Probably the most anticipated PlayStation release of the year, God of War: Ragnarök is suffering from its popularity. The game is leaking on the web much to the chagrin of its developers.
[Mis à jour le 31 octobre 2022 à 12h44] If you’re eagerly awaiting the release of God of War: Ragnarök, beware if you’re hanging out on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media. In recent hours, employees of Santa Monica Studio have been horrified to discover entire sequences of their game on the web, spoiling various key plot elements. Leaks that we owe to some dishonest resellers and which are the misfortune of some developers. Some have not hesitated to communicate their frustration on social networks.
to be clear, I was expressing my frustration in the first tweet. not advocating for that at all. not the future i want as a gamer or dev.
just so beyond frustrated. feel terrible for the team.
this whole ordeal is incredibly stressful for us all.
mental health break time.
— cory barlog (@corybarlog) October 30, 2022
It is with horror that Sony Santa Monica employees recently discovered images and footage of God of War: Ragnarök online earlier this week. Scheduled for November 9, the game has unfortunately been the subject of unscrupulous sales by dishonest retailers and distributors. As a result, spoilers abound on the web, fanning many key plot elements and spoiling the fun for most fans. But what is most striking in this case is the distress of the Santa Monica developers, who see the fruits of their labor shamelessly sold off in the public square. Cory Balrog, the studio’s creative developer, also spoke about the situation, not hiding his disgust:
“A retailer that sells God of War Ragnarok almost two weeks before release… It’s really disappointing... Sorry to anyone who has to avoid spoilers and wants to play the game. It’s fucking stupid to have to do this. This is not at all how we wanted things to happen at SMS (Sony Santa Monica Studio). To be clear, I was expressing my frustration in the first tweet. I am not advocating for this situation at all. This is not the future I wish for gamers or developers. I am more than frustrated. I feel bad for the team. This whole ordeal is incredibly stressful for all of us. We need a break for the sake of our sanity.”
More than ever, the question of the space occupied by games on hard drives is topical. With the arrival in force of 4K graphics, Ray-Tracing, and especially triple A graphics on the console video game market, titles have never been so heavy, as evidenced by a certain Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from 2019 (200 GB) which will have left its mark. And on console, hard drives are limited, and unless you install an M2 SSD hard drive in your PS5, God of War: Ragnarök might give you a bit of a pain. We could indeed see the size of the game in a photo posted on Twitter, and it reaches close to 119 GB.
The Story of God of War Ragnarok
While Sony Santa Monica likes to keep the story content of God of War: Ragnarök a secret, we’ve tried to dive a bit into the adventures that await Kratos and Atreus in this upcoming release. You should know that our two protagonists ended their first adventure with the death of their persecutor, Baldur, son of Odin and Freya and brother of Thor. Ragnarök will therefore be the scene of the revenge of the gods of Valhalla, eager to avenge one of their family members, and to overcome the deicide threat caused by Kratos and his son.
Their adventures will take them to the four corners of the Seven Kingdoms of Norse mythology, including Midgard, Hellheim, Asgard, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, Nilfheim, Vanaheim and Alfheim. We have already seen a very angry Freya in one of the game’s trailers, as well as Mimir who will also be making his big comeback in Ragnarök. It is also very likely that the adventures of our two heroes will make them cross paths with Fenrir, the giant wolf son of the god Loki. Anyway, it’s a whole bunch of beautiful names from Norse mythology that we can expect to find in this new release.
If we can not yet be ecstatic in front of official gameplay sequences of God of War: Ragnarök, we were still able to see some images thanks to our colleagues from Game Informer. Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh answered questions from the newspaper a few weeks ago, providing some details on the new forms of combat that can be found in God of War: Ragnarök. And we already know that Kratos will have some new toys to have fun with his comrades.
All of these changes speak to Yeh and Sheth’s desire to deepen combat in God of War: Ragnarök: “In the last game, if you pressed the “Triangle” key, the ax would return. But if you already had the ax, nothing happened. In the same way, if you held the Chaos Blades, you switched to the Axe. We wanted to add something to this button: a new set of options.“Small highlight for this interview, two images, showing us some Kratos fight sequences.
God of War: Ragnarök will be sold in no less than four different editions. Besides the two editions collector and Jotnar, which both include exclusive accessories and collectibles such as a replica of Mjölnir, wooden figures, dice and a box, already out of stock, there are of course the more classic editions, namely Launch and Digital Deluxe. These two versions of the game include different in-game cosmetics, with a slight advantage for the Digital Deluxe edition offered at a higher price (89.99 vs. €79.99)
The game is planned for PS4 and PS5 for the November 09, 2022 and is already available for pre-order. You will therefore have the opportunity to discover the continuation of the adventures of Kratos and his son trying to thwart the Apocalypse on old-gen as on next-gen, although the first gameplay images published during the Playstation Showcase may be worrying as to the technical capabilities of the Playstation 4 to run the game in good conditions. On PS5, on the other hand, no problem, the game will benefit from the technical advances of the console for a display in 4K and at 60 fps.
If Sony’s announcements about the release date of God of War: Ragnarök do not mention the PC as a game medium, nothing is carved in stone regarding the future of this Playstation exclusive. Indeed, although the game is reserved for Playstation 4 and Playstation 5 consoles, it could well arrive on PC in a few months or even a few years. Sony’s policy regarding its exclusives is changing, and the video game juggernaut intends to transport the exclusives that have made the success and identity of its keyboard and mouse consoles. This is particularly the case for the previous Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War which appeared on Steam a little over two years after their release on Playstation 4. The PC market is indeed too huge to be ignored by console manufacturers. .