This Type of Upgrade System Is a First for the Series
The progression system for the highly-anticipated upcoming God of War game was discussed in detail by the game’s developers at Santa Monica Studio. Check out what they had to say in the video below!
While players have always been able to upgrade Kratos’ abilities, health and weapons in previous games, character progression in the series has never been structured in the way it is in the new God of War game. This new system seems to be more similar to the progression systems usually found in RPGs. The six main statistics in God of War seem to be Strength, Runic, Defense, Vitality, Luck and Cooldown.
“This God of War game is definitely the biggest one we’ve ever made,” said Jason McDonald, the game’s Lead Gameplay Designer. “There’s alot of content and we wanted to make sure that, out of all the players playing it, everybody plays it a different way.”
“We just want players to have choice. We want players in the game with a different Kratos as somebody else’s Kratos even though they’re still Kratos at the end of the day,” explained McDonald.
McDonald also said that players will be able to gain new abilities for Kratos’ main weapon, the Leviathan Axe. You’ll also be able to upgrade Kratos’ punching and his defensive abilities (such as his parrying and his shield), added McDonald.
“What we wanted to do was make sure that all the customization that we offered to the player feed directly into the core loop of the game,” said Cory Barlog, the game’s Creative Director. “All of Atreus’ core abilities, all of Kratos’ core abilities as well as his reactions, the cooldowns and how fast those go, all of your damage and as well your ability to take damage, all of those things are factors you can have control over.”
Barlog went on to say that the progression system involves “a little bit of risk [and] reward”. He also said that there are several instances in the game where your character build and Kratos’ inventory will matter in combat.
In other God of War news: the game is said to take over 40 hours to 100% complete.
Reviews for God of War are expected to come out later this week on Thursday and the game is scheduled to come out for the PS4 next week on April 20th.