thor earned his title as one of the most powerful Aesir gods by wiping out nearly all the Giants at Odin’s command.”

The story will take place across the full Nine Realms, this time – which means this time we will also see Vanaheim, Svartalfheim, and Asgard. These three were omitted from the last game.

Kratos will also have a few new tools at his disposal when he returns, with a variety of shields to use that can impact the god-slayer’s skills. While our hero could use the Guardian Shield in 2018’s God of WarRagnarok director Eric Williams confirmed in an interview with YouTuber Jon Ford that the sequel will feature “different shields, and they have different defensive options and abilities.”

“The reason we’re doing this is we really want to open up expressive choice to the way that you build your Kratos, the equipment and loadout and things like that,” Williams added. “All the way down to the defence, so you can play a little differently and enemies know how to respond to that, force you into different situations where you need to use different things.”

In a recent GI cover feature, where developers have shared footage and information with the publication, new combat details came to light. For one, the triangle button is no longer only used to call back the Leviathan Axe, it now triggers powerful abilities. While the axe is in hand, players can now press triangle to unleash Frost Awaken and Whiplash. This imbues the axe with ice, and the Blades Of Chaos with fire. Additional damage can then be dealt.

Is God of War Ragnarok coming to PS4?

God of War Ragnarok will be a cross-platform release, launching on both PS4 and PS5. The game was explicitly name-checked by Herman Hulst in an interview that noted multiple games (previously thought to be PlayStation 5 exclusive) will be arriving on PS4, too.

“Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 — for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7 — we’ll continue looking at that,” Hulst said.

“And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.”

It is highly likely both games will release at the same time; Sony has not yet released a first-party PS4/PS5 game that has not seen a simultaneous release date across both platforms.

Will it come to PC platforms?

One thing we don’t yet know about God of War Ragnarok is whether or not it will come to PC. In recent years, Sony has been releasing its first-party lineup on PC, just a little while after launch. God of War came to PC a couple of years after it debuted, so it’s possible we’ll see the same here.

God of War Ragnarok development

God Of War
God Of War: Ragnarok. Credit: Santa Monica Studios

This will be the final game in the Nordic arc of the series. God of War director Cory Balrog explained why the Norse storyline is coming to an end during an interview with YouTube channel Kaptain Kuba.

“I think one of the most important reasons is the first game took five years, the second game, I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I’m just going to throw out that it’s going to take close to a similar time to do this, right, and then if you think, wow a third one in that same [amount of time], we’re talking like a span of close to 15 years of a single story and I feel like that’s just too stretched out.

“I feel like we’re asking too much, to say the actual completion of that story taking that long just feels too long,” he explained. “Given where the team was at and where Erik was at with what he wanted to do, I was like look, I think we can actually do this in the second story.”

“Most of what we were trying to do from the beginning was to tell something about Kratos and Atreus. The core of the story’s engine is really the relationship between these two characters and the complexity radiates out like ripples in a pond.”

“And we could make it an ocean and make those ripples go for thousands of miles, but is that necessary and is that beneficial, or are we feeling like it’s just spreading it too far apart, the ripples get too far apart, and you sort of lose the plot a little bit.”
Barlog is not directing the sequel to his 2018 hit, though – that honour falls instead to Eric Williams. In an interview with GamesRadar, the new game director gave a little bit of insight into how the new game will continue on from the themes of the original (whilst also touching on some new thematic outlines, too).

“Staying true to what we did last time, it’s keeping the father-son relationship moving,” Williams told the site. “It doesn’t just stop, like, ‘oh, we finished this for mom, we’re good.’ No, like, there’s a lot more that goes on in life, and it continues moving forward.”

“Last time, it was one kid with a lot of adults talking. This is like, well, there are some different perspectives. We’re gonna see it from a kid’s perspective in the world, figuring things out that they thought were black and white, or maybe much more gray, and a lot more family dynamics.”

God Of War: Ragnarok
God Of War: Ragnarok. Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

God of War Ragnarok cast

While many actors are set to reprise their roles from the previous game, God of War: Ragnarok will also introduce some fresh talent to the mythological world. The two main characters – of course – will be represented by the same actors as the last game (Christopher Judge returns as Kratos, and Sunny Suljic is Atreus) and they’ll be joined by the following actors:

  • Freya – Danielle Bisutti
  • Thor – Ryan Hurst
  • Odin – Richard Schiff
  • Angrboda – Laya Hayes
  • Tyr – Ben Prendergast
  • Mimir – Alastair Duncan
  • Sindri – Adam Harrington
  • Brok – Robert Craighead
  • Durlin – Usman Ally

That’s all we know about God of War Ragnarok so far. As we get closer to launch, more details are likely to come to light. We’ll be sure to update this page when more info is released. For now, check out our article on 10 games to look forward to in 2022.

In other gaming news, EA has begun to open up playtesting opportunities for the next Skategame, alongside some very early footage of the title during its development.

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