Fun, touching, well-made, and with a wide cast of interesting support characters. However, challenging only if you want to look for it.

Wikipedia summary:

God of War (2018) is an action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The game is the eighth installment in the God of War series, the eighth chronologically, and the sequel to 2010’s God of War III. Unlike previous games, which were loosely based on Greek mythology, this installment is loosely inspired by Norse mythology, with the majority of it set in ancient Scandinavia in the realm of Midgard.

For the first time in the series, there are two protagonists: Kratos, the former Greek God of War who remains the only playable character, and his young son, Atreus. Following the death of Kratos’ second wife, Faye (Atreus’ mother), the two embark on a journey to fulfill her request that her ashes be spread at the highest peak of the nine realms.

Review

Setup

  • Version: PlayStation 5
  • Difficulty: Give Me a Balanced Experience
  • Total playing time: 36 hours (based on PS5 save stats)

Comments

Note

  • I had not played previous entries in the series.
  • I only had a vague idea of some important points in the story.

This was the first title I played on my PlayStation 5. I got my console bundled with the God of War Ragnarök, so I wanted to play the prequel before diving into the most recent installment.

Story

The story was interesting, not so much in what happens during events in the game, but mostly in the context that is provided to us through multiple means of storytelling. The background of the world feels real and alive, and decisions from the past come to affect characters in the future. The reveal of Atreus being Loki was a plot twist for me, and got me interested if that will be further worked on in Ragnarök.

Characters

Kratos was cold and straightforward. He was brutal with anyone on his path, friend or foe. He treated Atreus with a lack of warmth, but clearly had deep affection and cared heavily for the boy’s health and well-being, as well, and very importantly, as his education and principles. While brute, he wasn’t portrayed as stupid, being able to detect traps, especially “social” ones, while still making decisions that would stand by his moral code.

Supporting characters were a very welcome part of the game:

  • Atreus started as a curious kid that helped move the dialogue along, since Kratos is mostly quiet. I could see myself growing with Atreus, and many times my curiosity was realized by his questions in good timing. I consider it good world building and immersion to have me feeling similar to one of the characters, or rather, make me think they have the same questions and curiosities I do, acting on them as another way to tell parts of the story. Unfortunately, the little guy later became an annoyance. I found it interesting to make this character progression, and also could understand how it happened, although I do feel like it was too fast and seemed like we just flipped a switch somewhere. It was interesting to see how Kratos handled it, and how the dynamic changed heavily while he was acting that way.

  • Mimir was a multi-faceted person: funny, cunning, wise, and also basically a guide or representation of a search engine in game. There were few questions he did not have answers to, to the point his lines were full of context and history, which helped bring the world its history alive.

  • Sindri & Brok were comedy gold. Brok was just brute most of the time, but had some caring moments. Meanwhile, Sindri’s pathological fear of germs made for very funny moments. As brothers who fought and split up, they are polar opposites in behavior, and their place in the story also comes together as Atreus intervenes here and there to get them to make peace with each other.

  • Freya is a mother. Almost every single scene she is in, you can tell that she has the caring affection for Atreus, and the understanding of Krato’s need to do anything to keep him safe and healthy. It is unfortunate, for me, that she ends up becoming an adversary by the end of the game, and hopefully the relationship can be fixed in Ragnarök, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the damage is irreparable.

Difficulty

Although I did not play on hard difficulties, I have to say it felt like the game was not exactly challenging. Apart from the Valkyries, which are optional, it didn’t give me a hard time. A quick lookup online, didn’t seem like the game was significantly changed by increasing difficulty, probably just adding more damage and/or defense or health to enemies, which is not particularly interesting for me. So I think my choice of a regular difficulty setting was the right one overall.

Graphics

The graphics of the game were beautiful, but nothing that made me stop for too long to gaze into. Some wide shots from top of mountains or buildings were really nice, the atmosphere and change in scenery for each of the realms was cool, and the flowery camps around the Freya’s house was lovely and colorful.

Menu & Minimap

The menu was good, as I can’t remember having any user experience issues, it just felt intuitive to me. The minimap was also interesting, and contained most of the important information I needed. There wasn’t much customization option for the map, but in general I don’t think I needed it either, so that was fine.

Music

The music was great. It felt epic and it matched the pacing well. I don’t really know much about music to go into details, but I recognized Bear McCreary name from watching Battlestar Galactica many years ago. The game soundtrack showcases a lot of deep voices and Nordic/Viking inspiration, which is not something I am used to, but still managed to enjoy it a lot. Additionally, it really fit well with the environment and gameplay.

Pros

  • Fighting the Valkyries was a welcome challenge:
    • Most of them had interesting mechanics and took me some effort until I got it right.
    • Sigrun was amazing. I died a lot, but clearly it was due to me needing to git gud.
  • The supporting characters were fantastic. More specifically, Mimir, Sindri & Brok, and Freya, were exceptional:
    • Mimir was very entertaining, and presented me with a wide range of emotions.
    • Sindri & Brok, specially Sindri, had me laughing out loud in most interactions.
    • Freya was caring and strong, sometimes distant but mostly impactful in each interaction.
  • Since I had no background knowledge on the series or the pantheon, I felt like I was learning together with Atreus.

Cons

  • Pacing was a bit strange. For example, it seemed to me that the game just ended out of nowhere.
  • Did not feel like the big bosses were actually the big bosses:
    • None of the fights were challenging.
    • Cinematics within the fights were cool, but in the end it just felt cheap as the rest wasn’t hard.
    • Baldur final fight was so easy that I didn’t realize it was the final battle.
  • I had way more pommels / talismans / enchantments than I knew what to do with.
  • The puzzles were lacking in complexity / depth:
    • Most, if not all, of them felt like it was a matter of camera positioning and good character / weapon control, rather than actual complexity.
    • Perhaps that was not the intention. But when friends mentioned puzzles, I guess I expected something else.