God of War (2018) changed everything. Kratos was no longer the firebrand killer we knew from the original trilogy of games on the PS2 and PS3 — he had a new family, a new home, and a completely new style of gameplay. While God of War (2018) and now God of War Ragnarok are action games, they take more cues from the deliberate action of Dark Souls than the wild brawler gameplay of God of War 2 and God of War 3. That’s a lot of words to explain a basic truth — there’s no jump button in God of War: Ragnarok.
Like Legend of Zelda and Batman: Arkham Asylum, Kratos is now a slave of gravity. He can’t jump on his own. In combat, you’ll rarely jump — but God of War Ragnarok does add more to the jumping equation. If you’re curious about jumping in Kratos’s next adventure, we’re going to break down everything you need to know. There may not be a jump button, but you’ll be doing a whole lot of jumping anyway.
How Jumping Works
Kratos is glued to the ground in God of War Ragnarok — there are no jumping abilities, but you’ll still jump around a lot. There are many, many instances where you’ll jump, hop and climb around the environment. There’s also a whole new powerful move, allowing you to strike enemies from above. Here’s how it all works.
- Jumping: Kratos and Atreus can only jump at specific marked locations. Press [Circle] to jump small gaps, climb walls marked with runes, or to jump long distances when climbing. You can also jump over waist-high debris in the environment.
- If you don’t want to press a button, you can change the movement settings in the Options menu. There is an option allowing you to automatically climb up or jump across movement areas — without needing to press a button.
Generally, Kratos is much more mobile this time around. He can climb waist-high walls or even walls a little taller than Kratos himself. Look for Blades of Chaos grappling anchor points to launch yourself to high ledges.
- Grappling: Red diamond-shaped anchors are where Kratos can pull or swing using the Blades of Chaos. You’ll begin the game with the Blades of Chaos, allowing Kratos to easily climb large gaps or swing when a grapple anchor point is nearby. Grappling points are always red and are often used to solve puzzles or cross long distances.
- Look for cracked walls, floors or ceiling. Kratos can grapple onto these surfaces from the right angle and launch through them. This can be done from the very start of the game. For cracked floors, you must be above the floor and drop down to grapple.
Kratos also has an ability to deal massive damage from above. By utilizing the new arenas — which are much larger and more complex than in God of War (2018), you can climb up onto a high ledge, then vault off the side and slam into an enemy below.
- Death From Above: If enemies are a level below Kratos, you can jump off the ledge and perform a devastating ground pound attack that deals huge damage and launches enemies.
- To do this, sprint [R3] toward a ledge, then attack with [R1].
The jumping-attack can be used in many different combat environments, going to show how much more detailed Ragnarok is. There are larger battles in varied environments, where you’ll be free to clamber up a ledge then drop back down on unsuspecting enemies. The Death From Above attack is one of the best new methods for attacking foes on uneven ground.
