Problems With God of War Ragnarok

God of War: Ragnarok is a great game and we definitely recommend it but to say it comes without its flaws would be wrong. We have already talked about its plus points but to say it’s flawless would be deceptive. While not as flawed as some of the other recent releases, God of War Ragnarok has its own little problems which can get annoying the more you start to notice them. While these aren’t game-breaking they still deserve to be addressed and that’s what we’re here to do.

Problems in GoW Ragnarok

There are essentially 3 major problems in this game which should in fact be a testament to how good the game really is to have such a small number of noticeable problems at launch. Two of these are problems with the game design while the other has to do with bugs. The bugs can be fixed through updates but as for the design elements- that’s something all the players just have to deal with throughout their run of this game.

Compass

One of the major problems is the revamped compass system in this game. This is something players had a problem with even in God of War (2018) but it’s more pronounced and prominent in the Ragnarok update due to the new game having such a big and rich world.

The game, unlike most others, doesn’t use a mini-map to encourage players to look around and explore more. When you mark a destination on your map, your only directional reference is the compass which at least in God of War (2018) locked onto the general direction of your location and points you in that direction.

In God of War Ragnarok, there are robust waypoints almost around every corner and when you mark a location on your map, the compass here instead points you to the waypoint closest to you that will help you go to your marked location. Once you reach this waypoint and cross it, the compass changes directions to the next closest waypoint that’ll take you to your location.

This way the compass constantly changes directions based on your movements which only makes it more confusing and counterintuitively confuses players to double-check and keep an eye on the compass more than enjoying the time exploring around. The constantly changing directions of the compass may thus seem like a bug but it isn’t one and is just a flaw in the game’s navigation design.

Bugs Causing Soft Locks

As smooth as God of War Ragnarok is, it still has its own bugs to deal with- however few they may be, some players have already encountered them throughout their gameplay. These bugs usually appear during gameplay sequences where something that’s supposed to happen doesn’t happen and the player is left hanging and confused.

These can also happen while solving puzzles which could lead to the player wondering if they did something wrong or if there’s something they’re missing when all they need to do is reload the game for it to work properly the second time around. Santa Monica Studio is aware of these issues and are actively working to patch them as soon as possible.

Armor System Has Limited Options and Doesn’t Encourage Variety

While this isn’t an outright flaw, it’s still something subjective noticed by a lot of players. God of War players don’t need a variety of builds to clear the game. At best they need 2-3 builds and broadly speaking there are 4 builds- Strength (DPS), Luck (CRIT), Runic and Defense (or Vitality). 

Once a player chooses their ideal playstyle or even if they mix and match two playstyles, they won’t have more than 2-3 Armor and gear set options available to them. And the fact that all weapons and armor can now be levelled up to 9 means that players won’t feel the need to change builds anymore and they can clear the majority of the game with one or two builds.

Even though the weapon and equipment system has been made more flexible and generous, they instead discourage change and variety in builds which can be problematic down the line. These flaws, however subjective, do still exist and have been noticed by the player base. While they don’t diminish the value of the game by any means, it just goes to show that there are still improvements to be made.