2025-11-22 09:00

Let me tell you about my first few hours with God of War Ragnarok - I went in expecting the smooth, brutal combat I remembered from the 2018 masterpiece, but found myself constantly frustrated by those yellow and red attack indicators. There's this moment early on where I'm fighting two draugr and a revenant simultaneously, and the screen becomes pure chaos. The indicator switches from yellow to red to give you timing cues, but honestly? I found myself getting clipped constantly, especially when multiple enemies swarmed from different directions. It broke the flow of combat in a way that felt fundamentally different from the first game - instead of feeling like a graceful death-dealer, I often felt like Kratos was moving through molasses while enemies moved at lightning speed.

What really surprised me was how punishing this becomes in the later stages. Around the 15-hour mark, I encountered enemies that could genuinely stunlock you into oblivion. I remember this particular fight in Vanaheim where a single heavy draugr caught me with an unblockable attack, and before I could recover, three smaller enemies pummeled me into instant death. These moments didn't feel like skill issues - they felt like the game systems weren't giving me adequate tools to respond. The camera, which stays tight on Kratos' back, works beautifully for exploration but becomes a genuine liability when you're surrounded. You lose track of that crucial arrow indicator, and suddenly you're eating a heavy attack from behind that you never saw coming.

Now, here's where things get interesting - the high-level challenges in Ragnarok are absolutely brutal, arguably more difficult than the Valkyries from the previous game. I've spent probably 40 hours on the post-game content alone, and there are at least 12 major optional bosses that will test your patience and skills. The difference between success and failure often comes down to mastering those visual cues, but the learning curve feels steeper this time around. When you're facing bosses that can kill you in two hits, missing a single indicator means reloading from checkpoint. Thankfully, the checkpoint system during major story bosses is significantly improved - the game typically saves after each phase transition, which saved me countless hours of repetition.

What really saved my experience, surprisingly, was Atreus. The boy has become an absolute combat monster compared to his previous incarnation. His arrow volleys actually interrupt enemy attacks now, and his callouts provide crucial audio cues when the visual indicators get lost in the chaos. I can't count how many times I heard "Behind you, father!" right before an attack landed, giving me that split-second warning I needed. Mimir chimes in too, though his warnings tend to be more general rather than specific. The companion AI feels genuinely intelligent - Atreus will sometimes fire arrows of his own volition to stagger enemies who are about to hit you, creating openings you didn't know you had.

I've noticed the combat system demands a different mindset than its predecessor. Where the first game rewarded aggression, Ragnarok often requires more defensive play. You need to constantly be aware of your positioning, manage space effectively, and use Atreus' abilities strategically. There's a rhythm to encounters that took me about 20 hours to fully grasp - it's less about constant attacking and more about picking your moments. The runic attacks feel more varied but also have longer cooldowns, forcing you to use them more strategically rather than spamming them on cooldown.

What's fascinating is how the game balances these difficulty spikes with quality-of-life improvements. The resurrection stones are more varied, the skill tree offers more defensive options, and the armor sets provide meaningful gameplay alterations rather than just stat boosts. I found the Steinbjorn armor set around the 25-hour mark, and its health regeneration completely changed how I approached difficult encounters. These systems work together to create a experience that's punishing but rarely feels unfair - once you understand the language of combat, everything clicks into place.

Looking back at my 60-hour playthrough, I appreciate what Santa Monica Studio was trying to accomplish. They wanted to push players beyond their comfort zones while providing better tools to manage the increased complexity. The indicator system, while occasionally frustrating, forces you to develop better situational awareness. Atreus evolves from a narrative companion to a genuine tactical asset. The high-level challenges, while brutal, feel incredibly satisfying to overcome. It's a game that demands more from you but gives you more in return - once everything clicks, you feel like the God of War the story claims you to be. The journey from frustrated to formidable might be rocky, but it's ultimately one of the most rewarding combat evolutions I've experienced in recent memory.