GAME37183 Game Economies Stewart Wyatt

Weapon Upgrade Systems Research

For this research I decided to study the weapon upgrade systems from God of War: Ragnarök (Santa
Monica Studios, 2022) and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games, 2021). While both of these
games differ from Darktide, I intended to find upgrade systems that focused on the weapons themselves,
rather than the character improving.

In God of War: Ragnarök, the player, taking the role of Kratos begins the game with two weapons: The
Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos. These weapons have a different feel and different speeds, the
axe can chill and freeze enemies
while the blades can burn and
explode enemies. Later on, you get
The Draupnir spear that can
detonate and acts as a longer-range
option for your weapons, required to
hit flying and otherwise inaccessible
enemies. Each of these weapons is
separated into its own upgrade page
where upgrades can be purchased
using XP gained by completing
objectives in the world and defeating
enemies. These skills are split into
three categories: Technique, Ranged,
and Melee. Each category has lower- Figure 1. Draupnir Spear Upgrade page
costed skills at the top section and
skills get more expensive in XP costs as they move down. In Figure 1 the lines between certain skills
indicate that the higher skill must be taken before the one at the other end of the line. To buy all the
upgrades for the Leviathan Axe is 31,000 XP (Technique: 13,500, Melee:11,750, Ranged: 5,750), for
Chaos Blades is 32,500 XP (Technique: 14,000, Melee: 11,250, Ranged: 7,250 ) and for the Draupnir
Spear is 49,500 XP (Technique: 21,500, Melee: 20,500 Ranged: 7,500) (according to
https://www.ign.com/wikis/god-of-war-ragnarok/Skills). Each of these weapons works as both the
solution to environmental puzzles within the gameplay alongside their combat use, and upgrades range
from new ways to use the weapon (such an upgrade that when you stab an enemy with a spear you can
leave a spear inside the enemy to detonate later with the hold of a button.) to doing bonus damage if an
enemy is under a certain condition (The Leviathan Axe gains bonus damage to enemies with the Burning
condition for example). I assume that the design goals of these upgrades were to be a smooth raising of
power that could come through the XP gained by story missions, with only one or two skills missing from
each page if the player chooses not to engage with the side content that could grant them higher levels
of XP.
In my experience with the game, there is a gradual increase of power throughout the game, but I believe
that it plateaus before the point where Kratos receives the Draupnir Spear. From that point, there was
not much difficulty in the main quests that could not be brute forced. However the side content,
especially those that require combat, can become quite challenging and require these upgrades to
stagger certain enemies. I think this system is about as standard as they come for an action RPG. It is

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GAME37183 Game Economies Stewart Wyatt

designed to give the player a feeling of progression and rising power throughout the game. There isn’t
much in regards to customization or choice which makes it a bad fit for something like Darktide where
it’s aimed at those who want to pull out every small advantage to optimize their builds.

For Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart the player takes on the roles of Ratchet, a Lombax who believes himself
alone in the universe and Rivet, another Lombax who lives in an alternate dimension. Each has a robot
(Kit in the case of Ratchet, and Clank for Rivet) that belongs to the other, and much of the game is spent
shifting between dimensions to try and catch one another so that the two Lombax can trade their robots
back and stop the plans of the two Dr. Nefarious that plan to conquer every dimension.

In aid of this, both Lombax find or purchase several guns across different planets. From the minigun-
esque Blackhole Storm to the homing buzz saw gun known as Buzz Blades. Each of these weapons has a
separate upgrade screen configured in a grid (See Figure 2). Each hex in the grid has a symbol in it, and
the symbols relate to one of the
stats in the bottom right side of the
upgrade screen. In order to upgrade
a gun, the player must be at a store
and have upgrade materials in the
form of Raritanium which can be
obtained by finding pieces of it in
the world, often by exploring hidden
places.
The upgrades range from typical
damage upgrades and rate of fire
upgrades to special upgrades such
as a damage increase when the
weapon is over 50% heat or making
the area where the projectiles home
in on enemies wider. Each weapon
comes with a certain group of hexes
Figure 2. Blackhole Storm Upgrade page already filled in, and so long as one
of the hexes that you’re trying to upgrade is touching a filled-in hex, you can purchase it. Additionally, if
you find the weapon’s special “Gold Cells” you can purchase these hexes to “level up” your weapon and
gain access to a wider hex grid and thus more upgrades as a whole.

The design goals of this system seem to be about giving the player the choice of what weapons they like
best and letting them spend their resources as they like. A player who likes the bomb-barreled Bouncer
and the cryogenic Cold Snap can have those weapons equipped throughout the game and use only those
since there aren’t things like damage resistances to certain types of damage. This gives the player a
higher level of customization over their playthrough and allows them to tailor their playstyle to the
things they enjoy the most. While some weapons in the game are better at dealing with certain enemies
than others, every weapon is capable of dealing damage and doing the job that’s required of it, meaning
that you will struggle with some parts of the game if you stick with the same weapons at all times other
areas will be easier thanks to your choices.

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If I were to examine how this system works alongside something like Darktide it comes closer to what my
design goals are with my intended system. It increases customization and player choice, but given that
the variety of weapons in Darktide is not as wide as those in Ratchet and Clank I don’t think that it
sustains itself as well. A hex grid with symbols also would be difficult to implement because the different
stats in Darktide aren’t associated with symbols. However it does have a solid basis for what I am trying
to do.