This improves upon the first in every single way besides one crucial aspect. Pacing! The original felt like a heart warming journey between a very eager to impress son and his far too judging/overprotective father and the time we spent with the two bonding felt real and deserved. This attempts to do this with a cast of memorable and forgettable characters who try to sacrifice themselves at every opportunity for either cheap tears or just to rid of the characters for a quick moment. There are some absolutely belter characters such as Oden who I felt lived up to the warning Mimir had given us in the original however the other Gods were either absent or had their characters magically resolved or disappear in the third act which made it feel like the only people in Asgard were Thor(for 3 seconds) and Oden (obviously Heimdall was absent for story reasons). However saying this, I can't lie the ending cutscene did have me sobbing and feeling like Kratos had earnt his path. If it weren't for the rushed third act this would be a stellar game.