God of War Ragnarök edges closer, and as well as having some thoughts on Ragnarök’s first few hours of gameplay, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio also kindly offered up its wonderfully insightful animation director, Bruno Velazquez, for a chat.
We found it genuinely enlightening, especially when animation takes such a prominent role in God of War. This is a game as much about its sumptuous presentation as it is the moment-to-moment playing. From what we’ve seen so far, Kratos and Atreus maintain that same wonderful sense of personality, the detail strong enough for each moment of stillness, when it does come, to feel as deliberate as their movement.
There’s the same elastic snap to the swings and counters of Ragnarök combat’s combat as there was in 2018, and also many, many more kinds of enemy than before – something Velazquez himself knows has been a key request. It’s a rangey chat, and hopefully a fascinating insight into one essential corner of development that plays a huge part in the assembly of this game as a whole.
