God of War Ragnarök - Review

Blood upon the snow...

Console: PlayStation 5

God of War (2018) was a smash hit for Sony. God of War had always sold well, you don't get to be the 13th release in a series for nothing, but more so in the 4 to 5 million range with God of War III (the end of the perceived trilogy) making its way past 7 million thanks to a handy PS4 remasters. God of War (2018) though? That game managed to sell that 4 to 5 million mark in its first month. At the moment, it has moved over 23 million copies. With that kind of success and the game´s two stingers, a sequel just had to be made. That sequel is the still relatively new God of War Ragnarök.

Instead of opting for the traditional trilogy setup, Santa Monica studios decided to 'do it in two'. To make the sequel the ending to the 'Norse Era' of the series. With how game development has ballooned over the last decade, up to 5 years of work, the developers didn't want to drag the narrative out over a 15-year period. This puts even more weight on Ragnarök's shoulders. To just not be the follow-up to the smash hit and Game of the Year winning predecessor, but it gives players a satisfying and epic conclusion to everything God of War (2018) set in motion.

Since, totally on brand for me, I'm months 'late' with this review I get that the entire 'review boom' surrounding the game has since long died down. Even so, I want to review the game because I find doing so fun to do.

With all of that said, let's dive into God of War Ragnarök, Sony's latest hit and see what it brings to the table!

Years after Kratos and Atreus set out on their journey to scatter their wife and mother Faye's ashes from the highest peak of the realm the two are back home, doing their best to survive Fimbulwinter. With Fimbulwinter, the years-long winter that heralds Ragnarök; the prophesized war that foretells the death of Odin, Thor, many of the Gods and the Nine Realms as a whole. After Kratos and Atreus killed a number of Aesir gods; Odin's youngest son Baldur and Thor's sons Magni and Modi, they know it's only a matter of time before the Gods come knocking at the door for retribution. Freya, Baldur's mother, Odin's ex-wife and their former friend, already tries to kill Kratos every time they step outside of their home's protective barrier. 

After Thor and Odin indeed come knocking, Kratos learns that Atreus has been running off and searching for Týr, the Norse God of War and another son of Odin that once tried to unite the realms against his father but failed and is believed to be dead. The boy wants answers about his supposed identity as Loki and is frustrated by his father's inaction about everything that's going on. Odin offers the two a deal: stop looking for Týr and he'll forgive them for everything and leave them alone. He'll even take care of Freya for them. Kratos declines and a battle ensues. 

After, unexpectedly, surving this encounter Kratos and Atreus, helped by with their dwarven friends, the brothers Sindri and Brok, and Odin's former advisor; now decapitatied undead head Mimir, set out to find Týr and hopefully get those answers. 

The story of God of War Ragnarök is, just like its predecessor, excellent. It is bigger, longer (I mean, it took me 3 paragraphs just to set it up compared to the one!) bolder and a lot more epic. Compared to the quieter, shorter and more personal story of its predecessor it's quite a contrast. In a good way; it makes the game feel appropriately grand. Less personal, yes, but with something like 'Ragnarök' that wouldn't really fit. Plus: it's not like the characters are forgotten.

Where God of War 2018 was about Kratos learning Atreus to be a God and Atreus learning Kratos to be human (again), Ragnarök has them learning what type of human and God they are when the other isn't around. It also deepens its theme of parenthood as well as learning when to hang on to someone and when to let go. The longer run time also means that the game can focus more on its side characters. More time is spent on Freya and the Huldra Brothers leading to character development I didn't see coming and wouldn't have worked so well if not for the great performances.

The father-son relationship of Kratos and Atreus is the very core of this game. 

The only nitpick I have is the pacing. The game's director, Eric Williams, has said that doing a duology instead of a trilogy meant that they had to adjust the story's pacing. They did just that but it wasn't done without hiccups. In this case, it doesn't flow so well and there's no palpable difference between a lot of time or only a little bit of it passing.

The gameplay is where God of War Ragnarök has the most growth over its predecessor. That game's combat walked so that this one could run. It's the same as it was but more balanced and a lot deeper.

God of War Ragnarök, is a cinematic action-adventure game with exploration and puzzle-solving elements. You control Kratos in both combo-based combat and puzzle-based exploration in the semi-open, corridor-designed, world. You chain together light and heavy attacks for combos while using your shield to block/counter attacks if you don't feel like dodging. A solid system that, as I’ve already stated, is much more expansive here than it was in its predecessor.

Firstly; Kratos’ weapons have been rebalanced. The frosty Leviathan Axe, which you can still satisfyingly throw and recall like MCU’s Mjölnir, is your heavy hitter. Does the most damage but has a limited range. Kratos’ old fiery Blades of Chaos do less damage than before but are excellent at crowd control. His, slight spoiler, new spear is tailored to fight flying and faraway enemies. All three can be imbued with their element's power by pressing the triangle button and have gotten reworked combos and skills. The biggest change in the latter is that certain skills can now be upgraded and tailored to you’re liking if you use that skill enough times. From increasing the damage to how long it stuns enemies, just to name an example.

The shield Kratos wields has now been changed from more of a move to a fully-fledged weapon in its own right. You can now equip different shields with different effects, like tanking damage to a high-risk, high-reward block. You can now upgrade it as well as attach different rötunds that give stat bonuses and secondary effects just like the axe and blade handles. Armours work much the same as weapons. You find them, craft and upgrade them with resources you find and then equip them for stat bonuses.

Much like you’re runic special attacks, you can also equip attachments that give you special moves regardless of weapon such as a burst of health. You also now have an amulet in which you equip special runes for even further additional effects and modifications if you meet the conditions. Your health slowly regenerating on its own is my favourite.

Atreus is still here and still, you’re ever faithful companion (when he and Kratos are together) that acts as an extension of your move set. With his bow you can keep the pressure on the enemies, hit targets from far away and summon some extra attacks to for great damage or more health. There’s more to Atreus and the companion slot but that’s something I leave for you, the player, to discover.

All of these elements are what makes give more depth to the combat system. You can just go online, look up people’s playthroughs and streams of the game and see them have completely different combat styles. There´s a lot to experiment with and find a playstyle that suits you. Something high-risk, high reward or something more defensive with more gracious timing, like me. Combine that with a lot more varied enemy selection, and you get an approachable an very enjoyable combat system. Taking down, let’s say, a dragon is thrilling and rewarding.

When not in combat you're exploring the 9 realms. From Midgard, Earth, to the world of the Elves, Alfheim, to many more. You travel across these realms, coming across ruins, long abandoned mines and a lot more. Most of these places are set up as environmental puzzles. From finding hidden runes to open a door to freezing gears to find your way through death traps with battles thrown in. Still, nothing special here but it doesn't need to be as it's very entertaining. 

You will be spending quite a bit of time across the 9 Realms; God of War Ragnarök has a beefy list of side-quest, post-game content and other activities for you to tackle. From clearing out raider camps around the Lake of Nine in Midgard to finding a hidden library in Alfheim to clearing out the Vanaheim wilderness of dragons; there's a good chunk of activities to dig your teeth into in-between main missions. There are good activities. I don't know if there is more content here than there was in the 2018 game but I do know that I felt a lot more compelled to partake in them. Didn't want to miss any of them and never regretted doing them; either because of the reward, small lore dump or just because finally taking down that Berserker was so gratifying.

Graphically, the game looks just as amazing as before. High-fidelity and well-animated models. Stunning world design with nice, even more detailed, textures and amazing lighting. From the cutscenes to the cinematography, the performances and the one-shot approach have a very cinematic quality to them. The soundtrack is very good as well. The reworked version of the main theme is excellent, befittingly more epic and bombastic and where I thought the rest of the music, except for ‘Deliverance’ and the Valkyrie theme, wasn’t all that special I found Ragnarök’s soundtrack to be a lot more memorable.

This game, especially its landscapes, look beautiful. 

Do I have any gripes? Well apart from the pacing, that is. Yes, yes I do. I wasn't a fan of the standard control scheme in God of War 2018 and I'm not a fan of it here. I now know that this setup, attacking with the shoulder buttons and performing other actions with the face buttons, is pretty common in the PlayStation space but that doesn't mean I like it. Good thing this game has such robust accessibility options. From colour filters to text options to customize the controls. It means that this title is not only very, well, accessible for people (which is always a good thing) but that I could alter the controls to my liking. Switch the dodge from the cross to the circle button, for example. That tripped me up good the first 2 hours or so.

I also find this game to be more of a taxing experience. That the story is more epic also means that the story is a lot heavier. God of War 2018 was also an emotional story but with how it's the starting chapter, how it had fewer takes, it feels more approachable. Lastly; the Norse Mythology. Now, I don't think that Santa Monica did a bad job with adapting the mythology but them diving deeper into it means they put more of a spin on things. Changed things to fit their narrative and themes. Some I like, others I do not. 

Conclusion

God of War Ragnarök is an improvement over the already excellent God of War (2018). It has a bigger, more grand and epic story that brings the father-son story of Kratos and Atreus, and that of the Norse Era, to a grand and emotional close. Its gameplay has been deepened and made a lot more diverse and fun. From the rebalancing to new combos, weapons and extra layers of mechanics. It's not perfect; but then what is? What matter is that it's well made and fun game. Add in the great performances, graphics, soundtrack and accessibility options and you have one of the best PlayStation games ever made, in my humble opinion at least.