Chapter 01: Mount Olympus

Gaia

Fight the minions and learn how to use your magic attack early on in the game.

The opening part of the game teaches you the fundamental controls that you will rely upon throughout the whole game: square is light attack, triangle is heavy attack, circle to grab enemies, L1 to block, etc. It’s the variations on these controls that makes the game more involved later, such as holding down Triangle will launch enemies in the air, allowing you to smash Square to hit the enemy and keep them momentarily airborne. Another being wiggling the Left Analog stick back and forth to break free of enemies when surrounded. But right now, all you have to do is fight off a bunch of minions using a variety of basic attacks until the short cut-scene with Poseidon starts.

After that you’ll still be on Gaia’s back fighting more minions. You’ll learn how to use your magic (R2) that right now is a lightning wind tornado. It does pretty good damage, but it also drains your magic (you’ll want to hang onto your magic for the upcoming boss battle). Run over to the nearby fallen tree (notice the white shining dot indicating this is an interactive surface), interact with it by pressing R1, and then rapidly press Circle to lift the tree out of the way allowing you to continue up the path where you’ll learn to dodge enemy attacks by pressing the Right Analog stick in the direction you want to roll. After you get a little further up the path you’ll encounter the first instance of Posidian’s Hippocamp.

Hippocamp, First Encounter

Watch out for Hippocamp’s water breathing attack. When it’s not attacking, be sure you attack it.

In this form, the Hippocamp has only one really powerful attack when it sprays a stream of water at you. This is indicated when you see the beast rear it’s head back with it’s mouth open. It’s best you try and stay on the right side of this small area, and when you see the head rear back, quickly dodge over to the left to avoid being damaged by this attack. After dodging the attack, quickly get in a couple of hits before it begins to rear it’s head back. Dodge this attack and the counter until the battle changes position and you’ll hanging from Gaia’s hand.

Even if you’re hanging from the ceiling you’re still the God of War and can still dish out significant damage.

Quickly move close to the “heart” of the Hippocamp (the rocky sphere shaped object) by pressing X and pressing the Left Analog stick towards the rocky sphere. Square and Triangle are still your attack buttons to inflict damage on the Hippocamp. Watch out for it’s attack where it stabs at you with it’s crab legs — you should always be on the move if you’re not attacking, and when you do attack, limit it to no more than five to nine hits or else you’ll be damaged (you can tell when the crab legs will attack when you see the Hippocamp rear it’s head back). As long as you stay on the move these crab legs will have trouble hitting you.

Fight along the wall and dodge Hippocamp’s attacks while inflicting damage on it’s head.

This next form will have you hanging from a wall while attacking. Your same attack buttons work here, but you want to stay near the top towards the Hippocamp’s head to inflict damage. And just light the other forms, you can spot the Hippocamp’s attacks when you see it rear it’s head back. When this happens, dodge to the side away from your current position. Continue attacking until the battle changes again to the Hippocamp’s final location.

Damage it enough until you’re thrust into a QTE.

Now the Hippocamp will be relentless in it’s attacks and this is when it’s best to move in close and use your magic to inflict heavy damage — it’s best if you try and couple the magic after hitting the Hippocamp a couple of times with Kratos’ blades. A good attack here is to hold down Triangle so Kratos is lifted high into the air and you can inflict damage on the Hippocamp’s face. Continue to damage the Hippocamp until you see the large Circle appear over it’s head. Quickly run over to it, press Circle, and become engaged with this quick time event (QTE). Follow the on-screen button presses to defeat the Hippocamp…for now.

Mount Olympus

Grip Jump along the roots to make your way up to the next location.

Shimmy over to the right along the roots of the rocky wall and then pull yourself up to the top. Interact with the Red Chest to obtain some Red Orbs (Green are for health, Blue are for magic, and Red is for Experience). Continue forward along this rocky pathway until you have to traverse along the ledge to get to the next walkway to fight more minions and archers. Use your basic attacks to eliminate these enemies and continue up the ladder in front of you.

Learn about the Chain of Balance or just swing along to the next area.

Climb up to the next walkway to attack more minions (continue using the same attacks that you have been). Interact with the Green Chest below the grapple ledge to regain some health. Double jump to the ledge above and then interact with the plaque to read about the Chain of Balance.

Shimmy along the ledge to make your way to the next area. Try not to get distracted by what is going on in the background.

Fight more minions once you have successfully swung over to the next area and then climb the ladder up to the roots along the wall, and then start to shimmy over to the left along the ledge. Do some gap jumps (Left Analog in the direction you want to jump and then press X to cross these gaps). At the end of the ledge you’ll have to perform a Ledge Pull-Up — while hanging from the ledge, press X to pull yourself up and then jump up to grab hold of the roots so you can climb up even further. Once you climb up to the lop ledge you’ll see your old friend, the Hippocamp is back to attacking Gaia — don’t worry about that now.

Drop below the gap to pick up some Red Orbs and then glide across towards the Tomb of Ares.

Run forward and drop down in the gap that was just created in the walkway to find a Red Orb Chest. Climb your way back up to the walkway and then successfully perform an Icarus Glide (hold X after double-jump to glide). Interact with the Green and the Blue Chests to pick up some more orbs. Walk forward and interact with the doorway to enter the Tomb of Ares.

Tomb of Ares

Fight the centaur to learn more battle techniques, such as parry.

As soon as you enter the temple you will be attacked by a centaur. Be ready to execute a half-circle on your Right Analog stick to deflect his attack. You can also use the Golden Fleece counter-attack (L1 at the moment of impact) to turn fights into your favor. In addition to the centaur you’ll have other minions to fight. Once these enemies have been defeated you’ll have a little bit of a puzzle to complete (you can also interact with the plaque to see the remains of Areas, the former God of War).

Pull the lever located on the far left side of the room to have the platform move over to the far right side of the room.

In the far left corner of the room is a lever. Pull this lever to bring a platform across to the right side of the room. Quickly run over to the ledge where the platform currently resides, climb the ladder, and stand on the platform to be taken over to the upper ledge on the far left side of the room. Nearby is a Red Orb Chest and a Save Point so you can save your game (recommended).

Run over to the gate, lift it, and then attack the Hippocamp…again.

Run down the hallway until you reach the gate. Interact with it and rapidly press Circle to lift the gate allowing you to go back outside. Get ready to rapidly press Circle again so you’re not instantly killed and prepare to fight the Hippocamp again.

Hippocamp, Second Encounter

Dodge the Hippocamp’s walking attacking by dodging left and right.

Once the little action scene has finished you’ll be facing the Hippocamp again. It’s new attack is a slow walk that pushes you towards the screen. It always starts this walk with the right claws so dodge right, then left, then center yourself so it seems like you’re pinned between the claws. This is a good time for you to use your magic attack, damaging it’s claws sending it reeling backwards into a semi-stunned state.

Be sure to roll backwards when you see the Hippocamp come crashing down.

The other attack you need to look out for is the massive pounce attack, triggered after you see the Hippocamp stand really tall. You want to roll back and towards the screen just before it comes crashing down to avoid taking too much damage. Continue attacking the Hippocamp with your blades until the floating circle appears over it’s head, triggering a short QTE. Completing this QTE will severely damage the Hippocamp leaving it open for one last major attack.

Damage the Hippocamp enough until you open up it’s “heart,” then toss the claw into it.

Notice that part of the Hippocamp’s leg is off to the left of this small area (this will come into play later). Continue attacking the massive beast with the same pattern of attacks as before until it falls into a weakened state and a circle appears over it’s head. Quickly run over to the left side of the screen to grab the claw and then watch as Kratos throws it into the “heart” of the Hippocamp.

Climb up and then drop into Gaia’s chest.

Now that the Hippocamp has retreated, there is a large gaping hole in Gaia’s chest. Climb up and then drop down into the hole and navigate through this champer (and learning how to slide down climbing surfaces quickly by holding down R1) until you arrive at the center of Gaia’s heart.

Heart of Gaia

Move the stone piece over to the left side of the room and then climb the roots to work your way out of Gaia.

This is a pretty short area in that all you really have to do is complete a simple push block puzzle in order to climb out of Gaia’s innerds. On the right side of the room, indicated by a shiney white dot is a moveable rock. Pull this rock out of the wall, pivot it around, and push it into the gap on the left side of the room. Now that you have joined the set of roots together, climb the roots and then swing over to the far ledge.

Swing over and then learn how to turn a minion into a battering ram.

Once here you’ll learn a combat technique called Battering Ram that can be done by pressing Circle to grab an enemy and then press Square to use that enemy as a battering ram. Continue to move through this area, swinging onto another set of roots, and then climbing more roots and attacking enemies as you make your way out of Gaia to face Poseidon.

Poseidon

The God of the Sea versus the God of War.

Here he is, god of the sea. After fighting off his Hippocamps for most of this opening level, it’s finally time to attack the man himself.

Concentrate all of your attacks on the claws to the left and right of Kratos.

Your primary focus early on will be to attack the Hippocamp legs on the left and right side of this area; decide either left or right first, don’t deviate between the two of them. You shouldn’t have to use your magic here, in fact it’s better to save it for the second form of Poseidon. If anything, you could use magic to limit the amount of damage Poseidon’s lightning attack (you know it’s coming when you see electricity on the ground) or when a set of Hippocamp legs slams to the ground (you can see it coming in the distance). Once both sets of legs have been removed from Gaia, Poseidon will be pinned up against a rocky wall.

Move in close and slice up Poseidon. Use your magic to weaken him even more — just be sure to watch out for that trident.

As soon as he is pinned up against the wall, quickly run over, and start attacking his chest with a combination of your blade attacks and your magic until your magic is depleted. Continue attacking his chest until you’re forced from the area by one of his trident attacks. His trident attacks focus on your last position on the ground so before the trident comes crashing down, dodge to the side to avoid it’s attack. You can tell he’s going to do the one massive trident attack when he leans back, while the other trident attack is a little trickier to dodge since it smashes into the ground three times in three different areas (all determined by your location on the ground before the trident strikes). But sure to use dodge a lot here to avoid these attacks. In between these trident attacks are when you should be getting up close and damaging him until you see the circle appear over his head.

Once he has become weak the circle will appear over his head. Complete that QTE and get back to attacking his crab legs, again.

Climb up along the roots located to the right until you are standing directly over Poseidon’s head. Press the Circle button to be thrust into a QTE event that will then position you back to the starting location of the battle. Again, use the same strategies here to to weaken both sets of the Hippocamp’s crab legs in order for Poseidon’s grip to loosen on Gaia.

Complete a final set of QTE’s and finish Poseidon off for good.

Now that Poseidon has lost his grip on Gaia you’ll have to swing a couple of times (R1) before you’re thrust into a final QTE event with Poseidon. After this cinematic scene Poseidon will be too weak to fight you any longer, and as such a floating circle appears over his head. Press the Circle button to begin Poseidon’s final moments. After the short cut-scene, run over to the nearby Save Point and save your game, then jump on Gaia’s hand to watch the next cut-scene.