God of war is a series that as I grew up I had always known of but, had never played. I was young at the time and had a Playstation 2, and after that, I had stuck with Xbox. Although great series such as God of War were always mentioned to me throughout the years I had never gotten around to getting the latest Sony system. Now, with a PS5 at my disposal, and a recently boned-up knowledge of Kratos’ backstory I have played and finished the newest iteration in the God of War franchise, and it was one hell of an experience.
NARRATIVE
I would like to iterate of the bat that this game has shifted a bit from its conventional hack and slash roots to a more fleshed-out character piece through the main character, Kratos. Of course, that violence is still there but there seems to be a big emphasis on character here. In terms of my taste, I can say this was a good shift, but I think it comes as a welcome change for veterans who hopefully got a nice surprise with this change. The story takes place in the world of Norse mythology after Kratos’ ending of the Greek pantheon in previous title(s). We find Kratos living out his days in the woods with his young son Atreus. The game begins with the already in motion funeral ceremony of Kratos’ wife and Atreus’ mother. The goal for this duo is to spread her ashes atop a mountain. While the task seems simple, the story brings the two through many trials as you watch Kratos wrestle with his past while trying to be a father to his son, which naturally, he is struggling to do. The presentation is great with photo-realistic characters models with insane attention to detail and beautiful environments to explore. The game never cuts either, even in cutscenes, giving the player a one-shot masterpiece. It never misses a beat and keeps you wrapped up in this world of mythology in all its grandeur and scale from beginning to end.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay satisfies, bringing with it a deeper sense of RPG elements and progression than the past games of the franchise, with different ways to enhance Kratos including, weapon upgrades, armor enhancements, skill trees, and different categories of “attachments” to further upgrade elements of the game’s combat. Speaking of combat, it never got old for me. I always enjoyed running into a group of enemies and taking them down with the new Leviathan Axe. In the rare instances where combat encounters started to get tired, the game would introduce a new type of enemy or new enemy variant. The flow of combat itself is well-paced letting you dodge and parry attacks while strategically planning how you will take on the enemies before you. It adds this nice touch of choice in how you will survive each attack, as it’s not all about being constantly aggressive. Another aspect of the gameplay includes quick time events. These are moments when Kratos’ strength is put on display and while in other games people complain about quick-time events, here it can be appreciated as moments when we got to see Kratos’ strength demonstrated beyond his brutality. Boss fights are great as well, with some boasting some seriously large set pieces that had me floored. All of this mixed with the different skills you can unlock to vary and set your play style make for a game that keeps you invested in trying new moves and tactics through its runtime, never allowing things to become stale.
WRAP-UP
A detail I really wanted to highlight was the vulnerability that the developers gave to Kratos. Santa Monica Studios took this character who is near invulnerable and placed him in a situation where he was entirely out of his element. He isn’t from the realm the game takes place in, he can’t read certain languages, and also he is in this father role where who he is and what he has done, makes him vulnerable in how to deal with being that for his son.
God of War is a perfect new start for a long-running and successful game series. While some might say I missed out on not playing the games leading up to it, I still found an amazing experience through this game. The story is touching and interesting as it weaves mythology of different worlds together and deals with family through a father and son perspective. Characters, main and side are all great parts of the whole. Gameplay satisfies till the end with strategic and action-packed combat that is all aided by the customization and enemies you encounter. I highly recommend any fan of single-player games in the slightest to pick this up and I am very much looking forward to the sequel in 2022.
Score: 10/10
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