God of War Ragnarok’s story trailer teases a hellish trip ahead for Kratos and Atreus

The emotionally constipated bad dad roadtrip simulator is nigh at hand

Today’s just been a day of pleasant, video game flavored surprises. To cap off a neat but ho-hum State of Play, Sony dropped the story trailer for God Of War Ragnarok.

Ragnarok sees the return of Kratos and Atreus as the two seemingly fend off (or, perhaps initiate) the arrival of Ragnarok — the end of the world in Norse mythology. Along the way, it seems like the father-son odd couple make new friends and enemies as they beat the shit out of every living creature in their path.

The trailer talks of fate, and features Kratos imparting his hard learned lessons about what it means to defy the fate destiny has laid out at their feet. And Atreus, just like his father, seems to have secrets of his own that will require him to build an even deeper bond of trust with his famously gruff and murderous dad. God of War’s story was an unexpected delight from a franchise that was far more known for its boobs and blood than it was its pathos, and Ragnarok looks like a worthy successor to that history.

We also got a bit of gameplay from the story trailer, perhaps to accompany the new Ragnarok-themed controller that was revealed. Kratos has accepted his Blades of Chaos from the first game and made them apart of his regular arsenal in addition to his Leviathan Axe. The trailer showed him ripping up enemies with the fiery blades and using them to whip across the landscape, as he’s done in the previous God of War saga. Hopefully platforming and puzzle solving will be a larger part of this game than it was the previous one.

The story trailer also gave a glimpse to the kinds of new worlds we’ll get to traverse and the new enemies we’ll face as Thor arrives seeking to... nope, never mind, I’m not gonna spoil it. You’ve got plenty of time before Ragnarok ends the world on November 9th to play the first game and learn for yourself.