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God of War delayed to 2022, Horizon Forbidden West aiming for holiday launch

By Otto Kratky June 2, 2021

A new interview with the head of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios, Hermen Hulst, revealed a swath of information on the platform’s upcoming first-party games. In the interview, Hulst confirmed the release windows of both Horizon Forbidden West and the upcoming God of War game. According to Hulst, the former is “on track to release this holiday season,” while God of War has been pushed back to 2022.

In the interview, Hulst lists these games as the “two very big, very narrative-driven games in development.” However, their size and scope have also slowed down their production. “And for both of those,” Hulst continued, “they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent.”

In terms of the next God of War game, Hulst said “we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.” While Hulst’s comment on the delay in the upcoming God of War game’s development was slightly vague, Santa Monica Studio put out its own, clearer statement. On Twitter, the developer stated that “We remain focused on delivering a top-quality game while maintaining the safety and well-being of our team, creative partners, and families. With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to shift our release window to 2022.”

Hulst said he couldn’t confirm that Horizon Forbidden West will be ready to ship this holiday season but did say, “We’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can.”

Hulst also revealed that Horizon Forbidden West won’t be the only cross-generational game coming soon from PlayStation’s studios. The upcoming God of War title and Grand Turismo 7 will launch on both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5.

While we haven’t seen any news on the upcoming God of War title since it was revealed in 2020, Horizon Forbidden West has recently taken PlayStation’s center stage. Sony recently hosted a State of Play event centered entirely on the upcoming game that featured 14 minutes of new gameplay. However, a release date for the game was not revealed.

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Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

Gaming

The best armor sets in God of War Ragnarok

Kratos equipping his armor.

In the past, Kratos was perfectly fine fighting his way through monsters and gods alike bare-chested. Perhaps in his older age, or due to the new, chilly climate he finds himself in in God of War Ragnarok, he has taken to wearing a variety of armor to better protect himself. Aside from looking cool, these armors also add different buffs to Kratos' stats, allowing you to tweak your build to better suit your playstyle. That being said, there are a ton of armors in the game to find and upgrade.

Armor in God of War Ragnarok comes in three pieces: your chest, wrist, and waist armor. While you can mix and match them to your heart's content, they typically give the best buffs when worn as a complete set. These are some of the strongest armor sets you can equip in God of War Ragnarok and why. Also note that, once fully upgraded, you do have the option to transmog your armor if you don't like the look of it but still want the benefits.

Gaming

God of War Ragnarok: all Ratatasks and rewards

Kratos and Atreus sail on water in God of War Ragnarok.

As pressing a matter that the end of the world (aka Ragnarok) is in God of War Ragnarok, there's always time to diverge from the main path and do some side activities. The game is a realm-hopping adventure, and essentially every place you visit has something optional you can do. There are main side quests, called Favours, but also smaller objectives you can do throughout your playthrough called Labours.

Many Labours are tied to your skills or various collectibles, but there is one special set called Ratatasks. Named after the caretaker of the world tree Yggdrasil Ratatoskr, this mystic squirrel will present you with four categories of tasks, each with multiple tasks, tiers, and rewards for completion. There are a ton of these, so knowing which ones to go for if you want the best rewards will save you quite a bit of effort. Frost up your ax and get ready to unleash your Spartan rage as we go over every Ratatask and their rewards in God of War Ragnarok.
How Ratatasks work

Gaming

Every action game should take notes from God of War Ragnarok’s skill tree

Kratos looks at the Leviathan Axe.

Not every piece of God of War Ragnarok is a step up from its 2018 predecessor, but there's one area where it's an undeniable improvement: action. Like his last adventure, Kratos uses his heavy Leviathan Axe to chop up enemies and his Blades of Chaos to rain hellfire down. Both tools feel the same in the sequel but have been altered with the addition of elemental abilities that bring an extra set of moves and decisions to combat.

What stands out to me most about the game's evolved combat though is something a little less flashy. God of War Ragnarok features a handful of skill trees that let players unlock more combos. That's a bit run of the mill, as it's become a staple of Sony's first-party exclusives in recent years. However, Ragnarok's skill tree goes one step further than most games with a new customization system that encourages players to actually use those skills once they've been unlocked. The feature is so effective that I hope every character-based action game takes notes from it from here on out.
Use your skills
The skill trees in God of War Ragnarok function about the same as any game that includes them. Kratos earns experience points when he slays monsters and those points can be spent to unlock new skills. Both the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos have their own three-pronged skill tree, as does Atreus. Every time Kratos levels up a weapon using resources, more skills become available to purchase. By the end of the game, players have access to a fairly wide range of moves that'll have them holding down buttons, comboing moves together, and more.