PLEASE NOTE: This article contains MINOR Spoilers for God of War Ragnarok. Proceed at your own risk.The 2018 God of War game was a structural overhaul on almost every level from the original games. This was ushered in chiefly through its over-the-shoulder perspective and an adherence to no camera cuts, but it also had an effect on how combat is oriented with a much more strategic approach to the original’s hack-n’-slash. However, while widely regarded to be a phenomenal entry in the franchise, there are limitations to its design that pad out the experience. God of War is not a platformer, for example, but all its climbing portions are a slog.
A lot of God of War’s gameplay has players traverse Midgard’s Lake of Nine in a boat that rows slowly, and it can be dull trying to reach the player’s destination when these animations take a while to complete. On top of these movement animations, fast travel is also a slog as players wait for a portal to appear in the Realm Between Realms, and traveling to another realm means players have to climb all the way into Tyr’s Temple and activate the Realm Table. Thankfully, God of War Ragnarok features efficient quality of life improvements that greatly enhance players’ experiences in the nine realms.
God of War Ragnarok Features Faster Traversal Animations
The quality of life improvement that fans first acknowledge is that there are faster animations during traversal. Many rock faces still do have runic painting scrawled on them to guide players where to climb on handholds, but there are now many rock faces that players can either leap down from, or hastily repel down with God of War Ragnarok’s Blades of Chaos. Likewise, the ledges that players repel down can also be instantaneously ascended with the blades, making short work of navigation in a lot of areas. If there are no back-to-back ledges, then there may also be grapple points that players can leap through with the blades as well. This combination of traversal makes areas diverse enough that actually climbing along walls feels far-and-few between.
Traversal via boat is also much faster, with players able to reach their destinations on water much quicker than they had in God of War, and riding dog-pulled sleds seems just as fast. In a game where so much revolves around exploration and traversal through different environments, God of War Ragnarok’s moment-to-moment gameplay is much more engaging and satisfying than its predecessor’s.
God of War Ragnarok’s Realm Travel is Now a Part of Fast Travel
Fast travel between Mystic Gateways and not Tyr’s Temple’s Realm Table is perhaps the most efficient quality of life improvement in God of War Ragnarok. In God of War, players needed to climb into Tyr’s Temple and reach the Realm Table, which took a long time to activate while players waited idly.
This is no longer an issue, as players can fast travel to-and-from any unlocked realm via a Mystic Gateway. Granted, Mystic Gateways do need to be unlocked prior to players being able to travel there, but once available fast travel is incredibly convenient. Players still need to wait within the Realm Between Realm’s little pathway environment for a portal to appear, but even this waiting room seems to last a shorter amount of time in God of War Ragnarok.
Any limitations the game still has in terms of animation speed or fast travel likely has to do with the fact that God of War Ragnarok is not current-gen exclusive. This is evident in the squeeze-through and crouch-under animations characters still perform to reach certain areas, giving environments the opportunity to load in.
God of War Ragnarok is available now for PS4 and PS5.