Look, I’ll be real with you – God of War Ragnarok is not a game you really need a guide for. As a big-budget PlayStation game, it’s very good at making sure you’re guided through most of its gameplay ideas and mechanics. It’s got a well-annotated world map that lets you see exactly what kinds of collectables you missed (or completed) in an area, and many of its secrets are only just off the beaten path. If you’re the completionist sort, you’ll likely find alternate routes that lead to secret chests and the like without too many issues.
So what’s the deal with this guide? Well, after I was playing through God of War Ragnarok’s 40-hour campaign, there were a handful of instances where I thought ‘oh, that would have been good to know earlier.’ So to save you some time and mental energy worrying about some of these things, I thought I’d just lay it out for you, and let you rest easy.
- There is a post-game in God of War Ragnarok
- You don’t need to be stingy with your XP
- Don’t be stingy with your crafting resources, either
- Don’t worry about the unreachable locations in Nifelheim
- How do you kill the little lizards in God of War Ragnarok?
- Try using these useful accessibility options
Read: God of War Ragnarok review – A captivating epic filled with heart
There is a post-game in God of War Ragnarok
One of the things that I’m always wary of in big video games like this are ‘points of no return,’ where the games’ main story will move on and you need to finish making sure you’ve wrapped up any loose ends in regards to side content, lest it be locked away forever.
While God of War Ragnarok has a few moments where characters suggest that you take some time to explore and do side activities, you can rest assured that you can’t miss out on any content.
Once you’ve finished the game’s 40-hour-or-so main throughline and the credits have rolled, you’ll be able to go back and explore everything and wrap all the sidequests you missed. In fact, there are some extra story bits and pieces, and brand new sidequests for you to tackle in the post-game, as well as new conversations with your companions.
So if you’re eager to get on with the story and let yourself get bogged down in too many sidequests or challenging optional fights you can’t yet handle – don’t. Move on, and look forward to revisiting it later, when your Kratos is more well-equipped.
You don’t need to be stingy with your XP
Look, I get it – you like to hoard the XP you earn from completing quests and fighting enemies, because you think it’ll probably be better served purchasing a late-game skill rather than a few early-game skills.
But in God of War Ragnarok you will get a ton of XP, and you’ll eventually be able to unlock all the skills you need to make Kratos and Atreus the most talented father-son monster-killing duo around.
Encounters and activities near the end of the game will give you far more XP than you know what to do with, and by the time you reach the post-game, you’ll be earning even more. Spend big, spend often.
Don’t be stingy with your crafting resources, either
In the same vein as the previous tip, don’t be stingy with the crafting resources you pick up, which are used to upgrade your weapons and pieces of armour.
Yes, some of the crafting materials are rare and finite. However, every material serves a specific purpose, and the game is designed to let you upgrade every piece of gear to its maximum level eventually.
Definitely prioritise upgrading the things that give you perks and abilities that suit your personal play style, of course. But don’t be afraid to upgrade a piece of gear you might want to try out for a little while.
Don’t worry about the unreachable locations in Nifelheim
When you get to the latter half of the game, you’ll spend some time exploring the northern part of the Nifelheim realm, which is made up of a series of rocky islands (for lack of a better word), separated by deep chasms.
If you’re a completionist like me, you’ll likely see things across the chasms that you can’t quite get to. You’ll open the world map, try to work out a route, and drive yourself crazy trying to work out what kind of path will get you there – after all, exploring alternate paths has been pretty obvious so far, right?
Well, I have the hindsight to tell you: Don’t worry about those side things in Nifelheim for now. Move on with the critical path and eventually, as part of the story, something will happen that will make those things much, much easier to get to.
How do you kill the little lizards in God of War Ragnarok?
Here’s one minor thing that God of War Ragnarok doesn’t explicitly tell you about: those noisy lizards you sometimes encounter out in the world, which disappear as soon as you try to get near them? Killing these lizards are little puzzles in themselves. You’ll have to find your way to a point in the environment where you can attack them from behind.
In most cases, this means moving to an alternate location – usually at some distance – where they can’t see you coming. In these cases, simply use your axe to nail them from a distance.
In other instances, you might need to use your environment to help you out. Look around – is there an environmental object that can do the work for you? There are plenty of deadly plants in God of War Ragnarok.
Successfully killing a lizard will reward you with a small bounty of valuable crafting materials, so it’s worth taking a little bit of time to exterminate one if you hear or see them in your travels.
Try using these useful accessibility options
The accessibility options in PlayStation Studios games have grown increasingly intricate and useful for everyone. There are a few options that can be particularly handy for making your long journey a lot easier.
One thing we always turn on is the option to hold a button instead of using repeated button presses. While trying to mimic the desperation of these tense moments can be cool, it can be a real strain when you need to mash a button countless times – especially if you’ve already been playing for a while.
In the same respect, we also really enjoyed the option to automatically pick up items, especially since you’ll be picking up a lot of Hacksilver currency, crafting materials, health pickups, and rage pickups as you explore the world. These are also handy in allowing you to quickly heal in the midst of battle.
Since God of War Ragnarok is a long game, these two options definitely help ease the repetitive strain you put on your hands – which is a good thing for everyone.
God of War Ragnarok is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
The PlayStation 5 version of God of War Ragnarok was provided for the purposes of coverage. GamesHub has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content. GamesHub may earn a small percentage of commission for products purchased via affiliate links.
