SPOILER ALERT: This feature will discuss God of War Ragnarok’s plot and ending.
God of War Ragnarokis an expansive game, running anywhere from 30-50 hours for total completion. Where in many games you might complete the final mission, have a bit of a resolution afterward, then bask in the game’s music as credits roll, then put the game down for the foreseeable future, doing so in Ragnarok would be a big mistake.
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After the final credits roll, many AAA open-world games tend to revert the world state to a point right before the final climactic battle, or at best let you ‘clean up’ those outstanding missions from before you completed the game. Such games aren’t built for the story to continue post-credits; they can be fairly rigid in what they view as the ‘final word’ on the game’s narrative. God of War Ragnarok, on the other hand, continues on after the final climactic battles, dropping you back into a world very much still feeling the effects of the game’s conclusion.
Before continuing be warned: major spoilers for the end of God of War Ragnarok will be discussed.
The very end of the game reveals that Faye – Kratos’ wife and Atreus’ mother – had herself struggled against prophecy. She’d predicted Kratos’ death during Ragnarok, as discovered in Jotunheim at the end ofGod of War (2018), but at the end of Ragnarok, it’s revealed that she hadn’t accepted it. She did everything she could to alter that fate, and in the end, it’s revealed that Faye created two more prophecies for the future of Atreus and Kratos, after having averted their originally predicted fates.
After Angrboda shows them the first of Faye’s prophecies of their victory in Ragnarok, Atreus leaves on his own quest to search for the remaining living Giants. Before leaving, Kratos discovers the secret second prophecy, hidden behind the first, which showed that he would become a figure revered and worshiped throughout the realms for his central role in defeating Odin. This calls to mind an earlier scene where Odin berated Kratos for the fact that even though Kratos is a god, he has never once been worshiped – only feared.
The game then transitions into Kratos, Freya, and Mimir setting out on their own adventures – the realms are in disarray after the climactic battle in Asgard, and they are determined to set things right.
At this point, you’re free to travel through the realms, completing missed side-quests and optional challenging fights like the Berserker Gravestones or the Draugr Holes. So far so standard, but what’s interesting is that visiting skipped side quests offers a new dimension you otherwise wouldn’t have gained, usually from Freya, who replaces Atreus to offer her perspective on things. The dialogue during these side quests never feels like a mere palate swap, either; it doesn’t just repurpose Atreus’ dialogue to come out of Freya’s VO, instead offering freshly written lines from this new character’s perspective. Kratos, Mimir, and Freya will even talk about Atreus’ absence during some of these quests, how Kratos misses him, and how proud they are of the person Atreus has become.
But there’s much more to the post-credits game than simply cleaning up unfinished side quests.
There are several questlines that specifically initiate after rolling credits. You can delve into Sigrun’s vault, for example, learning more about the Valkyrie Queen from both Freya and Mimir. You can venture deeper into Vanaheim to the site of Freya and Odin’s wedding to learn more about that fateful day and help Freya come to terms with this traumatic part of her past. Visiting Alfheim will lead to you discovering what became of Mjolnir after the battle at Asgard. And, of course, you can take part in the funeral for Brok, which results in a large roll of credits.
With the collapse of Asgard, ruins from the shattered realm have fallen across the other locations, leaving small pockets of Einherjar warriors to dispatch. This mostly results in some crumbled combat arenas inserted into the other realms for Kratos and Freya to clear out, but one in particular surprised me. The ruins of an Asgardian Prison crashed into Niflheim, offering a whole new level to explore, puzzles to solve, and major revelations that lorehunters absolutely must seek out.
Beyond even the structure of simple side quests, you may visit most of the NPCs you’ve interacted with throughout the main game, sometimes finding them in places you wouldn’t expect. These interactions offer no XP or valuable loot, and you aren’t guided toward them in any way; they’re simply there to reward thorough exploration and to further deepen a world in the moments after a great weight has been lifted from it.
The very nature of traveling the realms with Freya offers some great additional perspectives on previously visited locations. Simply hopping on your snow sled in Midgard or sand sled in Alfheim will result in some fantastic interactions between Kratos, Freya, and Mimir wherein they discuss the state of the world, what comes next, and stories about the lands that have yet to be touched on. For example, while traveling around the desert in Alfheim, Freya will treat you to some charming tales about her brother Freyr’s past with the Light and Dark Elves–information that was previously only understood on a surface level.
I’ve never played a game before that so thoroughly let me bask in the ramifications of its own conclusion like God of War Ragnarok. And, because of the setup of Kratos eventually becoming a worshiped figure in these lands, his post-credit adventures serve a deeper purpose. His legacy is not only in removing Odin’s stranglehold over the realms through the destruction of Asgard, but it’s also his actions in the aftermath. With every stronghold taken down, every side-quest completed, and every good deed done, he further cements himself as the savior of these realms. This offers him a much-needed level of peace and purpose after Atreus sets off on his own adventures.
