PLEASE NOTE: This article contains MINOR Spoilers for God of War Ragnarok. Proceed at your own risk.Much of what makes theGod of Warfranchise exciting is its combat. But while its newest entries have certainly been dominating in that development field,God of War Ragnarokis extrapolating on the franchise’s level design potential.God of Warhas many puzzles in the environment and its approach to combat can also be considered a puzzle; now,God of War Ragnarok’s own environmentshave a greater depth of interactivity than before.
God of War Ragnarokalsohas the added advantage of all nine realism being available, at least in narrative moments if not in exploration, whileGod of Warfeatured much fewer. Not as much time is spent inGod of War Ragnarok’s Midgardas players may have previously believed, and it would be easy to assume that the sheer number of realms players go to would depreciate the quality that each possess. That is in fact false, with Svartalfheim being the first realm to demonstrate how much polish and detail went into each of its realms.
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Midgard Was the Meat and Potatoes of God of War 2018
God of Warspent almost all its runtime establishing the foundations for Midgard. This realm is characterized by its snow-capped mountains and Lake of Nine, where players indulge in almost all activities and optional content. If players want to get anywhere in the game, they need to first traverse this lake’s intricacies to find a Mystic Gateway. If they are trying to leave the realm, they need to make their way onto Tyr’s Temple and access the Realm Table past Brok and Sindri’s shop. But along the lake are also the Shores of Nine, which house supplementary content in far corners for players to pursue. These include wayward spirit requests, Realm Tear encounters, andGod of War’s iconic Valkyrie boss fights.
This content is fun and adds to the lore while Mimir is a traveling companion on Kratos’ hip, but it is also essentially all the content players are offered aside fromGod of War’s challenge mode realms of Muspelheim and Niflheim. That was completely adequate forGod of Warin 2018, butGod of War Ragnaroksurpasses that amount of content in its first explorable realm alone, with multiple others afterward retaining the same quality and quantity.
God of War Ragnarok’s Svartalfheim Alone Outshines 2018’s Midgard
Interestingly, Midgard is a wasteland inGod of War Ragnarokdue to Fimbulwinter. In the beginning of the game, Midgard is only used as a narrative plot device in the game’s opening sequence and when Atreus visits Freya. Midgard is eventually traveled to again as an openly explorable realm, though its absence in the game’s former half creates a greater emphasis on other realms instead.
This gives Svartalfheim a chance to exceed expectations asGod of War Ragnarok’s first explorable realm, and it does not disappoint. There is a wonderful point in Svartalfheim’s narrative progression where the game tells players that if they look to the right of a body of water, that is where their side content will be, while the main campaign content is on the left. Having this distinction is great for anyone who enjoys participating in side quests early to gain rewards and explore, and it is reinforced by players’ compass navigating them to which content they would like to pursue.
Between the Aurvangar Wetlands, the cavernous Jarnsmida Pitmines, the dwarven town of Nidavellir, and the Bay of Bounty’s Lyngbakr Island, Svartalfheim excels in level design, supplementary content, and graphical fidelity. Being the first actual realm players explore,God of War Ragnarok’s Svartalfheim makes a far better impression as a single realm thanGod of War’s Midgard did throughout that entire game.
God of War Ragnarokis available now for PS4 and PS5.
