God of War Ragnarok has Kratos visit all realms from original release By Lee Brady, 07 Sep 2022 FollowtopicsGod of War RagnarökSony Interactive EntertainmentPlayStation ExclusivePlayStation 5Lee Brady God of War Ragnarok will let PS5 and PS4 players access all nine realms, including returning realms from God of War (2018). The news comes with our first glimpse of a brand new realm, Svartalfheim.God of War Ragnarok will let us explore all three previously locked realms in the PS4's God of War, including Svartalfheim — a Dwarven realm overrun with machinery that will require Kratos to use his new elemental weapon signature moves to navigate the realm. For those wondering if Kratos can return to realms from his previous PlayStation Studios outing, God of War Ragnarok's director has confirmed Kratos can explore all nine realms in the upcoming PS5 and PS4 game.Our first look at Svartalfheim shows us somewhere that has yet to be touched by Fimbulwinter.God of War Ragnarok remixes God of War 2018's level designIn a reveal article from GameInformer, we received our first look at Svartalfheim, a glimpse of mysterious new dwarven character Durlin, and a number of insightful Santa Monica Studio developer quotes on what has changed coming into God of War Ragnarok.Speaking on the evolving level design of the upcoming game, level designers James Riding and Jon Hickenbottom said, "We wanted to evolve the gameplay in the level spaces – more variety and verticality. In Svartalfheim, you’ve got a lot of places that you go to all within one realm. It’s so much content.” In the footage of Svartalfheim, we see Kratos solve a number of water-based environmental puzzles, activating machines with blasts of water and freezing geysers to make new platforms — all of which hints at the new variety the level designers are getting at.What might excite fans the most, however, is how God of War Ragnarok plans to handle returning realms from its PS Plus Extra predecessor. Ragnarok's director Eric Williams stated that players will get to explore all nine realms in the upcoming game and that "the [realms] you’ve seen before are going to feel new again."This makes perfect sense — God of War Ragnarok will see the ever-encroaching icy apocalypse that is Fimbulwinter consuming the nine realms. We already know that The Lake of the Nine, the previous game's main hub world, will be frozen solid, forcing Kratos and Atreus to travel by dog sleigh rather than by boat in this world — a sight that's well illustrated on the cover of the upcoming God of War Ragnarok art book.Brok and Sindri not going to be too pleased if Kratos is fraternising with another axe merchant.It sounds like while we will be able to revisit some of the lush worlds from the previous game when God of War Ragnarok's release date rolls around, many will be remixed and altered beyond recognition, requiring a little more of Kratos' new elemental magic to navigate. Let us know which realm you're most excited to visit (I mean, obviously, Asgard is up there), if you're still wary of God of War Ragnarok leaks hitting the web, and whether you checked out the Rick and Morty crossover ad spot in the comments below.More God of War Ragnarök stories: All 148 PS Plus Premium trials available for PS5 (February 2025) Best PS5 games - top 39 games to play in February 2025 God of War Ragnarok is only the 11th-biggest game to hit PS Plus Extra Poll: Which PS Studios franchises should get a live service PS5 game? God of War Ragnarok shows us the plan for exclusives on PS Plus PlayStation 5 Written by Lee BradyNews Editor Lee covers the latest upcoming PS5 games like Ghost of Yotei while making sure PlayStation Plus’ classic PS1 and PS2 games are given enough respect. Lee leads the charge on our original data analysis courtesy of Game Lens. His 25 years of PlayStation experience compliments his love of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Sonic the Hedgehog.