God of War is getting a sequel to the 2018 soft reboot, and while few details have been released about the upcoming game one thing is perfectly clear: “Ragnarok is coming.” However, the series has undergone many changes since its first outing in 2005, leaving some fans unsure what to expect from the next game.
There are a lot of hints as to what fans can expect from the story in the upcoming God of War sequel. Based on some of the biggest changes made in the last game, however, fans can also expect a few key things from the game mechanically when it comes to world-building and combat.
The story of the God of War sequel, or at least its main beats, were likely lain out in the Ragnarok prophecy from the 2018 game, as well as the cliff-hanger secret ending to God of War 2018. By the end of the last God of War Baldur has been killed. This is the first event preceding Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Norse gods.
Following Baldur’s death is the three years of Fimbulwinter shown at the end of the last game, and it appears that the next game will likely open with Thor’s arrival at Kratos and Atreus’ home. Thor is likely there to get revenge for Baldur and Thor’s own sons, Magni and Modi, who were killed in the previous game in one change God of War made to the Ragnarok of mythology, where Magni and Modi survive.
The prophesized events of Ragnarok which will likely take place include Odin and Fenrir killing one another, Thor and the World Serpent killing one another, Kratos and Atreus possibly intervening in Thor’s fight with the World Serpent and Kratos possibly dying, and the giant Surtr setting fire to the world before a great flood washes the fire away and the world is born anew.
Since Atreus was revealed to be Loki towards the end of the last game, it is Loki’s role in the prophecy which seems most likely to diverge from the mythology. The final panel of the Jotunheim Mural in God of War 2018 shows Atreus holding what appears to be the dying body of either a tattoo-less Kratos, or Odin himself. The fact that this mural shows Atreus as around the same age as he was in the 2018 game makes a time-jump unlikely, which makes it unclear how the game will handle characters who are Loki’s children in the mythology, like Fenrir.
Nonetheless, fans can expect the God of War sequel to dive head-first into the franchise’s running theme of patricide. Kratos may be killed by Atreus just as Kratos killed his own father, Zeus, but it’s also possible that the mural can be interpreted in other ways. No matter what, however, Kratos’ belief that Atreus is destined to kill him will almost certainly be the main dramatic driving force of the upcoming game.
The original God of War trilogy was a bloody hack-n’-slash through relatively linear levels and story-beats. The 2018 God of War took the franchise in a new direction, with a more open-world, a far slower pace, and more character-work as Kratos reflected on the decisions he’d made in the first three games which would return to haunt him in his older age.
Though Kratos didn’t have the Blades of Chaos for much of God of War 2018, the blades will likely feature heavily again as Kratos took them back up towards the end of the last game. Combat got a little slower and less focused on quick-time events between God of War 3 and God of War 2018. God of War 2018’s director Cory Barlog commented that he didn’t want the game to change combat “for the sake of changing it.” This makes it likely that combat will remain quite similar to its rendition in the 2018 game, without another big leap.
One of the biggest questions which remains about combat in the God of War sequel is the role Atreus will play. In the last game, Atreus was present alongside the player for almost the entire story, providing additional combat support. However, there are a few possibilities when it comes to Atreus in the next game. First, Atreus is likely to be a lot more powerful as he discovers the possibilities of his godhood in full. This could mean that he is a more competent back-up fighter in the sequel to God of War, with more special magical abilities.
However, in the mythology Loki begins Ragnarok imprisoned under the earth with a serpent dripping poison on his face, and only later slips free of his bonds to join the fray. He is imprisoned there by Thor as punishment for the death of Baldur in some accounts of the myth, which could mean that Thor’s arrival in the secret ending to God of War 2018 will end in Thor leaving with Atreus to imprison him in order to align the start of the game’s story more with the myth.
This could mean that Kratos will spend a lot more of the next God of War game alone, or at least without his son. Indeed, it is possible that rescuing Atreus will be Kratos’ main reason to get involved with the events of Ragnarok at all at the start of the game. This could see the series return to Kratos as the sole player-aligned combatant in most of the game. God of War’s Ragnarok sequel is in an interesting position. Fans won’t just have high expectations, but extremely specific expectations based on foretold events. The next God of War will have a lot of work to do to realize the promise of its story’s prophecy, to subvert expectations, and to live up to the success and sales of the soft reboot.
God of War sequel is in development.
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