New God of War Ragnarok footage shows off dwarven cities and puzzles in Svartalfheim

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Check out one of the nine realms we'll explore in Ragnarok

God of War Ragnarok
(Image credit: Sony)

A new snippet of God of War Ragnarok footage walks us through the dwarven realm of Svartalfheim and introduces some new environmental puzzles. 

Game Informer shared the brief walkthrough earlier today. Svartalfheim is one of the nine realms that Kratos and Atreus will explore in the upcoming sequel, and it's dramatically different from the realms we explored in the original game. It looks like a cozy, industrial, and appropriately dwarf-sized city at first blush, and it's every bit as detailed as you'd expect a first-party, new-gen big-wig to be. 

This video shows off some of the puzzle mechanics in Svartalfheim and how Kratos can use his new abilities to engage with them. The geysers around the realm can be frozen with the Leviathan Axe to form a makeshift platform, for instance, while Kratos' Chaos Blades can dismantle some dwarven machinery (which is curiously marked by red elements that read like color-coding). 

"We wanted to evolve the gameplay in the level spaces – more variety and verticality," lead level designer James Riding told Game Informer. "In Svartalfheim, you’ve got a lot of places that you go to all within one realm. It’s so much content."

The original God of War (the 2018 reboot, that is) focused on six of the nine realms of Norse mythology: Midgard, Alfheim, Helheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Niflheim. We'll visit revamped versions of these realms in Ragnarok, and we'll also finally get access to Svartalfheim alongside Vanaheim and Asgard. If all these syllables are going over your head, check out this official God of War story recap for the short version. 

Recent God of War Ragnarok reveals have also introduced new weapon abilities for Kratos and a whole suite of elemental moves which shake up combat. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.