God of War: Ascension asks "what if God of War tried to be Uncharted but had the plot of Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel?" The answer is, you get a decent game that stands out as the worst of its franchise. Needless changes to combat and an obsession with being cinematic drag down a really good game to being just a pretty good game, and it's all tied nicely together with the greatest character arc in storytelling: badass with amnesia becomes badass without amnesia.

I won't say that I didn't like Ascension, because I did, but I WILL say that, while playing it, I was constantly mentally critiquing what I didn't like about it.

This game has a stained reputation, and not for nothing. It has a very clumsy equipment system that feels more gimmicky than anything, and some enemies and puzzles are downright uninspired.

Despite that, it does enough things right to put it above the lesser games and alongside the first one and Chains of Olympus. The story takes place at the beginning of Kratos' journey (which is a good thing in that it allows for a more human Kratos) and the challenges it poses are some of the hardest in the entire franchise. At the same time, there's a sense of wonder and exploration with this one that I didn't feel since Cronos' labyrinth during GoW 1. The world feels like it's so much bigger than you, and even though you keep smashing everything that comes in your way, enough things are left unanswered to keep you guessing. Besides, I'm told the multiplayer wasn't half bad, so there you go.

Underappreciated for sure. 2013 was already a decent year for PS3 exclusives and Ascension was one of the highlights among them. I think Ascension's lacklustre reception has more to do with the fact that it was following up what is still probably the best western pass at an action game, and relatively soon after it came out (~3 years), rather than any particularly egregious shortcomings of its own.

One common criticism was that it was 'safe' or 'more of the same,' which was never something I agreed with. For one thing, it made the pretty bold and controversial decision to eschew the action game convention of unlocking alternate weapons as you progress through the game, instead giving you elemental modifications for the Blades, while incentivising spatial awareness via both temporary but powerful weapon pickups that drop from enemies and a mechanic that rewards avoiding damage by giving you access to more powerful moves.

None of this is new to the genre as a whole, and the damage avoidance mechanic could occasionally feel restrictive in the more difficult bits. But within the context of the GOW series, these things made for some nice mechanical shake-ups which also helped to reinforce why the Blades are such a big deal throughout the series' narrative.

Narrative is another thing for which Ascension probably deserves more credit. Despite the 2018 game being so highly praised for showing a more mellowed out Kratos, that had already been done (and I would argue more effectively) in every game that preceded it. Ascension in particular placed enough of an emphasis on this that I recall it being part of the pre-release marketing, and I think it delivered on it pretty well. Orkos is probably the closest we've seen to Kratos having a conventional friendship with somebody, Kratos' wife Lysandra is finally given a name to make his grief more personal, Kratos reacts to a god impersonating Lysandra with hapless confusion rather than anger(!), and the occasional visions of Kratos without his ashen skin also help to visually humanise him in a way not seen since the original game.

Finally, the multiplayer was absolutely ace. Not only was it incredibly unique in terms of gameplay (the closest thing to it is probably Anarchy Reigns), but it also regularly pumped out extra modes, weapons, maps and other content all for free, with little references to Greek mythology popular and obscure littered all over the place. It had some balance issues (I spit on the name of P*seidon), but they were more than worth putting up with for a gameplay experience that you couldn't get anywhere else, neither at the time nor now. I'm inclined to believe Santa Monica have my back on this one given how many mechanics they lifted straight out of Ascension's multiplayer and put into 2018 (pause combos, elemental status effects, special abilities on a cooldown, stat-based armour customisation, etc.), albeit being a lot more sensibly implemented here than there.

Ironically, despite getting shit for its alleged derivative-ness around the time of its release, games like Ascension are pretty far and few between in the current gaming landscape. I doubt it'll happen any time soon, but I think it'd be really refreshing to see Santa Monica come out with something more like this than continue along the franchise's current trajectory. In the past 8 years, I think it's fair to say we've seen a lot more releases big and small which more closely resemble 2018's style of gameplay, tone, visual design and narrative structure than those of Ascension.

Give me back over the top spectacle that makes my console struggle to breathe, unashamedly videogamey violence and T.C. Carson pls.

+ Very Pretty
+ Story actually interesting (gave more to tell)
~ Story structure is hard to follow both in place for the timeline and in game
~ Kratos does not develop as a character in anyway
- Puzzles are often obtuse due to ledges being hard to see
- Combat suffers due magic not being a bigger part
- Enemies are often too hard for the games difficulty.
- Mechanics for puzzles aren't pronounced in puzzle solving
- Everything feels short handed or not test as much as usual God of War fare

Definitely the worst of the original God of War saga. The biggest crime this game commits its just being unnecessary. We already Know that Kratos killed his family, we already know he leaves Ares and works under Athena, and we already know he wants to kill Ares with everything he's got. There's nothing new to be explored with in this title. I always got the feeling it existed just because God of War was (and still is) a popular series and they just wanted to make another title.

I remember watching and episode of X-Play on G4 back before this game came out. The two hosts were speculating what Ascension would be about. Blair Herter and Morgan Webb speculated that the final scene would be Kratos killing his family in horror. This is what people were expecting. An important part of the series explained in more detail. Maybe Kratos' life back when he was a spartan general. Instead, it just felt like nothing.

An overall disappointing entry in the series, but one I really want to play again. Maybe the gameplay holds up a lot more than I remember.