God of War Ragnarök

• 1. Introduction

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  God of War Ragnarök sold 5.1 million copies in its first week, the fastest launch week any first-party PlayStation game has recorded. Santa Monica Studio released the game on the 9th of November 2022 as the sequel to 2018's God of War. Its hero is Kratos, a veteran of Greek legend now living among Norse gods, with his teenage son, Atreus. Their world is sliding toward Ragnarök, the prophesied end of everything, and the game follows their attempt to stop it. How do you stage an apocalypse that the hero is trying to prevent? What does a war god become when his son starts making his own choices? And why would a studio close a whole mythological era after only two games?

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• 2. A Frozen World and Its People

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  Fimbulwinter has gripped Midgard for three years when the story begins, and the realm has become a frigid wasteland. The winter started the moment the previous game ended. The Lake of the Nine, which players once crossed by boat, is now frozen solid. Kratos gets around by sleigh, pulled by two pet wolves.

  Every one of the nine realms of Norse mythology appears in this story, which the earlier game never managed. Muspelheim, the fiery realm, and Niflheim, the fog realm, were only optional detours before. Niflheim is now covered in ice and snow. Alfheim is the mystical home of the dark and light Elves. Helheim is the icy land of the dead, and Jötunheim belongs to the Giants. Three realms are new to the series. Svartalfheim is the industrial home of the Dwarves. Vanaheim is the lush country of the Vanir gods, and also of the giant wolves Sköll and Hati. Asgard, the humble home of the Aesir gods, can be visited only during the story and is closed off once it ends.

  Kratos, voiced by Christopher Judge, is the former Greek God of War, and he and his son have spent the winter in hiding. Atreus, played by Sunny Suljic, is half Giant, one-quarter god and one-quarter mortal. The Giants call him Loki. The pair train at their home in Midgard for a battle they know is inevitable. The head of Mímir, voiced by Alastair Duncan, keeps them company and offers counsel. He claims to be the smartest man alive.

  Freya, played by Danielle Bisutti, is a Vanir goddess, a former Queen of the Valkyries and the ex-wife of Odin. She wants revenge on Kratos and Atreus for killing her son, Baldur. The Huldra Brothers, Brok and Sindri, are dwarven blacksmiths who forge new gear for the pair. They also found a way to cross between realms without the travel table in Týr's Temple. Angrboda is a newcomer, one of the last Giants, hiding in a forest called the Ironwood in Jötunheim and protecting its animals. Atreus's mother, a Giantess named Laufey who goes by Faye, died shortly before the previous game began. She appears in flashbacks that show her preparing Kratos for her death and for the final wish that drove that earlier story.

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• 3. The Fall of Asgard

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  Odin, king of Asgard and Allfather of the Nine Realms, is the main antagonist, and he was never seen on screen in the previous game. He is a pathological liar and manipulator, obsessed with escaping his own death at Ragnarök. He lost an eye peering into a rift between worlds, hoping for answers that might prevent the catastrophe. His ravens, including Huginn and Muninn, let the Aesir travel freely to any realm and act as his watchful eyes.

  Thor, the eldest son of Odin, is a secondary antagonist and the half-brother of Baldur. He fathered Modi and Magni, and Kratos and Atreus killed all three in the previous game. Thor wields the hammer Mjölnir to slay Giants, despite being part-Giant himself. He obeys a father who constantly belittles him.

  Heimdall, known as the Herald of Ragnarök, is another son of Odin and a half-brother to Thor. His power of foresight convinces him that he is untouchable. He watches over Asgard from the back of Gulltoppr, a horned, lion-like beast called a graðungr. He carries the horn Gjallarhorn, which signals the start of Ragnarök and opens simultaneous realm travel to Asgard.

  The plot begins near the end of Fimbulwinter with an ambush by a vengeful Freya. Back at home, Kratos and Atreus find their wolf Fenrir dying. Atreus's grief turns him into a bear, and he fights his own father before coming to his senses. Odin arrives with Thor and offers to keep Freya away if Atreus stops searching for Týr. Kratos refuses and duels Thor to a stalemate.

  In Alfheim, the travelers learn that only Asgard is fated for destruction, while the other realms survive under a new champion. The implication is that this champion is Atreus as Loki, and father and son argue over the supposed destiny. In Jötunheim, Angrboda shows Atreus a mural that seems to foretell Kratos's death in Ragnarök, with Atreus serving Odin. Sworn to secrecy, Atreus carries that knowledge alone. His deceit later angers Kratos.

  Freya's story bends in Vanaheim. There Kratos tells her about the deaths of his family in Greece, his vengeance against Olympus and the emptiness of revenge. Once he helps break the curse that binds her to Midgard, the two make amends.

  The Norns, the Fates of Norse myth, warn that Heimdall is destined to kill Atreus. Kratos and Brok travel to Svartalfheim and forge the Draupnir ring into a spear that can harm Heimdall. While working, Brok learns that Sindri once revived him without a piece of his soul. When Brok dies again, he can never reach an afterlife. In Vanaheim, Kratos brutally kills Heimdall and takes Gjallarhorn, which sets Ragnarök in motion.

  Meanwhile Atreus, working with Thor and Thrúd, reassembles an ancient mask that supposedly grants Odin infinite knowledge. Betrayal then arrives in a familiar face. Týr, apparently agreeing to fight, asks Atreus for the mask. Brok grows suspicious when Týr calls Atreus "Loki," as the Asgardians do. The stranger stabs Brok fatally and reveals himself as Odin in disguise. A grief-stricken Sindri blames Atreus and abandons the group. Atreus and Kratos commit to Ragnarök and enter Muspelheim to help the fire Giant Surtr reach the primordial form that will destroy Asgard.

  The united forces of the realms gather under Kratos, and he sounds Gjallarhorn to begin the siege of Asgard. It goes badly until Angrboda arrives with Fenrir and Jörmungandr, the snake that Atreus had once given a Giant's soul. Sindri destroys Asgard's wall. Thrúd and Sif defect after learning that Odin used Midgardian refugees as shields. Kratos persuades Thor to stand down for the sake of his family, and Odin kills Thor for disobeying.

  Kratos, Atreus and Freya then fight Odin and defeat him after Atreus shatters the mask. Atreus traps Odin's soul in a stone, and Sindri smashes it. Freyr sacrifices himself to buy time for the others to escape to Midgard as Surtr destroys Asgard.

  Angrboda later shows Kratos and Atreus a mural that Faye had destroyed so that they could decide their own fate. Atreus resolves to find the surviving Giants and says farewell. Kratos discovers a mural of himself as a beloved god of peace and justice, and for the first time he feels hope about his future. Freya kills the vengeful Valkyrie Queen Gná and reclaims her mantle. The Aesir relocate to Vanaheim and make peace with the Vanir, and Thrúd wields Mjölnir to honor her father. The real Týr is found and freed in Niflheim. In the secret ending, Kratos, Freya, Mímir and an unforgiving Sindri attend Brok's funeral in Svartalfheim.

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• 4. Weapons and Rage

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  Ice runs through the Leviathan Axe, Kratos's magical battle axe. He throws it and calls it back to his hand, much like Thor's hammer Mjölnir. Thrown at environmental objects, it triggers a damaging explosion. It can also freeze objects and some enemies in place for puzzle-solving until Kratos resummons it.

  The Blades of Chaos, his signature weapons, carry fire magic and swing on chains. New this time, the chains work like a grappling hook. They carry him across chasms and let him pick up objects to hurl at enemies.

  The Draupnir Spear is the third weapon, charged with wind magic. It can copy itself, so Kratos can throw several spears at one enemy and detonate them in rapid succession. It also clears or opens certain pathways. Every weapon has light and heavy attacks, and runes add magical versions of both. A Weapon Signature Move unleashes a powerful magical attack. Leaping down from a high ledge lets the player land a heavy strike on enemies below.

  Shields received an overhaul too. Kratos can find different shields, and each leans toward offense or defense. Small shields suit parrying and can stun enemies. Large ones defend better and can release a wave of energy that knocks foes back.

  Spartan Rage now comes in three variants. Fury is the classic mode from the earlier game, in which Kratos damages enemies with his bare hands. Valor spends rage energy to restore health and doubles as a parry if timed precisely. Wrath unleashes a powerful attack with the equipped weapon.

  Atreus fights beside his father under artificial intelligence, helping with combat, traversal, treasure hunting, exploration and puzzles. Players steer him only passively, choosing where his arrows land and which spectral animals he summons. In certain story missions, Atreus goes off alone and the player controls him fully. That is a first for the series, setting aside the multiplayer of Ascension. As a player character he fights with his bow, special magical arrows and a magical shield. His own rage ability turns him into a wolf and later a bear. In some missions a floating magical sword named Ingrid replaces his companion.

  The camera hangs over the shoulder, never cuts and never hides behind a loading screen. The game is single-player only. Enemies include einherjar, wyverns, phantoms, human raiders, nøkkens and stalkers, which are centaur-like creatures with antlers. Extra mini-bosses add variety. Crafting, side quests and armor transmogrification carry the role-playing side. Transmog lets players change the look of their armor without losing its stats.

  Ragnarök offers over 70 accessibility options. Its interface was redesigned "to allow for more flexibility and readability." Every accessibility feature from the 2018 game stayed and was expanded.

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• 5. Ending the Norse Era

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  Five years of work went into the 2018 game, and Ragnarök took about as long. A third Norse game would have stretched one story across nearly 15 years. Lead writer Rich Gaubert described pros and cons to both a trilogy and a two-game ending. The team admitted that Ragnarök could have been split in two, because it grew far larger than first planned. Some developers feared one game might not do the apocalypse justice. Cory Barlog made the final call. Director Eric Williams said the team adjusted pacing but did not scale the story back.

  Williams had worked on every previous installment, and his role as director was confirmed at the 2021 PlayStation Showcase. Barlog served as producer and creative director. He handed Williams three fixed points. Ragnarök would happen, Atreus would leave Kratos at the end, and Brok would die. Barlog had chosen Brok's fate during work on the 2018 game, where the dwarf was described as the family dog. Thematically, the game asks what kind of man Kratos would be without his son, and what kind of god Atreus would be without his father.

  Narrative director Matt Sophos recalled a pitch that was rejected. Kratos would die in his first fight with Thor, and after a 20-year jump Atreus would rescue him from Helheim. Williams disliked it, and he did not want to repeat a sequence from the Greek games. The actual ending better served the message that prophecy and fate are not predetermined.

  The game was first announced at the PlayStation 5 Showcase on the 16th of September 2020, with a 2021 release planned for the newer console. Sony then said it would support the PlayStation 4 until at least 2022, so the game also came to that console. It became the first cross-generation release in the series. The title leaked by accident in 2021 before the next showcase confirmed it.

  In June 2021, Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, confirmed a delay. He cited trouble getting access to performance capture and talent during the pandemic. In late September 2021, Christopher Judge said on social media that the delay was his doing. He had needed surgery in August 2019, and the studio let him recover and rehabilitate before production continued.

  Sunny Suljic went through puberty while the schedule slipped. Supervising dialogue designer Jodie Kupsco said the team evened out his performance so that it sounds like it happened over a short period. Senior producer Ariel Angelotti said the cinematics did not change. Following pandemic guidelines, actors stood in for background characters so that sets stayed uncrowded.

  The delay also brought abuse from some fans. Developers received threatening messages, and some received unwanted explicit images after a rumored release-date reveal passed without news. The delay was announced shortly after Alanah Pearce revealed her involvement in the game. Fans blamed her and sent her threatening messages of sexual harassment. Barlog defended her and all of Santa Monica's developers, saying he had made the call to delay.

  Angrboda's casting drew backlash too. Some fans argued that because the mythology comes from North Germanic peoples, she should be white. They accused the developers of cultural appropriation. The developers defended the choice, pointing to the diversity of the Dwarves, to Mímir's Scottish accent, and to Angrboda belonging to a mythological race with the power of transformation. Others worried that a PlayStation 4 version would hold back the PlayStation 5 version. Barlog answered by pointing to 2007's God of War II, which came out only on the PlayStation 2 even though the PlayStation 3 had launched some months earlier, and still worked out well.

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• 6. Voices and Music

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  Richard Schiff's casting as Odin was revealed by Eric Williams at the 2021 PlayStation Showcase. Ryan Hurst took Thor, Ben Prendergast played Týr, Laya DeLeon Hayes played Angrboda, and Usman Ally voiced a dwarf named Durlin. When Christopher Judge learned that Williams would direct, he briefly quit, unsure about him. Barlog convinced Judge that Williams could handle the sequel, and Judge affirmed it after working with him.

  SungWon Cho supplied the voice and motion capture for the squirrel Ratatoskr and worked directly with the writers on his scenes. Scott Porter's role as Heimdall was revealed only a day before release. The composer, Bear McCreary, also appears as a dwarf musician named Ræb.

  This Thor does not resemble Chris Hemsworth's version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has a hefty build with long red hair and beard, closer to his depiction in Norse literature. Odin is a softly spoken, somewhat friendly middle-aged man, since the Norse gods in the old texts were less extravagant than the Greek gods. To find Thor, Hurst drew on the rage and power of the Hulk. He also drew on Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, Tommy Lee Jones's regretful, powerful lawman in No Country for Old Men from 2007.

  Bear McCreary returned to compose the score, and Sony Classical Records released it alongside the game. The Faroese singer Eivør performs on five tracks, including "Holding On" and "Remembering Faye." McCreary had featured her on the 2018 soundtrack as well.

  The Irish folk artist Hozier sings "Blood Upon the Snow," his first contribution to a video game soundtrack. He was a fan of the series and curious about the maturing medium. Because he is signed to Sony's Columbia Records in the United States, Sony approached him. Williams talked him through the character arcs of Kratos and Atreus. Hozier also drew inspiration from nature. With McCreary he aimed for a balance that was "not too elegiac" and "not too absolutely metal." The two performed the song live at the Game Awards on the 8th of December 2022.

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• 7. Patches, Ports, and Valhalla

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  Players who bought the PlayStation 4 version could upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for US$10. Animation director Bruno Velazquez said the studio fully optimized the game for the older console. In his view, the PlayStation 5 version is essentially an enhancement of what the PlayStation 4 can already do. Exclusive features there include 3D audio, haptic feedback and higher frame rates. Modes range from 4K at 30 frames per second to 1080p at 60. Two high-frame modes, including one that syncs to 120 hertz, need a monitor with HDMI 2.1. Eight other studios helped build the game, among them Bluepoint Games and SuperAlloy Interactive, which handled motion capture and stunt work. Eric Jacobus again performed Kratos's combat motion capture.

  Three special editions launched alongside the standard game: the Jötnar Edition, the Collector's Edition and the Digital Deluxe Edition. The first two centered on a 16-inch replica of Mjölnir, housed in a box modeled on a shrine from the game. Pre-orders opened on the 15th of July 2022.

  Update patch 3.00 added photo mode on the 5th of December 2022. Patch 4.00 followed on the 5th of April 2023 with New Game Plus, which carries over levels and gear and makes enemies tougher. It also added an option to skip cutscenes. Patch 6.00 arrived on the 7th of November 2024 with a setting that reduces puzzle hints, answering a common complaint. The same day, the PlayStation 5 version gained an enhancement patch for the PlayStation 5 Pro.

  Shortly after release, Williams said a story expansion was unlikely. Then, at the Game Awards on the 7th of December 2023, a free pack called Valhalla was announced, and it launched that December. It serves as an epilogue, and players can try it without finishing the main game.

  Valhalla borrows from the roguelite genre. Kratos plays alone through trials in procedurally generated levels, picking a relic, a shield and a rage ability for each run. Upgrades last only for that run, but some rewards unlock permanently, and death resets the trial. Cyclopes and minotaurs return from the Greek-era games. A new rage variant called Legacy lets Kratos wield the Blade of Olympus. His look from the original 2005 game also becomes available as a skin.

  Its story begins with an anonymous invitation. Kratos and Mímir force their way into Valhalla, where his gear and magic are stripped away and he is defeated. Freya, now Queen of the Realms, had wanted him on her council as the new God of War, but he refused, reluctant to wield such power after abusing it in Greece. Týr, who sent the invitation, coaxes him to face his past. Kratos fights manifestations of old foes like Modi and Magni, and the illusory head of the Sun god Helios taunts him. Facing a vision of his younger self, Kratos decides that the cruel young man also sacrificed himself to release hope to humanity. He then agrees to join Freya's council as a Norse God of War. Along the way, Mímir reveals his feelings for the Shield Maiden Sigrun. In the secret ending she leaves her post to find her purpose alone, promising to return.

  McCreary wrote five new tracks for the pack, with help from Sam Ewing and Omer Ben-Zvi of his label, Sparks & Shadows. Two of them, "Master Thyself" and "The Path," reuse Greek-era themes by Gerard Marino.

  In May 2024, Sony announced a Windows release for the 19th of September 2024, including Valhalla. The port supports unlimited frame rates, UltraWide displays, and upscaling through Nvidia DLSS 3.7, AMD FSR 3.1 and Intel XeSS 1.3. Trophies are shared with the console version. A PlayStation Network account was first required, which blocked sales in many countries. Sony removed that requirement on the 30th of January 2025 and lifted regional restrictions on the 14th of June 2025.

  On the 20th of March 2025, a free pack called the Dark Odyssey Collection celebrated the series' 20th anniversary. Dark Odyssey was the working title of the original God of War. The pack gives Kratos a black-skinned, gold-tattooed, white-eyed skin inspired by one unlocked in God of War II's God Mode difficulty. Patch 6.02 also let players change the appearance of Kratos's weapons and shield, which had been limited to armor.

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• 8. Acclaim and Sales

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  Metacritic gave the PlayStation 5 version of God of War Ragnarök a 94 out of 100 and described the response as universal acclaim. That ties it with the original 2005 game and the 2018 game as the series' highest score.

  IGN's Simon Cardy praised fresh takes on Norse figures, played by actors who made them distinct from their screen counterparts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain called it "easily one of the most memorable" takes on the mythology, rebuilt as an epic story about families. Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell felt it was "both bloated and crowded" because it tried to hold so much series history, though he noted that its length meant more to play. Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard wrote that it lacked the unique impact of the 2018 game but kept everything that had worked.

  Reviewers agreed that the core combat barely changed. Hussain thought that worked in its favor because it made starting easy. Cardy liked the ledge-leap attack and felt the Blades of Chaos handle like they did in the Greek games while still feeling modern. Hussain and Cardy both praised the reworked shield as an offensive tool. Critics also faulted the puzzle hints, which came too soon and too often. PCMag's Clay Halton called the upgrade system the game's "most tedious aspect." Cardy found it streamlined, and Tapsell said the realms felt varied and restored the sense of scale the 2018 game lacked.

  By February 2023 the game had sold 11 million copies worldwide, and by the 19th of November 2023 it had passed 15 million. In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version sold 29,377 physical units in its first week, the third best-selling retail game there, while the PlayStation 4 version sold 11,260. In the United Kingdom, Ragnarök sold more physical units on its first day than any earlier God of War did in a whole week. The split was 82% on PlayStation 5 and 18% on PlayStation 4. Its first week beat the 2018 game's by 51%, and among physical launches that year only FIFA 23 did better. By the end of 2022 it had sold 670,617 units in the United Kingdom, the sixth best-selling game there. Germany passed 200,000 units, and the game ranked fourth-best-selling of 2022 in the United States.

  Time magazine named it the number one game of the year. At the Game Awards 2022, Ragnarök won six of a leading 11 nominations. They included Best Narrative and Innovation in Accessibility, and Christopher Judge won Best Performance. After the award was presented, a man named Matan Even walked on stage, grabbed the microphone and said, "I think I want to nominate this award to my Reform Orthodox rabbi Bill Clinton." The game won all 14 of its nominations at the Game Audio Network Guild Awards. It earned a leading 15 nominations at the 19th British Academy Games Awards, the most for any game in the ceremony's history, and won six, including the EE Game of the Year Award. At the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards it led with 12 nominations and won seven, including Adventure Game of the Year.

  Before the 2018 game came out, Barlog said the series might later tackle Egyptian or Maya mythology. The next installment instead returned to Greece. God of War Sons of Sparta, a two-dimensional side-scroller, was released for the PlayStation 5 on the 12th of February 2026. It follows the young Kratos as he trains at the Agoge with his brother Deimos.

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