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God of War is getting a New Game+ mode, Sony Santa Monica Studio announced via tweet during the publisher’s E3 press conference on Monday.
The mode will come to the game via an update “at a later date,” and will be completely free, the account added. Thanks to a PlayStation official blog post, we know that Kratos and Atreus will restart the game with “many” of the upgrades earned from the previous title, including armor, pommels and talismans.
It’s with our greatest pleasure to create this in honor of you – our fans: New Game+, available via a patch at a later date#GodofWar #PlayStationE3 pic.twitter.com/z9v7FowCeU
— Santa Monica Studio #GodofWar (@SonySantaMonica) June 12, 2018
But New Game+ will also increase the game’s difficulty. From the blog post: “And yes, when I mentioned it won’t be just a sunny stroll pulverizing Draugr’s and Nightmares like your weapons are on auto-pilot, the difficulty will be harder.”
Released in late March, God of War rebooted the franchise to critical acclaim — we scored the game a 10 and ensconced it in Polygon’s best games of 2018 list. The reimagined game pairs an evolved version of series stalwart protagonist Kratos with his son, Atreus, in a third-person action game.
Considering the title already has a large amount of post-game content (have you tried fighting those tricky Valkyries yet?), this will likely keep people playing well through the year.
Update: The God of War New Game+ mode will be available on Aug. 20, 2018, according to the PlayStation Blog. There will be new customization options for armor and enchantments, as well as a brand new rarity level of equipment. Additionally, you will be able to skip through cinematics once the full game has been completed.