God of War: Chains of Olympus - Gameplay

Gameplay

The gameplay of God of War: Chains of Olympus resembles the previous installments. It is a third-person single player video game viewed from a fixed camera perspective. The player controls the character Kratos in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle game elements. Kratos is guided through various environments while fighting enemies, who come mostly from Greek mythology, such as Gorgons. Some enemies were created specifically for the game, such as the beasts and shades of Morpheus. Platforming elements require the player to climb walls, jump across chasms, swing on ropes, and balance across beams to proceed through sections of the game. Some puzzles are simple, such as moving a box so that the player can use it as a jumping-off point to access a pathway unreachable with normal jumping, but others are more complex, such as finding several items across different areas of the game to unlock one door.

Kratos's main weapon is the Blades of Chaos: a pair of blades attached to chains that are wrapped around Kratos's wrists and can be swung around to attack enemies. As the game progresses, Kratos acquires new weapons—the Sun Shield and Gauntlet of Zeus—offering alternative combat options. Kratos also uses magical abilities, including the Efreet, the Light of Dawn, and Charon's Wrath, giving him a variety of ways to attack and kill enemies. He acquires the relic Triton's Lance—similar to Poseidon's Trident in God of War— which allows him to breathe underwater; a necessary ability as parts of the game require long periods of time there.

The player finds chests containing orbs colored green, blue, or red. Green orbs replenish the player's health, blue orbs replenish magic allowing further usage, and red orbs provide experience for upgrading weapons and magic—making new and more powerful attacks available. The player also collects red orbs by killing foes and destroying certain inanimate objects. As in the previous games, the player can also find Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers in plain, neutrally colored chests. The Eyes and Feathers incrementally increase the length of the health and magic meters, respectively, and the player must find a total of fifteen Eyes or Feathers to maximize the length of each meter, thus maximizing the player's power.

In combat, a quick time event (QTE) feature, also called context sensitive attacks, is initiated when the player has weakened a strong foe. The player performs a sequence of actions on the game controller shortly after an image of its circle button appears as an on-screen prompt. This allows for limited control of Kratos during a QTE cinematic sequence, which, if successful, ends the battle; failure usually results in damage to the protagonist. Similar in function is the quick-time sex mini-game—returning from previous installments—in the form of an encounter with two women. The Challenge mode, which requires players to complete a series of specific tasks (e.g. Burn 50 soldiers with the Efreet), also returns—renamed the Challenge of Hades (five trials)—and is unlocked by completing the game. The player may unlock bonus costumes for Kratos, behind-the-scenes videos, and art galleries from the game's development as rewards. Completion of each difficulty level unlocks additional rewards.