With the recent trailer reveal for God of War Ragnarok we got our first glimpse of the game and the good news continued as Sony also confirmed all of the worlds, levels and environments. Where the first game was all about the frost and ice, the second and final part of the Norse story arc for Kratos and Atreus will see at least a little more diversity in terms of the locations you’ll get to explore.
In 2018’s God of War, only six of the nine realms could be visited, but with Ragnarok looming and a full confrontation with Thor and his dear old dad Odin, this time you’ll be able to storm all nine. The sequel will continue the openness of the previous game, so again you’ll be able to explore, but it’s far from an open world game design.
AdvertisementHowever, it should be even bigger than the last game with the three extra worlds to explore and new areas of the previously played worlds to get to know. It’s going to be interesting to see how the environments expand beyond their previous confines, but you can see in the trailer that there’s going to be everything from sun-drenched river townships to lush jungles and swamps, so it’s not all going to be Fimbulwinter.
God of War Ragnarok new worlds
The second game in the Norse saga will give us access to the three previously locked worlds, Vanaheim, Svartalfheim, and Asgard, and you find out more about each of them below. Oden had previously closed these off during Kratos and Atreus’ journey to the top of the mountain in the last game, but the duo will be breaking on through with the help of Mimir, Brok and Sindri.
Advertisement- Vanaheim is the home of the Vanir gods, including one of the two antagonists of God of War Ragnarok, Freya, who is out for revenge following the death of her son Baldur at the end of the first game. From the look of the trailer, this appears to be the greener environments with jungles and swamps.
- Svartalfheim is the home of the dwarves in Norse mythology, where exiled blacksmith geniuses Brok and Sindri originate. The trailer seems to indicate that the world you get to explore will be mines with deep pits, stalactites and stalagmites.
- Asgard is the home of the Æsir gods and ruled by the Allfather Oden. We’re not 100% sure whether or not the level features in the trailer, and we’re expecting Sony and Santa Monica Studios to save it for a future reveal. Nothing currently looks grand enough to be Asgard. However, you can see in the picture above a statue that could well be Odin, so this could be part of the world.
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Previous worlds
For anyone that has forgotten the previously explored six worlds from the first game, you can get a refresher with the details below. As we mentioned earlier, these will present new areas to explore in GOW: Ragnarok, so expect a few surprises along the way.
- Midgard – the world of the humans. This is where Kratos and Atreus started their journey in God of War (2008) and included the forest around their house, the bridge and Jörmungandr’s lake, the Witch’s house and cave and the mountain that the they explore to begin with.
- Alfheim – the home of the dark and light elves. This is where they went to retrieve the light to break through the black breath mist, which culminated in an epic boss fight with lord of the dark elves, Svartaljoffur.
- Helheim – the icy land of the dead where Kratos goes in search of the heart of Mattugr Helson. There’s a well known Norse mythology that relates to an attempt to revive Baldur from the afterlife, so maybe this will be the direction the game goes in for the return to Helheim in Ragnarok.
- Jötunheim – the home of the giants and the final realm that you get to visit in God of War. There wasn’t much to do there the first time around apart from spreading Faye’s ashes and finding out that Atrues’ Jötun name given to him by his mother is Loki. However, hopefully there will be more to do this time around. The problem is that the giants were all killed by Thor and lay strewn in the valley you can see from the top of the mountain, so maybe there will need to be some time travel to get to see the big dudes wandering around the place.
- Niflheim – this was the misty maze optional realm you get to visit at the end of the first game. It wasn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination, so there’s scope to do more in the sequel with the frozen rivers of Élivágar and the well of Hvergelmir.
- Muspelheim – finally, there’s the land of fire, the first primordial land of Norse mythology. In the first game it was another optional world to visit to take on the six trials. However, there was no battle with Sutr, so maybe the trials will jump up a notch in Ragnarok.
God of War Ragnarok trailer
If you haven’t already seen the PlayStation 2021 presentation trailer then you can check it out in full below to see some of the worlds for yourself. Specific details about what is where is still a little thin on the ground, but we’ll update things as they get confirmed.
You tell from the trailer that there isn’t a fixed release date as of yet for God of War Ragnarok. In fact, there isn’t any mention of what year it’s coming out, but the good news is that both Sony and Santa Monica Studios announced on the PlayStation blog and Twitter that it will be 2022. The first game arrived in April 2018, so hopefully the second and final part of the Norse saga will do the same. However, with Horizon Forbidden West out in February, maybe that’s a little too soon.
Don’t forget to check out our computer games section to keep tabs on the game, or visit the PlayStation website at https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/ for more details on the game.
