God of War Ragnarök’s New Game+ mode is finally here. In a tweet, developer Santa Monica Studio confirmed their latest, sizable game update, which brings new equipment, enchantments, stronger enemies, and more for your second plunge back into the Nine Realms. As expected, the mode activates after clearing God of War Ragnarök once in any difficulty level, granting the advantage of carrying over any unlocked equipment and skills onto a fresh run. That said, you won’t be able to start the game with access to Sonic and Hex arrows since they’re locked behind specific questlines in the main story.
First up, Santa Monica Studio is adding the much-requested black bear cloak from the opening scene of God of War Ragnarök, with its stats focussing on Strength and Defence “with a perk that rewards your last-second evades with a volley of Bifröst shards.” Of course, since the game plays out as a single, tracking shot, the NG+ run will begin with you donning the ‘Armor of the Black Bear.’ Then there’s the ‘Spartan Armor’ for the lionhearted players, which is essentially a bare-chested Kratos with no perks and stats — locked to level 1 attributes — contributing to more challenging gameplay. The armour can be acquired at the Huldra Brothers’ Shop in exchange for Hacksilver. The Ares and Zeus armour from the 2018 God of War also return in the New Game+ mode. The former has a chance of dropping a health stone on hit, while the latter greatly increases melee and Runic damage.
Players can also purchase the Spartan Aspis shield that bears a tighter parry window, or mess around with colour combinations for their Level 9+ armour. Keeping in fashion with every other New Game+ mode, both Kratos and his enemies will be more powerful with an increased level cap — all earned weapons can now further be upgraded to ‘Plus’ versions, resulting in stronger effects. Such conversions also earn you a Gilded Coin now, which can be used to acquire new enchantments from in-game shops. For the uninitiated, enchantments add special perks to any armour set, giving you an edge in battle. ‘Burdens’ is a new set among them, which lets you equip negative perks for a more masochistic affair in God of War Ragnarök’s NG+ mode. For instance, the Burden of evasion will slow down Kratos by activating an automatic Frost status effect when dodge rolling.
The sparring arena in Niflheim has also been expanded, letting you play as Kratos or Atreus, and pick any companion characters ranging from Freya, Brok, Sindri, Angrboda, Ingrid, Thor, and Thrúd. There’s also a black-and-white render mode, bringing a cinematic twist/ filter to God of War Ragnarök, akin to Ghost of Tsushima’s Samurai Cinema mode. “You can find the new mode under the Graphics & Camera settings menu,” the blog post from PlayStation announcing the new mode adds. The NG+ mode also grants the ability to skip cinematics, while the Nornir Chests now provide Yggdrasil Dew to enable limit-breaking stat upgrades.
God of War Ragnarök won six trophies at The Game Awards 2022, including Best Narrative and a Best Performance nod for Christopher Judge. More recently, it bagged another six at the BAFTA Games Awards, from among record-breaking 14 nominations. The game is also available as a three-hour free trial to members of the PS Plus Deluxe/ Premium subscription, which is enough time to get a feel for it and decide whether to buy it. Indeed, all progress and trophies get carried over to the full purchase.
God of War Ragnarök’s New Game+ is now out on both PS4 and PS5.