every time i booted up this game, i was reminded of the fights that were going on in 2018 over this game and rdr2 - which one was better in terms of graphics, storytelling and gameplay. that imploded when this game won GOTY; twitter was hell for 2 weeks

anyway, i think rdr2 was more deserving of the award

this game is the right step, kratos's end in gow3 was fitting, but we always knew his story will continue, after he releases hope to the world and to himself. but how could they continue his story? how could they give this man more reason to live, after everything he had done to his family and to others?

the answer was to move on and try to create anew in midgard, land of the norse gods, with a new son. but with this, it really didn't do it for me until really late in the game. the main problem of this is game is that it tells you kratos is a terrible father, that he is absent and was never there for his son.

but the game, its gameplay, even the storytelling says other wise! i didn't watch a terrible father treat his son horribly, i saw an alright dad giving his son space while trying to teach him how to survive! hell, i played and seen several other GOW games that tell me he's an alright dad! it's kinda insane to me this basic storytelling aspect suffers the "show, don't tell" mistake you would learn in creative writing 101 class, this could've easily been rectify by showing us, the players, kratos's interaction with his wife and his son before she dies. i believe kratos is an awful man, but not one second will i believe he's an awful dad. compared to most dads, he gets the best dad award

speaking of most of the story, i did find the whole thing to be boring mostly cuz i feel like i've seen it a million times. i really only got into it once the norses gods were introduced, and how their introduction plays into kratos's and atreus's journey. the game asks questions about kratos and his godhood, and it plays beautifully to their dynamic. but overall, i would look into other things for this type of relationship of parent trying to be better for their kid. hell, TLOU did these themes better and it pretty much stole most of its material from a movie

what i was mostly disappointed in was few mentions in kratos's past life. when they started talking about it, i was hoping he would start mentioning the family he was lead to kill, his friendship with athena, anything that was just not "i killed my dad...i was a god....i dont want you to be me." perhaps this is something they will talk about in the next game, but if you wish kratos to be more open with his son, then you gotta do a little push to show his anxieties he has with atreus. the only real fun i had was when they talk about norse mythology, the blend of the tales with the story's own mythology is perfect, and they did a really good job of expressing both

gameplay wise...it was underwhelming, disappointing. the axe felt snappy, but not satisfying. i'm not impressed by the retrieval mechanics at all, on god i felt it was more annoyance than anything else. when i finally was able to play with the blades, that's what i was looking for in a god of war game. i finally felt like a powerhouse dad i was hoping when i started this game. gameplay loop and the menus and shit it's pretty much your standard triple A game you expect to see at this point, nothing i can really say that you don't already know. though one thing i can say, the menus feel like ac origins barfed all over it and somehow made it worse

i dont know man, i dont hate the game. i did like it. at the end of the day, there's really nothing wrong with it. its just...average. it's a serviceable sony, triple A game that makes you feel things because games are becoming Serious in the eyes of people who don't play indie games. games are like movies yall!

speaking of movies, it's okay to use cuts in cutscenes. 'one take' wasn't impressive in kojima games, it's not impressive here