Chapter Six: Atlas

Begin by walking to the left from your start point to find a save spot. From there, walk back to the eyes of Atlas and climb up the handholds there. You’ll have some lengthy jumps to make; if you double-jump, then hold down the X button, you’ll sprout your wings and will be able to glide across the gaps. Keep flying around until you reach a small cave that’ll take you into Atlas’ blood and guts.

These jumps are now accomplishable thanks to your wings.

More of the demonoids will attack you here, and they’ll be matched up with fire imps. Attempting to throw the wolves will let you kill them, but each of them can take six or seven throws before you finally are able to finish them off. Doing so will net you a 25-orb bonus, though.

When you’re done with the enemies, slash at the growth on the wall to free up a pushable section of bone. Drag it into the room you just fought in and push it up against the left wall to find a small alcove with a Phoenix Feather on it. Jump up, grab it, then move the bone back through the hole. You’ll need to pull it backwards, with Kratos going through the hole first, in order to position it into place so that you can jump onto it and move on through the tunnel near the health chest.

Stone Golem

Now, one of the more difficult fights you’ll have experienced lately is coming up. There’s a stone golem on the ground before you, but this one is actually capable of movement, so you can’t simply expect it to sit still. When it activates, though, you can still use your old attack plan: wait for it to perform its spinning attack, dash out of the way, then jump back towards it with a couple of aerial Cyclones of Chaos for quick damage. You can expect to get bashed around a lot more than you would in a normal golem fight, for sure, so feel free to let loose with magical attacks to weaken the animal.

The golem is built Ford Tough, so expect a challenge beating him down.

After you deal enough damage to the golem, it will release a lot of orbs your way, then smash the platform here, which will quickly sink. You have to jump onto the handholds on the wall before you die from lava damage, so grab on and wait. The golem is immune to the lava damage, so it will start picking up rocks and throwing them at you. Wait until just before it releases, then hit X to jump to the left or right to avoid the damage from the rocks. After a dozen or so attacks, the platform will re-raise, allowing you to finish off the beast with more normal attacks.

When the golem dies, it’ll leave behind a chunk of itself. Push it to the end of the platform and use it as a springboard to reach the upper ledge nearby. Although difficult to see, you can jump from the edge of the ledge to the left to reach a small platform with a Phoenix Feather on it. From there, jump across the platforms until you see Atlas’ hands in the distance. There’s a save point near the green chest to your left.

Inside The Mighty Titan

Slash at the growths on the wall near the save point to free a rock, which will float into the lava. Jump onto it when it stops, then smash the growth blocking its path. When the rock is about to float off the waterfall, double jump, grab the grappling point, then double-jump and glide to the cave nearby. You need to smash the rock here to open up an air vent. Double-jumping while standing on the vent will cause you to float up and be able to glide over to the next cave.

You can find a hidden entrance in the ceiling here that will lead you to an Urn.

Inside the cave, a number of imp-producing holes in the wall are scattered around. You only get orbs for the first few imps that you kill, so play whack-a-mole until the orbs stop coming, then start smashing the holes with your weapons. When everything’s dead, climb up to the handholds and climb across the room to the mana and health chests. You can double jump and glide from there to another set of handholds nearby. Smash the stalagtite in your way to move on, then jump to another balcony overlooking the exterior area here.

When you see Atlas’ face in the distance, find another set of handholds and start crawling along outside. Smash every stalagtite you see, even the ones that aren’t in your way; one of them conceals a hidden entrance leading up to the Urn of Prometheus. Retrieve it, smash the stalagtites in your path, then climb up and drop down on the weighted platform inside the small room. That’ll lead you to some handholds that pass back over the room containing the last save point. Smash the pillars that drop from the ceiling, and they’ll open up a lava vent below you. Crawl back around the handholds until you can drop down to the ground here, then jump across the vent to reach the balcony beyond it.

Waving Platforms

Jump from the balcony to the first platform, then from there down to the platform with a lever on it. When you touch the lever, a very annoying fight will begin. You’ll be accosted by fireimps that can grab onto you and firebomb you, as well as some of the heavy soldiers that you’ve been seeing lately.

The fireimps should be grabbed whenever they’re nearby, as that’s an instant kill for them. If you can’t reach them, then jump up and grab them before finishing them off. They’re really annoying here, and will make it difficult to see what you’re doing as you run around, so try to kill them before attacking the soldiers, if possible. The soldiers will attack as you run around after the imps, but they can be knocked out by using the Spear of Destiny. Use the Piercing Shards attack (L1 + Triangle) on them, and they’ll instantly be knocked down, even if they’re guarding. While they struggle to get back up, start a triangle combo with the Spear; it’ll knock them into the air, stab them before they come down, then blast them as they land. Eventually you’ll get O-prompts for them, allowing you to finish them off.

Without any health pickups here, this fight can be quite difficult. Do your best and don’t hesitate to use magic or Rage to help you out. When the coast is clear, rotate the lever to raise up the platform and get yourself in position for the next few jumps. The platforms here sway, so try to wait until both of them are almost in the middle of their arcs before jumping.

Ascension of Atlas

Push these rocks just so in order to move on.

Save your game and start climbing up the handholds. At the top, you’ll need to hit R1 twice; once to drop off the handhold, and once to grab onto the grappling point. Swing around until you reach another handhold, then double-jump backwards from it onto the platform above. You’ll come to a pair of bricks. You need to position one of the bricks on top of the other. Push one of them up the ramp here, and position the other one nearby it on the ground. If you position them right, you can push the one at the top of the ramp onto the one below it, then push the lower one up to the ledge nearby. That will let you push the upper brick towards the ledge nearby and double-jump up to it. Before using the handholds beyond the green chest, jump to the handholds leading to the red orb chest and nab those.

The handholds above the green chest are going to be annoying. Large boulders will fall on your head as you climb. You can avoid them by jumping from side to side, but you’ll either have to proceed very slowly or just accept that you’re going to get knocked in the head once or twice, especially near the top of the two climbing sections. In between the two sections is a large channel that you have to descend; just hold the R1 button to glide down, and quickly move to the left to avoid the boulders that fall onto you.

When you reach the top of the hand, smash the chains that bind Atlas, then struggle out of his grip to start a lengthy cutscene. After receiving the Atlas Quake magic, start mashing on the L2 button to destroy the soldiers that come your way, and Atlas will return you to the world above.