Game developers explain what makes God of War (2018)’s combat tick

blog.playstation.com:

Innovation is king when it comes to video games, especially when reinventing a beloved franchise. Developers are challenged with balancing what fans loved about the series’ origins while modernizing the experience and providing surprising gameplay enhancements that players didn’t even know they wanted. Few developers understand this task better than Santa Monica Studio, which reimagined Kratos’ mythological melee in 2018.

The sequel God of War Ragnarök launches November 9. This new entry is poised to deliver more of the satisfying combat introduced in God of War (2018), including Kratos’ trusty Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos, increased verticality in combat, versatile shield options to customize play, a host of new mythical beasts to battle, and more.

Ahead of God of War Ragnarök’s release, we invited talented game developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party studios to reflect on God of War (2018)’s impactful combat. These creators dive into everything from Kratos’ crunchy, boomeranging Leviathan Axe to the intimate camera perspective, while also sharing their personal perspective on what makes for satisfying melee combat.

“God of War 2018 was hugely inspirational. It took many aspects of action-focused games and merged them to establish a new standard that directly impacted how we approached combat when creating Ghost of Tsushima.For example, the yellow and red ‘rings’ in God of War that indicated required player actions were highly influential and inspired the blue and red ‘glints’ in Ghost of Tsushima for unblockable/parryable attacks.Valkyrie boss design was also a huge inspiration for us and had a major influence on the ‘Six Blades of Kojiro’ mission in Ghost of Tsushima, which involved tracking down