Originally announced last year, New Game Plus has finally arrived in God of War Ragnarok.

PlayStation posted an update on their blog containing the details of the game's New Game Plus. Our previous article surrounding God of War Ragnarok's New Game Plus was pretty spot on, so let's go through each of the features in detail.

Maintained Inventory

As with most new game plus game modes, the player retains their inventory form their previous run. This includes all of the player's equipment, weapons (including the Draupnir Spear), and skills. Players will be able to use their entire arsenal of equipment from the start of the game. This will allow players to try out new ways of fighting through the game.

It is important to note, however, that the player will not have access to Sonic and Hex arrows at the start of the game. Locations that need these arrows to access will not unlock until you reach the point in the story when they will normally unlock. This applies to Draupnir Spear as well.

New Equipment

As New Game Plus is more difficult, the player will have access to new equipment that they can use in their second run. Here is a list of the new equipment the player will have access to

  • Armor of the Black Bear
    • Stats focused on Strength and Defense
    • Doing last-second evades with this equipped will cause a volley of Bifrost shards to attack enemies
    • The player will start with this upon starting NG+
  • Spartan Armor
    • No Perks, no Stats, and locked at Power Level 1
    • For players who want to test their skills in the game
    • Can be bought at the Huldra Brothers' Shop for Hacksilver on NG+
  • Ares Armor
    • Gives players a chance to drop a Health Stone on hit.
    • Stomping the Health Stone grants the player Health, as well as a rage gain alongside a bigger explosion
    • Can be bought at the Huldra Brothers' Shop for Hacksilver on NG+
  • Zeus Armor
    • Greatly increases Melee and Runic damage, as well as incoming damage
    • Acquired by defeating Gna the Valkyrie Queen and completing certain Remnants of Asgard on NG+
  • Spartan Aspis Shield
    • Similar to the Guardian Shield, but with a smaller Parry window
    • Parrying on time deals bigger damage than the Guardian Shield

Armor Appearances

The player now has access to color combinations for the 13 armors already in the game. Players can buy these appearances from the Huldraa Brothers' Shop. It can then be applied on any Level 9+ armor in the transmog menu. The new Berserker Armor appearance, however, requires the player to defeat the Berserker King on NG+

New Level Cap

NG+ brings with it more powerful enemies. As such, Kratos can power up more than in the base game. All Level 9 equipment, including armor, weapons, components, and shields, can be converted into “Plus” versions. Plus versions of equipment will allow the player to level them up more. Speaking of, players can now purchase and sell resources to the shop in increments. THis makes it easier to upgrade your equipment

Converting equipment to their “Plus” version also rewards the player with a Gilded Coin. Players can use these Gilded Coins to buy new Enchantments from the shop.

New Enchantments

Players can use their Gilded Coins to buy Enchantments. Enchantments allow players to equip perks from other Armor and Shields in their Amulet. This lets players mix and match their perks to create builds that further suit their playstyle. The powerful enchantments bought with Gilded Coins will require a certain Stat threshold. This encourages players to be clever with their builds. Players can also defeat Berserker Souls on NG+ to receive stat boost Enchantments, letting players upgrade their starts to meet the thresholds mentioned above.

Other than empowering Enchantments, players can also equip Burdens. Burdens are a type of Enchantment that apply debuffs to the player instead of buffs. The blog post gave the Burden of Evasion as an example, which causes Kratos to have the Frost status effect when evading. These Burdens are for players who want a real challenge.

New Progression Paths

Players can upgrade their existing Skill Mod tokens to further strengthen their favorite mods. Not only that, but players also carry over any progress from Kill Labors and Ratatasks. This lets players unlock new Platinium Tier rewards. Finally, Nomir Chests will now provide Yggdrasil Dew, which lets players push Stats past the current limit.

Expanded Niflheim Arena

The Sparring Arena also receives new features in NG+. Other than fighting a wider variety of enemies, players can also choose to play as either Kratos or Atreus, Not only that, but they can also pick a companion character to fight beside them. The companion characters available are:

  • Atreus (when playing as Kratos)
  • Freya
  • Brok
  • Sindri
  • Angrboda
  • Ingrid
  • Thor
  • Thrud

Enemy Adjustments

Of course, various enemies receive difficulty upgrades in NG+. For example, The Hateful and The Ormstunga, two min-bosses, now have new attack patterns to change up their fights. Berserker Souls and the Valkyrie Queen Gna also received switch-ups, which should provide a challenge to any player. Additionally, if players play on the Give Me No Mercy and the Give Me God of War difficulties, all bosses and mini-bosses will also have Runic Armor. Players will have to use their Runes properly to get through these fights. Finally, enemies can now turn elite on Give Me No Mercy difficulty,

Cinematic Updates

Players can now choose to play in a Black and White Render Mode for a more cinematic experience. Speaking of, players can now also Skip Cinematics when playing in NG+.

That's all the information we have about the new features available in God Of War Ragnarok's New Game Plus. For more gaming news from us, you can check out our gaming news articles.