God Of War Ragnarök Mod Takes Kratos Back To The PS2

An interesting new God of War Ragnarok mod downgrades the game’s impressive graphics to the level of the original God of War titles on the PlayStation 2 – with bizarre and uneven results. The latest and final chapter of Kratos and Atreus’s epic journey across the Nine Realms of Nordic mythology finally launched earlier this month, wowing players and critics alike with its stunning visuals and emotionally engaging story.

With God of War Ragnarok earning such acclaim for its impressive PS5-rendered graphics, it can be easy to forget how Kratos got his humble beginnings in the first two God of War games on the PlayStation 2. A talented modder by the handle of Speclizer posted a fun and somewhat creepy reminder of these early days to YouTube (via GamesRadar), showing off a mod of what God of War Ragnarok might have looked like had it been released on the PS2. To accomplish this effect, Speclizer painstakingly downgraded all of Ragnarok’s photo-realistic character models and game worlds – resulting in a more polygon-challenged look during several of the game’s opening cutscenes. As this mod video depicts several early moments of Ragnarok’s long and sweeping storyline, viewers should be wary of minor spoilers while checking out Speclizer’s work below.

God Of War Ragnarok Looks Decidedly Less Epic On The PS2

Sure enough, characters like Kratos, Thor, and God of War Ragnarok’s villainous version of Odin all look like they belong in an early PlayStation 2 title thanks to Speclizer’s work. However, the downgrade isn’t without its downsides and technical glitches. During many of the cutscenes shown in this montage, Atreus and the vengeful Freya have their torsos missing, reducing them to floating heads and arms that undercut the drama unfolding onscreen. Additionally, Kratos and Thor display some rather strange and underdeveloped facial expressions – something that Speclizer makes fun of during the video. Many viewers have pointed out that the original God of War games on the PS2 actually looked better than this with regard to textures, even as the downgraded God of War Ragnarok clips still retain the newer game’s improved character animations and lighting.

This isn’t the first time that God of War Ragnarok has been made to look like it was rendered on older PlayStation hardware. A fan previously released a hilarious PS1 demake trailer for God of War Ragnarok that reduced Kratos and Atreus to blocky shapes that would have been right at home in the mid-90s. As for Speclizer, they have produced several other interesting mods for Ragnarok in the short time since its highly-anticipated release. These include one that removes Kratos’ beard in God of War Ragnarok to unsettling effect and another that introduces a Photo Mode similar to the one in the previous God of War title on the PlayStation 4.

Seeing previously photo-realistic characters like Kratos and Thor rendered in a rougher, blockier fashion is certainly a strange experience, as is witnessing Atreus and Freya wander around without their torsos. Still, there’s something oddly charming about Speclizer’s latest God of War Ragnarok mod, which reimagines what Kratos’ newest journey would have looked like had it been released 20 or so years earlier.