Not all games now launch with a New Game Plus mode, and for some titles that is hardly an issue. For others, it can be a detriment if the base game itself has little content, or if the game was so long with so many items and resources procured that it would feel like an erasure of that progress to begin anew. God of War Ragnarok falls into the latter category if players have already gone through all of its story and optional content, resulting in 100 percent completion throughout the realms. Thankfully, God of War Ragnarok’s New Game Plus mode has finally arrived.
New Game Plus modes are excellent for fans who have played through a game to its completion and want to reap the rewards of being able to enter into a new playthrough with all they previously obtained still equipped. This effectively means that players have access to God of War Ragnarok’s Draupnir Spear from the beginning of a New Game Plus file, as well as all the other weapons and skills players had received in their previous playthrough. However, this mode also comes with new additions that include a long-awaited skin for Kratos as its own cosmetic with stats.
God of War Ragnarok’s New Game Plus Arrives with Cosmetic Bonuses
Because New Game Plus modes are traditionally baked into a game at launch, it is a nice treat for fans to also receive supplementary bonus content when a New Game Plus mode finally does arrive. God of War Ragnarok has done this favorably by introducing exciting new equipment to the game as part of its New Game Plus patch.
The Spartan Armor, for example, is a bare-chested skin that caps players at Power Level 1 without perks or stats, challenging only the most confident players to don it. Moreover, this and every other piece of God of War Ragnarok gear has transmogrification, allowing players to only adorn the Spartan Armor’s look if they would rather keep another armor’s stats and perks.
The Ares Armor and Zeus Armor have their own stats and perks as well. That said, the most notable of God of War Ragnarok’s new equipment is undoubtedly the one fans have remembered from the beginning of the base game that suddenly goes missing thereafter.
God of War Ragnarok’s Most Desired Skin Finally Returns in New Game Plus
God of War Ragnarok’s fur cloak for Kratos was sorely missed due to its unique and iconic look on the game’s key art, let alone the fact that it is the only gear piece that has a cloak-like garment. God of War Ragnarok’s New Game Plus takes this skin a step further and makes it much more immersive by including The Armor of the Black Bear as the gear piece players will begin a New Game Plus playthrough with. This means that instead of Kratos shedding the fur cloak in the game’s first five minutes, he will continue to wear it as long as players have it equipped, whether as its own gear piece or as a transmog appearance.
The cloak wraps him in black fur and is now dubbed The Armor of the Black Bear with stats centered around Strength and Defense and a perk that launches a volley of Bifrost shards when players are able to successfully dodge an attack at the last second. Santa Monica Studio has clearly demonstrated that it keeps a look-out for what fans want, and it seems to have exceeded expectations with its New Game Plus patch.
God of War Ragnarok is available on PS4 and PS5.
