PLEASE NOTE: This article contains MAJOR Spoilers for God of War Ragnarok. Proceed at your own risk.The previous God of War game before God of War Ragnarok had a uniquely intimate atmosphere. The game revolved around Kratos and Atreus exclusively until Mimir became an NPC attached to Kratos’ waist, and even after that point in the narrative, the three companions are left to their lonesome between visits to a shop set up by Brok or Sindri. God of War Ragnarok dispels this formula completely, where players are only left by themselves a handful of times throughout its 20–30 hour narrative. This is due to prolific companion NPCs in God of War Ragnarok.
The biggest gripe about these characters thus far is that God of War Ragnarok’s NPC companions backseat the player constantly. Besides this drawback, companions are great to have around for players to learn more about Norse lore related to characters present or the realms they are exploring together. Atreus’ time spent in Asgard is particularly interesting for this reason, through which players are able to learn more about the Asgardians present. Unfortunately, one NPC companion opportunity with Thor is sorely missed, though the character does appear alongside Atreus in gameplay.
God of War Ragnarok’s NPC Companions Bear the Weight of Its Narrative
Atreus’ first NPC companion is Sindri when players revisit Midgard. At this point, it is made clear that even though Kratos and Atreus will be separated throughout the game, Atreus too will have a companion who may not have their own skill tree, but will have comparable command prompts and abilities to the ones that Atreus had when he was an NPC companion.
Sindri, for example, pulls random items out of his bottomless bag to frantically use in combat. But what is more interesting is how Sindri and Atreus interact with one another while Kratos is out of the picture. Moreover, Atreus experiences a moment of bonding with God of War Ragnarok’s Angrboda, another Giant who also becomes her own controllable NPC companion.
There is a long sequence exploring Jotunheim where the two characters get to know one another and learn about their potentially fated futures, and Angrboda’s paint magic is exceptionally engaging to cast at the player’s whim. In Asgard, however, the dynamic between Atreus and other characters is tense since Giants are known to be enemies of Asgard. Few Asgardians express this ideology and antagonize Atreus, though there are also characters who get to know Atreus better and agree with his plight. This offers a valuable perspective from Atreus’ time in God of War Ragnarok’s Asgard that players would not have had otherwise.
Players Should Have Thrown Mjolnir Themselves in God of War Ragnarok
Still, there is a disappointing turn of events when Odin tasks Atreus with finding Mask shards in different realms. It is exciting to learn that Thor will be accompanying Atreus, despite how unwilling Thor is to do so.
Because players may be accustomed to other characters becoming NPC companions that they can loosely play as, it may have been expected that Thor would become the NPC companion in this circumstance. That is unfortunately not the case, and it is instead the magical, autonomous sword Ingrid that becomes this companion. Ingrid has a minor role to play in the game’s narrative, but ultimately feels redundant in gameplay because Thor is there fighting alongside Atreus anyway, and some of those Mjolnir throws could have been mapped to the square button instead.
Likewise, another disappointment is that Thrud Thorsdottir accompanies Atreus to Helheim, but is not an interactive companion NPC and also takes a backseat to Ingrid. Nonetheless, it is great that Thor is there fighting alongside Atreus anyway in God of War Ragnarok, but a shame that his hammer throws were not the player’s to satisfyingly command.
God of War Ragnarok is available now for PS4 and PS5.