God of War Ragnarok: 13 things you should know before starting

God of War RagnarökPlaystation 5 and PlayStation 4 now have ‘The Most Expensive Parenting Handbook of 2022. For the most part, it’s a natural extension of its predecessor, 2018’s God WarThis includes the mechanics of certain game play (sincere condolences go out to all who hated those Nornir chests). But Ragnarök has its tricks, and it certainly doesn’t explain them all.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or coming in colder than Niflheim, the following advice should help you guide protagonist Kratos and his son, Atreus, through the nine realms.

You — yes, you — CertainNeed a refresher in lore.

You can find a two minute lore summary video from the main menu that highlights key moments of the 2018 game. Don’t even bother watching it. The clip is vague, selectively edited, and honestly ended up leaving me more confused than I was before watching — and that’s from someone who replayed God of War(2018) one month prior Ragnarök’s release. The clip also doesn’t even mention the original trilogy, the events of which are discussed far more frequently in RagnarökIt is now more than its predecessor.

If you need a refresher on all the important beats in God of War’s story to date, check out our lore guide, which covers not just the four mainline games but also the important events from the spin-offs.

You are welcome to come back. Probably.

As in the last game God of War RagnarökIt’s a Metroidvania. Often, you’ll see an environmental indicator — a glowing crack in a wall, say, or a patch of red bramble — and know in your heart that it’s a pathway but lack the gear to progress. Don’t waste time trying to brute-force a solution. For nearly every one of these instances, you’ll have an opportunity to backtrack — AfterYou eventually get the gear you need.

When you hit an object you can’t pass, Mimir — a decapitated head revived for the explicit purpose of constantly cracking wise — will sometimes straight-up tell you. (“We don’t have the magic for that right now, brother.”) Atreus, meanwhile, might offer advice on how to solve a puzzle. (“We have to find a way to lower the bridge, father.”) If you’re lost or stuck, listen to your travel partners.

Atreus leads you the right way, but don’t follow him just yet.

God of War Ragnarök hews to the game design Law of Forked Roads: When Atreus goes left toward a story mission, that means there’s a collectible to your right.

A mystic gateway can help you heal

You can enter the a Mystic gateway — God of War Ragnarök’s take on fast-travel — you’ll exit with full health and rage meters. Also, if you die, you’ll respawn with full health a few steps before the battle that killed you. In some cases, especially during some of the more drawn-out fights, there’s a strategic case to be made for intentionally throwing the bout at the start you can you try again with a full health bar.

It’s worth every side-quest.

God of War Ragnarök’s main missions are called “The Path,” and are marked by a bright orange icon. You can’t turn this indicator off on the compass (which, by the way, you won’t get until several hours into the game). Side-quests, called “favors,” are marked by dark blue icons. One at a moment can be tracked on the compass. To do this, open the menu and go to the journal tab, hovering over the favor you’d like to track, then pressing Triangle.

Image: Sony/Santa Monica Studio via Polygon

Some favors are best described as fetch missions. For every riveting mission that fleshes out characters and fundamentally changes the game’s world, there are another three about tracking down six fimbulwhatevers. Boring or not, they’re all worth doing; completing favors will give you rare rewards, sometimes even a new weapon. Plus, the objectives for multiple quests will often be in the same vicinity, so you can knock out the fetch quest while working toward the one that’s actually interesting.

It is possible to have both shields.

Early on, you’ll be able to choose between two shields: the Protect yourself with the dauntless shieldAnd the Stone Wall shield shield. The Dauntless shield significantly improves Kratos’ parry. The Stone Wall shield is almost impenetrable. It also comes with an effective shield-slam attack. This is the way Ragnarök frames this choice, you’d think it’s like choosing a starter Pokémon. Not so; you will have gathered enough resources to purchase whatever shield you don’t choose fairly soon. Then, try both. You will see different shields throughout the game.

You’re supposed to keep your gear the whole game.

God of War (2018) featured a pretty standard equipment loop: Get gear, use it until it’s weak (or you’re bored), then sell it off to the nearest market for a fraction of what you paid for it. God of War Ragnarök’s system, however, is a bit more complex. Each set of armor should be with you throughout the game. They are all, in theory, meant to be at parity in terms of power, the idea being that you find a set you like — whether it’s the specific stats it improves or the unique perk it grants — and upgrade it as you go.

However, artifacts are intended to be sold.

There’s no need to hold onto collectibles you find across the nine realms. Artifacts you’ve collected will still count toward any collectathons you’re chipping away at, and the few that legitimately are mission critical will be marked with a blue-colored side-quest icon. You can also sell all your items at once by clicking on the To Artifacts link at any shop, and holding the Triangle button.

The blue fruit is the best.

This is what it looks like

Image: Sony/Santa Monica Studio via Polygon

Don’t miss the Yggdrasil Dew hanging from trees. You’ll get a permanent stat boost for every single one you find. (They only show up when you’re rowing the boat around Ragnarök’s waterways in regions like Svartalfheim.)

Accessibility settings can be incredibly expansive.

God of War RagnarökIt is without a doubt the best modern settings menu. You can use the joystick to guide Kratos towards the story’s main objective. Another swaps the “dodge” and “interact” button input. (C’mon, everyone knows dodge belongs on Circle!) The third allows you to automatically get money and health. There’s a LotIt’s hard to find the right settings, so take a look at our complete list.

Any settings you’ve changed from their default will be highlighted in blue text.

Nornir chests rewards alternate.

Opening Nornir chests — environmental puzzles that require you to find and usually smash three ancient structures embossed with Nordic runes — is the most effective way to level up Kratos’ stats. You may be able to get an incentive. Apple of IdunnYou will see a difference in your health and overall well-being once you’ve found one. Other people can give you an a Horn of Blood MeadYou can also use, which will do the same for your rage meter. The rewards aren’t random, nor are they predetermined. You can get them with each Nornir box you open. It’s the game’s way of ensuring Kratos stays as healthy as he is full of rage.

Color-coding is used to identify enemy difficulty.

Here’s an easy trick for telling how tough an enemy is: Look at the health bar. Enemies that are below your level will have VergeHealth bars and enemies of the same or similar level to you Orangeone, while those who outrank them have violet bars. Nothing else than That? Yes, you should reload the most recent autosave as soon as possible.

You can level up your gold skills.

The more you successfully perform a combat skill, the more it’ll rank up: from bronze to silver to, finally, gold. Once you get a skill to gold, you can spend 1,000 XP to apply a buff — formally called a Mod token — that increases its damage, its stun, its frost or burn effects, and so on. From the skill tree, if an icon is glowing gold, that means it’s eligible for an upgrade. Also, once you’ve unlocked a skill’s buff, you can swap it to another bonus at any point. There is no need to constantly spend 1000 XP to unlock new perks when you’d like to make them better.