First Look At God Of War Ragnarök's Svartalfheim Level | Exclusive Gameplay

[alphachino]

I just really hope Kratos isn’t killed off. If he is, I will never ever forgive SSM. It’ll be worse than what happened to Joel

 

[Sircaw]

I just really hope Kratos isn’t killed off. If he is, I will never ever forgive SSM. It’ll be worse than what happened to Joel

First ten mins of the game, he dies. You then play as Atreus on his long-lost quest to travel around the 9 realms to gather parts from fallen gods. When you have collected said parts, you travel Thor's realm by a tamed dragon, then use his weapon as a conduit to awaken Kratos.

Kratos awakens and slays Atreus for taking him away from his beloved wife.

 

[ethomaz]

First ten mins of the game, he dies. You then play as Atreus on his long-lost quest to travel around the 9 realms to gather parts from fallen gods. When you have collected said parts, you travel Thor's realm by a tamed dragon, then use his weapon as a conduit to awaken Kratos.

Kratos awakens and slays Atreus for taking away from his beloved wife.

I have a different feeling… I mean to kinda match the mythology.

- Game starts with Kratos and the not-child Atreus like the video.
- In that part he meets his future wife.
- Something happens due the bipolarity of Arteus character (already showed a bit in first game) that is part of the Loki character… he betray or at least left Kratos.
- There is temporal jump when Kratos starts alone trying to follow the Arteus steps… this part is already near the Ragnarok war with Arteus a big man, married and with all the key children (world serpent, Fenrir and Hel).
- After that point I’m not sure which role Kratos will have in Ragnarok buy the key character will be set.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's called normal maps and relief mapping.

Nah, the geometry looks off the charts to me. Too beautiful!

 

[Yobo]

I just really hope Kratos isn’t killed off. If he is, I will never ever forgive SSM. It’ll be worse than what happened to Joel

Yeah Kratos has never been killed before

 

[Shmunter]

The cross gen nature of what should have been a flagship next gen showcase makes me somewhat ambivalent.

 

[Heisenberg007]

The cross gen nature of what should have been a flagship next gen showcase makes me somewhat ambivalent.

Genuinely curious: what looks cross-gen to you?

Ngl, I'm way less salty about it now than I was before when I first heard the news. I don't think we'd have gotten a game that plays drastically differently because they just rebooted the game mechanics. So if anything, most of the mechanics would just be an evolution of the 2018 game, which is fair.

Then comes the graphics. This game looks absolutely gorgeous! I can't get over how good the geometry is. It looks to me like that UE5 Tech Demo at times.

Is there anything in particular that sticks out to you because it's a cross-gen?

 

[RE4-Station]

The cross gen nature of what should have been a flagship next gen showcase makes me somewhat ambivalent.

It's still next gen to me dammit

 

[DynamiteCop]

I'm not exactly blown away, I'm really understanding the "this looks like DLC" criticism now after seeing it in action. The game looks quite rigid in terms of animation transitions, graphically it looks about the same as the first outside of improved photogrammetry, the screen space reflections on the water look straight up bad, and what's with the severely washed out and monotone color grading?

Meh, I'm sure it will be an excellent game but based upon appearances there's really nothing of note here.

 

[PropellerEar]

Yep. Looks the same as what I'm playing now on my Steam Deck.

 

[Darth Vader]

I'm sorry, but you have to be blind to say this

Looks the same as this

Even with its blurry mess, Just focus on Kratos for a second a tell me they look the same. It's not even a contest. It's looks massively improved.

Edit - both of those screenshots are taken from a "4k" youtube video.

 

[Shmunter]

Genuinely curious: what looks cross-gen to you?

Ngl, I'm way less salty about it now than I was before when I first heard the news. I don't think we'd have gotten a game that plays drastically differently because they just rebooted the game mechanics. So if anything, most of the mechanics would just be an evolution of the 2018 game, which is fair.

Then comes the graphics. This game looks absolutely gorgeous! I can't get over how good the geometry is. It looks to me like that UE5 Tech Demo at times.

Is there anything in particular that sticks out to you because it's a cross-gen?

I’ll flip that question to say It doesn’t look like what I expect from a generational leap. Refinements are expected, but to me that’s like slider adjustment firmly rooted in PS4 targeted code.

Of course it looks amazing, always did.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Yeah Kratos has never been killed before

 

[Darth Vader]

I’ll flip that question to say It doesn’t look like what I expect from a generational leap. Refinements are expected, but to me that’s like slider adjustment firmly rooted in PS4 targeted code.

That's because it is. Even TLOU PT I is deeply rooted in PS4 code and look, with some improvements for the PS5. This is the same as HFW - A game that started development for the PS4 that ended up getting a PS5 version.

That said, we need the released game to be able to properly compare, but it still looks massively improved in a lot of areas.

 

[Deleted member 13]

Nah, the geometry looks off the charts to me. Too beautiful!

Can you give a screenshot so I can see what you are talking about?

 

[Deleted member 13]

I'm sorry, but you have to be blind to say this

Looks the same as this

Even with its blurry mess, Just focus on Kratos for a second a tell me they look the same. It's not even a contest. It's looks massively improved.

Edit - both of those screenshots are taken from a "4k" youtube video.

This screen comparison isn't a good comparison. The first screen has fog in the scene and the light source is hitting his back and adding GI probe lighting which is notoriously bad since it doesn't self-shadow properly. The second image has Kratos sunlight on the opposite side where he is self-shadowing himself and therefore gets plenty of self-shadowing on his clothing. A proper comparison will have Kratos in a shadow of a building for example and we can compare the ambient occlusion of his clothes then.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Can you give a screenshot so I can see what you are talking about?

The photogrammetry and lighting in this one. And the draw distance.

The LOD and poly count on the gravel on the ground.

The tree -- density and realism.

The high LOD and texture detail even for farther objects.

None of those was possible on GOW. And these are just YouTube HD screenshots.

Feel free to share GOW (2018) screenshots from your SteamDeck if any of those things are comparable.

 

[Deleted member 13]

The photogrammetry and lighting in this one. And the draw distance.

Photogrammetry isn't there. And those bumps on that cliff are indeed normal maps. They are NOT geometry tessellated.

The LOD and poly count on the gravel on the ground.

Again, that's normal maps.

The tree -- density and realism.

I can't see the density of the leaves on those trees. I'll load up GoW 2018 and look for them since they say the world is the same.

The high LOD and texture detail even for farther objects.

That rock cliff looks like a normal low poly game's rock cliff. It doesn't rival Nanite at all and I doubt any game would come close to sub-pixel level tessellation without using Nanite (i.e. too much triangle bandwidth).

None of those was possible on GOW. And these are just YouTube HD screenshots.

So you are convinced that the PS4 version of this game won't have this detail that you are mentioning in these screenshots?

Feel free to share GOW (2018) screenshots from your SteamDeck if any of those things are comparable.

I have all the options set to HIGH on the SD just like a PC would. When I get home, I'll capture some shots.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Photogrammetry isn't there. And those bumps on that cliff are indeed normal maps. They are NOT geometry tessellated.


Again, that's normal maps.


I can't see the density of the leaves on those trees. I'll load up GoW 2018 and look for them since they say the world is the same.


That rock cliff looks like a normal low poly game's rock cliff. It doesn't rival Nanite at all and I doubt any game would come close to sub-pixel level tessellation without using Nanite (i.e. too much triangle bandwidth).


So you are convinced that the PS4 version of this game won't have this detail that you are mentioning in these screenshots?


I have all the options set to HIGH on the SD just like a PC would. When I get home, I'll capture some shots.

Yeah, I've played GOW multiple times, and the quality just isn't the same as it is in Ragnarok. The high-poly count in Ragnarok is really cool.

I'll be looking forward to side by side screenshots.

 

[Darth Vader]

This screen comparison isn't a good comparison. The first screen has fog in the scene and the light source is hitting his back and adding GI probe lighting which is notoriously bad since it doesn't self-shadow properly. The second image has Kratos sunlight on the opposite side where he is self-shadowing himself and therefore gets plenty of self-shadowing on his clothing. A proper comparison will have Kratos in a shadow of a building for example and we can compare the ambient occlusion of his clothes then.

Is this a hill you really want to die on? Sun is pretty much on opposite sides - OG has the sun to the west, Ragnarok has the sun to the east, but shadow direction is pretty much like for like, only pointing to the other direction.

2018

Ragnarok