God of War: Ragnarok drops story trailer and Atreus is keeping something from daddy Kratos

God of War is one of those massively popular gaming franchises where a simple trailer is enough to send fans wild — even if it's just a teaser or better yet, a gameplay trailer.

This time, though, Santa Monica Studio (developer of God of War) is giving us the best of both worlds — gameplay and more context to the story — for its upcoming title God of War: Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is the long-awaited sequel to God of War (2018) and serves as the finale of the Norse saga of the franchise. According to the reveal trailer last year, our protagonists Kratos and his son Atreus are on a mission to find Tyr, the Norse god of war who they believe can help them against Odin.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-mvjORR14&ab_channel=IGN[/embed]

The story trailer that was released on PlayStation's State of Play today (Sept 14) continues down that vein as we see Kratos and Atreus attacked by Valkyries in the name of the "All Father" (another name that Odin goes by) along with some clips of them travelling with Tyr.

However, it also sheds some light on the personal story between Kratos and Atreus, a key relationship that made God of War such a strong narrative-driven game despite its hack-and-slash elements.

At the end of God of War, it was revealed that Kratos' wife (and Atreus' mother) is Laufey, a frost giant from Jotunheim. She hid her origins from her family but post-death, sent them on a journey to discover her heritage along with a major twist — Atreus is also known as Loki to the frost giants.

The new trailer indicates that Atreus is hiding something from his father and he is poised to take on more of a leading role in this instalment.

During an exchange between them, Kratos asks Atreus to spill the beans but he says he "can't talk about it" and asks his father to trust him.

Kratos' identity is also called into question as the Valkyries refer to him as a "pretender god" while an unidentified voice seemingly asks Kratos what he knows about godhood.

The voice says: "In your lifetimes, has anyone ever worshipped you? Ever prayed to you? Can you even imagine that kind of love? No! You don't care about anything beyond yourself, beyond the monster who kills without cause."

Fortunately, the trailer still keeps most of the story under wraps while doing a great job at teasing the conflict and tension. Unfortunately, we still have a little under two months before the game is released.

Also announced during the State of Play is the limited edition God of War: Ragnarok DualSense wireless controller.

Its two-tone, cool-blue-on-icy-white design was inspired by the Norse world of Midgard and is further embellished with a bear and wolf insignia — representing Kratos and Atreus.

God of War: Ragnarok and the limited edition DualSense wireless controller will be available Nov 9. Preorders for the controller start Sept 27. 

bryanlim@asiaone.com