This review contains spoilers
A very expensive dark ride.
GoW really wants to be cinematic. This game is packed full of movie-worthy features: the no-cuts camera, the voice performances, the piles of writing. It's really impressive! But I didn't want to watch a movie, I wanted to play a game.
To borrow a ttrpg pejorative, this game is "on rails". The player doesn't get to affect the plot. They don't even get to talk to the characters - dialogue happens automatically. Our job is to sit quietly and appreciate the story. That, and tell Kratos when to punch.
So with the player relegated strictly to the violence-doing, it's insulting how little impact it has. Exactly once prior to the finale you fight a boss whose death has consequence. Everything else is waves of goons and constantly reused boss monsters. Combat is a distraction, narratively and mechanically. You're barraged with skill trees and crafting and feats of strength to keep you feeling like you're making progress, when actually you're puttering around a forest for hours in a self sustaining loop of finding and completing fetch quests. It's embarrassing!
Given all this, it's a real shame that the story sucks pretty bad. Narratively, it spends most of the game going in circles. You seek prophecy, you read prophecy, you talk about the prophecy you just read. Rinse, repeat. Even the characters are stuck in this mud. Kratos has a big moment where he sits Atreus down and says "I'm treating you the same way I did in the last game." (Hey Barlog, having your characters say the criticism out loud doesn't nullify it, see also "Oh so he still kills gods but now he's sad about it").
It bums me out that these games have a reputation for great stories, when I think what people are reacting to is great character writing and performance. Richard Schiff should've gotten the acting award. When he teleports in front of you, holding a hostage by the neck and pleads, "Can we talk... dad to dad?" I howled. His portrayal of Odin as this smooth talking gas lighter is exactly the kind of fresh energy mythic characters need. Ryan Hurst is given less interesting writing but does just as much with it. His Thor is mean and dangerous but his pain is different and more visible than Kratos'. Not all of it lands - Deborah Ann Woll sure is... a dead mom - but by and large it's pretty nice to listen to these characters run little skits with each other.
Cause that's what prestige games are now: movies with some checklists in the middle.
GoW really wants to be cinematic. This game is packed full of movie-worthy features: the no-cuts camera, the voice performances, the piles of writing. It's really impressive! But I didn't want to watch a movie, I wanted to play a game.
To borrow a ttrpg pejorative, this game is "on rails". The player doesn't get to affect the plot. They don't even get to talk to the characters - dialogue happens automatically. Our job is to sit quietly and appreciate the story. That, and tell Kratos when to punch.
So with the player relegated strictly to the violence-doing, it's insulting how little impact it has. Exactly once prior to the finale you fight a boss whose death has consequence. Everything else is waves of goons and constantly reused boss monsters. Combat is a distraction, narratively and mechanically. You're barraged with skill trees and crafting and feats of strength to keep you feeling like you're making progress, when actually you're puttering around a forest for hours in a self sustaining loop of finding and completing fetch quests. It's embarrassing!
Given all this, it's a real shame that the story sucks pretty bad. Narratively, it spends most of the game going in circles. You seek prophecy, you read prophecy, you talk about the prophecy you just read. Rinse, repeat. Even the characters are stuck in this mud. Kratos has a big moment where he sits Atreus down and says "I'm treating you the same way I did in the last game." (Hey Barlog, having your characters say the criticism out loud doesn't nullify it, see also "Oh so he still kills gods but now he's sad about it").
It bums me out that these games have a reputation for great stories, when I think what people are reacting to is great character writing and performance. Richard Schiff should've gotten the acting award. When he teleports in front of you, holding a hostage by the neck and pleads, "Can we talk... dad to dad?" I howled. His portrayal of Odin as this smooth talking gas lighter is exactly the kind of fresh energy mythic characters need. Ryan Hurst is given less interesting writing but does just as much with it. His Thor is mean and dangerous but his pain is different and more visible than Kratos'. Not all of it lands - Deborah Ann Woll sure is... a dead mom - but by and large it's pretty nice to listen to these characters run little skits with each other.
Cause that's what prestige games are now: movies with some checklists in the middle.