Combat in God of War Laufey is built around speed, control, and relentlessness. Santa Monica Studio describes it as intimate and brutal, and the team set out to combine the movement and fluidity of the series' Greek era with the Norse era's approach to world-building and close ties to characters.
Movement and Tempo
Faye moves easily between the ground and the air without halting the action, giving her combat a hyper-responsive feel. She can double jump, move rapidly through the air, and juggle enemies into lengthy combo strings, building and maintaining momentum from one attack to the next. Santa Monica Studio describes the result as building on the strengths of the modern God of War combat system while injecting classic Greek-era DNA, so that Laufey feels fresh yet familiar. The increased mobility is meant to add offensive and defensive options alike, with a heavy emphasis on aerial offense.
Tools
The official summary of the loop is wielding devastating abilities and powerful magic with lethal precision, in fluid, ferocious combat against mythical gods and creatures drawn from multiple mythologies. Faye is described as a warrior who went toe-to-toe with Thor and a match for the Ghost of Sparta, Kratos, and the studio's combat designers walked through her agility, her abilities and her legendary weapon as part of the reveal.
Her signature Golden Hand power tears the soul from a foe and leaves it suspended on a glowing tether, where she can strike it directly or knock it into other enemies before feeding it back into her combos. She wields a legendary sword, and the ribbon guardian Rue can pull enemies in toward her for finishing blows.
Fighting Together
Her companion Phranque joins the fight, smashing into enemies and helping extend combo chains. He can stomp the ground to pull enemy attention, and Faye can kick foes toward him to trigger team-up attacks. The reveal closed on a large-scale boss battle against a towering, demon-like foe.