God of War Ragnarök looms ever closer, its release date being November 9th. Game Informer snatched exclusive coverage for Sony Santa Monica's upcoming sequel, beginning with an article detailing some of the combat improvements coming to the game.

　　First and foremost, the developers have added a bunch of elemental moves connected to the different weapons that Kratos can wield. Lead Combat Designer Mihir Sheth explained:

　　In the last game, if you pressed Triangle, you recalled the axe. But if you already had the axe, nothing happened. If you had the Blades of Chaos and you pressed Triangle, you just went back to the axe. We looked at that concept and wondered, ‘What if you could do something a little bit different with that button – a whole new suite of moves’.

　　In God of War Ragnarök, pressing Triangle when the weapon is already in your hands will infuse the Leviathan Axe with ice magic for the 'Frost Awaken' attack, while the Blades of Chaos will be imbued with fire magic for the 'Whiplash' attack. Each attack will deal extra damage due to freezing or burning enemies.

　　The action/adventure game sequel also features a variety of shield types, each coming with its distinctive set of moves. For example, players who parry at the very last possible moment with the Dauntless shield can then activate a powerful counterattack to stun surrounding enemies and push them away from Kratos. On the other hand, the Stonewall shield disallows parrying entirely but lets players absorb hits. Once fully charged, the Stonewall shield comes with a ground-pounding attack that knocks nearby foes off their feet. That said, this type of shield also has a drawback, as it gets more unstable while absorbing damage. There will be more shields in the full game, and players are advised to carefully consider the pros and cons of each shield.

　　Interestingly, the brief new footage shared by Game Informer as part of their cover reveal trailer shows Kratos jumping on his own in God of War Ragnarök, whereas 2018's game was limited to contextual actions.

　　There's much more to uncover ahead of this highly anticipated game's release in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!