God of War Ragnarok gets a PS2-style makeover

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Blocky Kratos looks weirdly endearing

God of War Ragnarok
(Image credit: Speclizer via YouTube)

God of War Ragnarok has received a PS2-style makeover in a new video, and it's oddly charming.

Be warned: there are light spoilers for God of War Ragnarok's opening hours here!

All credit goes to Speclizer, famed among the God of War and The Last of Us communities for intriguing in-game discoveries. This time, though, the modder has turned their attention towards retro-fying Kratos and Atreus's new adventure in the Nine Realms.

To accomplish this makeover, Speclizer has basically gone to town downgrading all the character models in God of War Ragnarok. Kratos and Thor now look like they've been roughly cut out of stone, and Atreus has got half his body missing in the opening section, for some reason.

It's not just Atreus that has half his body missing, either. When Freya turns up to fight the duo near the beginning of Ragnarok, the former Valkyrie Queen is also missing the vast majority of her body. Hey, rather than a catastrophic bug caused by this downgrade, maybe this is actually an intricate throwback to when games were constructed within slightly tighter technical confines. 

The environments have also been deconstructed around the main characters. Speclizer has made it so the various pots and pans in Kratos and Atreus's home now look endearingly blocky, and the surrounding Midgard area is peppered with jagged bits of snow.

If you've been following God of War Ragnarok for a while, you might remember a modder got its unreleased photo mode working. That modder was in fact Speclizer, who revealed that the unfinished mode was very similar to the one 2018's God of War eventually received. We'll be waiting a while yet to see the final result from developer Sony Santa Monica, though.

Check out our God of War Ragnarok Nornir chests guide for all the info you need on where to track down and unlock every vault.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.