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  • SID: And I'll say something.

  • The axe, this Leviathan axe.

  • KRISTEN: There it is.

  • SID: So cool.

  • KRISTEN: Just throwing it back and forth.

  • SID: And just recalling it. Look at that, tripping enemies.

  • JUSTIN: Oh yeah.

  • [INTRO MUSIC PLAYING]

  • SID: Hey, everybody, welcome back to PlayStation Underground.

  • We got something real special lined up today.

  • Myself, Sid Shuman, Justin Massongill and Kristen Titus are

  • going to walk you through some new footage from God of War,

  • launching on PS4 April 20th.

  • And my goodness gracious, does this game look sensational.

  • What do you guys think?

  • JUSTIN: Wow. That looks very good.

  • SID: Now Justin. You have not played it.

  • JUSTIN: I'm coming totally fresh here.

  • SID: That's right.

  • Kristen, you and I got a chance to play this.

  • KRISTEN: Yes. Yes we did.

  • SID: And I think it's safe to say

  • that we liked what we played.

  • JUSTIN: So first things first,

  • I'm noticing R1, R2 for your attacks.

  • That's a big change.

  • SID: Yes, indeed. No more face buttons.

  • I believe that is still an option that you can select as an

  • optional thing.

  • But you're going to see why when you start playing the game.

  • It's just a lot more tactile. It's a lot more immersive.

  • And here we have a parry.

  • You still have that classic action from God of War.

  • And I'll say something,

  • this axe, this Leviathan axe --

  • KRISTEN: There it is.

  • JUSTIN: That's rad. SID: So cool.

  • KRISTEN: Just throwing it back and forth.

  • SID: And just recalling it, tripping enemies.

  • JUSTIN: Oh yeah.

  • So tell me how the actual mechanics

  • of using that axe works.

  • You use it like a boomerang?

  • SID: No, you throw it and you sort of aim at something.

  • You toss it.

  • And if it hits an enemy, it will freeze 'em in place.

  • You can use it in puzzles.

  • You can then hit a button -- I think it's square --

  • you can recall it back in your hand.

  • You can see he's frozen.

  • Now, right now, Kratos, the fisticuffs is very,

  • very fun in this game as much fun as the axe.

  • What do you think, Kristen?

  • KRISTEN: I loved whenever I would throw the axe and just

  • start beating up on somebody else.

  • Occasionally you'll have an enemy where you'll have to you

  • use that tactic.

  • It definitely wants you to use everything in your arsenal.

  • JUSTIN: So you have completely different move sets depending on

  • whether the axe is in his hands or stuck in an enemy's chest.

  • SID: You have a shield, like a full blown shield.

  • A little dab of Dark Souls there.

  • You kind of walk around.

  • Shield comes in handy for this hand-to-hand combat too.

  • JUSTIN: The best defense is a good offense, right?

  • SID: So these are the lighter slashes with the axe

  • that I think is R1.

  • And it's a little bit reminiscent of the classic games

  • just with more impact.

  • You can see juggling the enemy, hammering them to the ground.

  • JUSTIN: That looks really chunky.

  • SID: Oh yeah.

  • I was talking to Cory Barlog,

  • he's the creative director at Santa Monica,

  • and they wanted this weapon, this Leviathan axe,

  • to have a weight to it.

  • And I say mission accomplished.

  • KRISTEN: Absolutely.

  • JUSTIN: I see a chain over there to the left.

  • SID: That's cool.

  • Still got those brutal --

  • JUSTIN: Yeah.

  • They are not toning down the brutality in this game.

  • SID: That's right.

  • There's that chain your eagle eye caught.

  • And here's a good example of a puzzle.

  • I remember this one instantly. This axe.

  • JUSTIN: Oh cool.

  • SID: Little things like that I really like how they come up

  • with the puzzle solving in this.

  • I liked the puzzles in last game,

  • but it got to be a bit much

  • with the block pushing and everything.

  • They really open that up in this game.

  • JUSTIN: Big change.

  • You didn't have to mash that button to open the chest.

  • SID: That's correct.

  • And Hacksilver is one of the resources you'll collect.

  • JUSTIN: Is that like a currency, a crafting material?

  • What's that all about?

  • SID: All of the above.

  • KRISTEN: A little bit of both.

  • Just recall that axe.

  • SID: So cool.

  • KRISTEN: Nothing is more satisfying when you do it.

  • SID: Got the big guy here.

  • JUSTIN: Big boy. SID: Yep.

  • So, interesting detail here, you can either sort of let Atreus

  • just circle the perimeter, and he'll kind of do his own thing,

  • call out enemy positions, things like that,

  • or you can actually manually direct him

  • with the "son" button, which I think is square.

  • You can aim and have him fire at what you want.

  • JUSTIN: I like how the axe bounced off him right there.

  • That's kind of fun.

  • SID: These trolls are not easy; I can tell you that right now.

  • KRISTEN: But Atreus definitely becomes very helpful.

  • He can distract your enemy for you;

  • he can sort of draw their attention

  • so you can dive right in there.

  • You have to give him some time to build back those arrows,

  • so they won't always be there.

  • JUSTIN: You can't always say fire, fire, fire.

  • KRISTEN: Exactly.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, and I see on the bottom right,

  • is that an indication of how many arrows he has available?

  • SID: Exactly.

  • This guy takes punishment.

  • The detail on these characters is staggering.

  • Real quick, if you look at Kratos here,

  • look at his butt, his thighs,

  • you can see his remnants of his old armor poking out.

  • You see those red straps?

  • JUSTIN: Oh.

  • SID: See what I mean. There's a ton of details.

  • Look at the wrappings on his arms from the chains.

  • It's super, super cool character design in this.

  • Obviously he's got the classic red war paint or scar

  • or whatever that is.

  • Different kinds of chests have different animations.

  • JUSTIN: That's one way to open a chest.

  • KRISTEN: Classic Kratos.

  • JUSTIN: He doesn't have time to open chests.

  • SID: There's a lot of looting in this game.

  • There's a lot of kind of just items and things,

  • reasons to explore sort of the world around you.

  • I was digging into every nook and cranny.

  • JUSTIN: Do we know any more about how that all works,

  • like the progression in terms of the currency systems?

  • SID: Yeah.

  • We're going to see a little bit more of that later on.

  • But, yeah.

  • It is deeper than you might be anticipating.

  • So stay tuned.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, I got the old instruction manual here.

  • SID: That's very funny.

  • JUSTIN: Reversible box art there.

  • KRISTEN: A little bit of Norse mythology.

  • Atreus the scholar.

  • SID: Yeah.

  • He can sort of the read all the runic messages that are

  • scattered around.

  • JUSTIN: Is Kratos able to read that stuff?

  • SID: He is not.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, I see.

  • SID: So that's one of the things that's interesting about this

  • game -- that's super cool right there.

  • I love that.

  • Atreus really is, as you could see, he's not --

  • there's like zero maintenance involved.

  • Here's one of these kills.

  • Bam.

  • Satisfying.

  • Yeah.

  • You can -- there's actually a stun quality that you can apply

  • to enemies using your fists.

  • So you kind of add stun damage, and then you can click R3 and do

  • the sort of one-hit takedown which is really satisfying.

  • JUSTIN: Man, the way enemies react to hits is so just like --

  • SID: Juicy.

  • JUSTIN: So organic. It looks awesome.

  • I saw something on the side of the screen a moment ago

  • that said "new labor."

  • It looked like those are, like, challenges.

  • I saw when he shattered that enemy it said

  • "New labor, Shatterer."

  • I assume that if you go shatter a bunch of enemies --

  • KRISTEN: Exactly.

  • The more enemies that you come into contact with,

  • the more you fill out your bestiary.

  • You'll get labors like "kill this amount of enemies,

  • and you can receive X, Y, and Z."

  • But some of them will be do a specific move to take them down.

  • Just giving you a little bit more challenge

  • than just a hack and slash.

  • SID: Look at Atreus holding that guy down.

  • And then look at that, kicking people into each other.

  • KRISTEN: It's just seamless. SID: Yeah.

  • JUSTIN: A tool tip a moment ago, "Press down on the D pad to do a

  • quick turn."

  • KRISTEN: Absolutely.

  • You'll also see on the bottom left there's a meter towards the

  • bottom that is filling up

  • as Kratos keeps beating people down.

  • That's his rage meter.

  • SID: Spartan Rage.

  • KRISTEN: So when that fills up --

  • SID: Some things just don't change, Justin.

  • As you could see -- bam.

  • I mean, it's just really crunchy combat.

  • That's the thing that I immediately noticed

  • as soon as I started playing.

  • Man, that axe feels good.

  • JUSTIN: The camera actually lends to the way that combat

  • feels too.

  • KRISTEN: Absolutely.

  • JUSTIN: It shakes a little bit when there's an impact.

  • KRISTEN: You get a sense of that impact.

  • SID: I mean, the Blades of Exile,

  • the Blades of Chaos from the last games,

  • they were really cool weapons, but this one just has this sort

  • of nastiness to it that I really appreciate.

  • It will feel familiar when you're using it.

  • There's some of the strategies are still kind of evoked there.

  • JUSTIN: Another new thing -- I guess you sort of had -- I guess

  • there was the progression in the old games.

  • Now you have the standard XP.

  • SID: Yeah.

  • We're going to get a closer look a little later.

  • KRISTEN: The effects here are just insane.

  • JUSTIN: I like how they actually went to the trouble of building

  • in the little hook on the back of his armor for the axe

  • rather than having it just floating there.

  • SID: So, as the game reminded us, there's actually different

  • levels of enemies that you fight.

  • So that was actually a super smart move there,

  • driving that guy off that cliff.

  • But some of these Draugrs you're fighting here -- that's some of

  • the foot soldiers, the undead foot soldiers --

  • some of them are much tougher than others.

  • JUSTIN: "Hold L1 and then press R1 to perform a light runic

  • attack."

  • SID: That is a type of magic. It's something that you can get.

  • You can imbue your attacks with it.

  • JUSTIN: Was that R3?

  • SID: Yeah. And that was my move.

  • I would run in there bare-knuckle brawling.

  • I loved it. So fun.

  • JUSTIN: I love how the axe can even hit guys on the way.

  • It's smart to throw the axe at somebody that's kind of line of

  • sight with yourself and then call it back.

  • SID: It is much more strategic, the combat in this game.

  • Look at that.

  • That was a perfect example of recalling the axe and hitting

  • two guys in one go.

  • But look at this.

  • I mean, this is not a kinder, gentler Kratos,

  • but it is a little bit more strategic Kratos.

  • And that's something I really appreciated as I played this.

  • Oh, yeah.

  • JUSTIN: This looks so cool.

  • SID: Yeah.

  • JUSTIN: Did he just charge up throwing that axe.

  • SID: Yeah.

  • I didn't even know he could do that.

  • Yeah. This is a really good looking game.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, there's some loot on the ground.

  • You missed it. Pick it up.

  • Pick up the shiny stuff.

  • SID: So this relationship between Kratos and Atreus is,

  • like, a foundation of this game, and you really pick up on it

  • within minutes of playing it.

  • You're immediately captivated by the relationship they've got.

  • Slowing things down a little bit here.

  • There's your loot.

  • Those green items are health.

  • So that's treated a little bit differently.

  • You don't have to open chests every time to get more.

  • I love the Norse mythology just kind of winds its way around

  • everything.

  • KRISTEN: Exactly. It feels natural.

  • SID: Yeah. You're kind of unraveling it.

  • It's obviously a unique sort of interpretation.

  • JUSTIN: Do you now how closely they stuck to the original

  • mythology or how many liberties they took?

  • SID: I think it's -- so that's the thing about Norse mythology,

  • it's super open to interpretation.

  • There's different names, different characters.

  • There's a lot of different interpretations of it.

  • So when I talked to Cory about that,

  • he explained they wanted to make their own mark on it and kind of

  • do their own version of it.

  • So we don't know how far it goes just yet because we're getting

  • an early look at the game.

  • But I guess you're just going to have to play it when it comes

  • out, Justin.

  • JUSTIN: On April 20th, only on PlayStation 4.

  • SID: These are heavy Draugrs. These guys are serious business.

  • I was really struggling with them.

  • There's a great parry.

  • Look at that.

  • JUSTIN: Awesome.

  • Shatter that guy.

  • SID: So good.

  • I was really excited for this game,

  • but when I played it I was like, get out of the way.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, what's happening here?

  • What is that?

  • Is that like a perfect parry kind of thing?

  • SID: A little bit of runic magic I believe.

  • JUSTIN: Cool.

  • I see you can press L3 and R3 together to do something.

  • SID: That's Spartan Rage.

  • That's a real interesting take on that one too.

  • JUSTIN: Oh, I see they have a little snowflake meter above

  • their health bar as you're hitting them with that axe.

  • I assume when that fills up, that's when they freeze.

  • SID: Mm-hmm.

  • Nothing like stepping on a little health crystal.

  • JUSTIN: It's so cool to finally see this game in action.

  • We've seen so many awesome looking trailers.

  • The game has looked so impressive since we revealed it

  • a couple of years ago.

  • Just seeing it being played now is so encouraging.

  • Man, it looks like they just nailed it.

  • SID: Yeah. I mean, that was my take on it.

  • I just sort of fell in love instantly.

  • KRISTEN: This is an interesting part.

  • JUSTIN: Be quiet.

  • KRISTEN: It's the Revenant.

  • SID: So she's a little too quick for Kratos.

  • That's the thing. See.

  • JUSTIN: But maybe Atreus can stick in a strategic arrow.

  • SID: Boom. Right there.

  • KRISTEN: So it's battles like this that really show you how

  • integral Atreus is.

  • He's not just a companion; he's absolutely a part of the fight.

  • JUSTIN: That's awesome.

  • SID: So he's going for the stun damage right there.

  • He got it.

  • JUSTIN: R3. Do it.

  • ALL: Oh.

  • KRISTEN: There's the brutal Kratos we all know.

  • JUSTIN: If anybody was worried that Kratos was going to be

  • getting a little kinder in his old age.

  • SID: This fun little character.

  • What's this guy's name?

  • KRISTEN: Brok.

  • SID: Brok.

  • KRISTEN: B-R-O-K, Brok.

  • SID: A little blue guy.

  • KRISTEN: This guy cracked me up.

  • SID: I didn't know what to make of this character.

  • JUSTIN: Is he like a blacksmith?

  • SID: Yeah.

  • So here you go.

  • Getting into the deep-dive stuff here.

  • JUSTIN: Oh here we go.

  • SID: Juicy.

  • JUSTIN: Here's the fun stuff.

  • I mean, everything else looked fun.

  • I'm a nerd for, like, upgrade trees and,

  • like, progression stuff and all that.

  • KRISTEN: This game is going to speak to you, my friend.

  • SID: There was a lot more going on here than I was expecting,

  • to be totally honest.

  • KRISTEN: See, this is what I was interested in.

  • JUSTIN: God of fashion.

  • SID: God of fashion.

  • Another quick look, if you look down on his lower torso,

  • you see that classic armor poking out from underneath.

  • Got that upgraded Leviathan axe here.

  • And you're going to see this thing is way more potent now.

  • JUSTIN: Are you just fighting this thing

  • right in front of Brok?

  • SID: Yeah.

  • KRISTEN: As you do.

  • So satisfying.

  • SID: That parry is so nice.

  • KRISTEN: So satisfying.

  • JUSTIN: Got the air juggles going.

  • SID: Big time, big time.

  • So, again, there's going to be some things veterans are going

  • to recognize, and that's one of them.

  • I love this.

  • I love this little move here.

  • JUSTIN: I was just going to ask what was going on with that?

  • That's so cool.

  • SID: There's a lot of environment interaction,

  • kicking guys into walls.

  • You know, if you're clever, you can kind of drop pots on their

  • heads and things like that.

  • Lush natural environment for ya.

  • JUSTIN: The environment work here is just stunning.

  • KRISTEN: Stunning.

  • SID: Really, really pretty game.

  • KRISTEN: Even from it going from cut scenes back to combat back

  • to the gameplay, it's seamless, honestly.

  • JUSTIN: Are the cut scenes are rendered,

  • like, with the -- kind of in-engine,

  • or do they do the pre-rendered stuff like in previous games?

  • SID: No. This game has that whole philosophy around

  • no camera cuts.

  • It's one cut from beginning to end,

  • so you just go right through the entire game.

  • It doesn't breakaway to say, like,

  • check out what's going on over here.

  • You're just with Kratos and Atreus for the entire

  • experience.

  • It's very intimate.

  • That was something that they actually settled on

  • early in development.

  • KRISTEN: Tell us more.

  • SID: So that's a fresh new look at God of War.

  • It's coming out April 20th on PS4.

  • What did you guys think, real quick?

  • JUSTIN: Oh, man.

  • It looks incredible. I can't wait.

  • KRISTEN: I'm just constantly blown away by it.

  • SID: So we do have actually a lot more coming,

  • so stay with us, but we've got a lot more.

  • [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]

SID: And I'll say something.

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