God of War Ragnarok Update Adds Tons of New Features
God of War: Ragnarok has received a New Game Plus mode. In the long-awaited update, Sony has introduced new equipment, skills and even a black and white visual mode.
At the end of December, just over a month after release of God of War: Ragnarok, Santa Monica Studio announced, that the game - following the example of its predecessor - will receive a New Game Plus mode. This was supposed to take place in the spring of 2023. As the said season started a dozen days ago, today the developer released an update with the highly anticipated game mode.
God of War: Ragnarok - New game plus
As usual, the mode enables the players to play through the entire game from the beginning retaining their previously unlocked equipment and skills. However, there is a catch - special arrows still need to be unlocked with story progress in order to use them. The spear, on the other hand, will be available from the beginning, but it can only be used in combat (and not during exploration).
Additional armors
At the request of players the developers added (at the start of NG+) the black bear armor - the one in which we saw Kratos on the trailer (available below) presented during the PlayStation Showcase 2021. However, that's not all - also returning are the armors of Ares and Zeus, which could be obtained in the New Game Plus mode in God of War from 2018.
In addition, Santa Monica Studio has introduced thirteen color variants of armor that were already available in God of War: Ragnarok. The icing on the cake, however, is the Spartan armor. In it, Kratos resembles himself from the first installments of the series. This set is mainly intended to make the game more difficult. This is because it cannot be upgraded and does not provide any additional perks.
Fortunately, this set also features transmog options (you can change the appearance of a given item while keeping its stats, etc.). In addition, it can be supplemented with a new Spartan shield.
More equipment levels
All items upgraded to level 9 can be converted to the "plus" version with further increase in stats. In addition, some of the abilities assigned to armor by default can be acquired as separate bonuses, which we will place on amulets. This significantly increases the number of available character builds. What's more, for defeating berserkers in the New Game Plus mode we will gain brand new upgrades.
Santa Monica Studio also did not forget about players who are looking for the biggest challenges. With them in mind items have been added that impose various debuffs on Kratos, making the combat even more difficult.
New features in the arena, more powerful bosses, platinum level jobs
The options available in the Niflheim arena have also been expanded. In NG+ we will face previously unavailable types of enemies. Not only that - we will be able to choose a companion to help us (from among eight characters).
Additional training will come in handy - especially before clashes with endgame bosses, who now sport some new moves. On the other hand, side jobs (such as killing a certain number of enemies of a certain type) and tasks commissioned by Ratatoskr have been expanded with a fourth, platinum level.
To add variety to the fun in God of War: Ragnarok the New Game Mode plus can be displayed in a black-and-white color palette. Akira Kurosawa would be proud. If you have completed the game at least once, this option can also be selected when you start the standard gameplay (i.e. not NG+).
