God of War Ragnarok Trailer Reveals New Combat Gameplay, Features

God of War Ragnarok's release date is just a couple of weeks away now, and during the buildup to that launch, God of War fans have gotten yet another trailer showing off more gameplay. This time, the latest trailer was focused on combat and enemies, two elements which make up some of the prime reasons people play these sorts of games outside of the story and Kratos himself. Details about Kratos' new shields and how he uses his Blades of Chaos in this sequel were discussed among other interesting combat insights.

The trailer below shared by PlayStation this week shows Kratos and Atreus returning to Alfheim, the home of the elves, to show off their combat prowess. We see Kratos whipping around his Blades of Chaos and tossing the Leviathan Axe while Atreus assists him in skirmishes, thought the developers pointed out that Atreus works a bit more autonomously in this game due to his age and experience when compared to his first appearance in God of War.

For those Blades of Chaos specifically, they were only accessible towards the very end of God of War which made it so that a familiar part of the God of War formula was locked away for the majority of the game. Now that Kratos is ready to use them again, Sony Santa Monica hopes players will enjoy the return of things like the Blades of Chaos grapple move which, based on what's seen in the trailer, can be used to close the distance on enemies and can also be used to reach high ledges.

The new shields Kratos uses also made an appearance once more in the trailer. As indicated by previous previews of the God of War Ragnarok arsenal, one shield focuses more on parries while the other is centered on blocking attacks and absorbing damage.

A general tone of flexibility in combat permeates the trailer both from gameplay footage and the comments from the developers. Enemies are shown bouncing around and getting lobbed in the air for follow-up attacks like combos chaining together in a fighting game with talks of new abilities and skills heard throughout the trailer.

God of War Ragnarok is scheduled to release on November 9th, so expect to see more previews like this one leading up to that launch.