God of War Ragnarok director Eric Williams said in a new interview that the sequel does "a lot more refining" than evolving.
Speaking to 12DOVE, Williams explained the decision to carry over elements from 2018's God of War, like the collectible Nornir chests and Ravens, into Ragnarok. Apparently, those features will have a bigger impact on the story than you might expect.
"The ravens, for instance, I think you're going to be surprised when you see that that has its own story with its own culmination at the end of the game," Williams said. "Even the Nornir Chests, we talk about those in a bit of a different way to think about how and why they're placed where they are. And we try to acknowledge it all so it all makes sense within the world. But at the same time, we've got completely new stuff as well, so I think it works, there's no reason to get rid of it."
Williams goes on to acknowledge the potential concern that God of War Ragnarok isn't enough of an evolution from the first game, but he argues against the notion that a sequel must be such a dramatic departure.
"Sequels are not always going to be as major a step. They're going to be refined, and they're going to be a continuation - especially in the story space. It would have taken us forever to rebuild the whole game and then take on that story. If you liked [the reboot], we'll give you that [again, but] we're going to do a lot more refining."
Specifically, Williams said "the combat is highly refined" and alluded to God of War Ragnarok's new suite of elemental powers Kratos can use.
"There's a lot going on real fast, and it gives you time to start to express Kratos in a different way. Like, if I want to be a tank Kratos, or a Magic or status affect Kratos … you can make those choices now. Last game, it was there, but it wasn't as accessible to make a whole build that goes one way or another. That's the stuff we were more focused on." Elsewhere, Williams talked to us about how the Dad of Boy meme is officially dead and how Sony Santa Monica wants to stand toe-to-toe with Naughty Dog on accessibility.
Want to know more? We talk with God of War Raganrok's game director about the importance of the opening hours - which we also got to see in our God of War preview.
