New God of War gameplay debuted during Sony’s Paris Games Week presentation, showing Kratos and his son working together to overcome a handful of draugr enemies. But it’s hard to know how much we learned from the preview until we get a closer look at the game’s UI.
The new God of War clip is brief and features less than a minute of combat footage. Kratos and his son enter a cave and quickly dispatch more than half a dozen draugr before setting off down a path the duo watched an elemental use before the fight. There’s nothing special about the fight itself. We see Kratos wielding the same axe shown in previous trailers and brutally maiming his enemies in the same fashion we’ve seen since 2005. But it seems like his son’s vocal cues could replace the combat indicators, typically used to identify dodge and counter windows, seen in melee-focused character action games.
It’s not a confirmed change and we should note that many gameplay trailers remove the HUD to make the onscreen action easier to watch. But other visual indicators do appear during the clip, including a red circle that seems to indicate an opening for Kratos’ grapple attacks and a white crosshair over a rope (tied to an explosive) Kratos can cut by throwing his axe. If those icons are present, it’s unlikely the HUD was disabled and it’s reasonable to wonder if the son’s callouts will replace some visual indicators.
It would be a welcome change, even if it is still unconfirmed. The “Batman combat” is pretty familiar after being replicated by countless studios, or repurposed for other WB Interactive games every three to six months since Arkham Asylum debuted in 2009. God of War will obviously have its own take on combat, given Kratos’ brutality and magical abilities, but character action needs a breath of fresh air. And the rise of Dark Souls makes it clear the market has an appetite for more challenging combat experiences.
For an early look at God of War , check out the gameplay footage shown during Sony’s Paris Games Week presentation. Then head down to the comments and let us know what you’re hoping to see in God of War when the franchise makes its PS4 debut.
God of War is in development for PS4. The game debuts in 2018.
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