Immortality won’t stop you pondering what lies beyond

There are plenty of gripes I can level at this game, even issues that were ostensibly present in the last one but only started bothering me this time around (looking at you, combat camera). It took way too long for me to get fully invested in where it was going, but when it got me, it felt like I’d been socked in the chin by mjolnir and flung into the heavens

These games understand what makes European mythology so intriguing. These gods walking among mortals are so tangible and fleshy, often literally covered in a layer of grime. They seem so human as they walk and talk, Kratos and Freya preciously inching their way up a rock face one handhold at a time, only letting their leap-fifty-feet-in-the-air weirdo selves out when in direct confrontation with monstrosity or one another. It’s knowing they have that inner weirdo that gives the quiet parts such power and menace. Despite being so close to human, they still reek of otherness, each with their spider’s web of agenda and history, each sitting dragon-like on a hoard of esoteric and arcane knowledge

Santa Monica does a laudable job of evoking these things in the atmosphere of their cinematics, writing, and performances. The single-shot might be a superfluous gimmick when considering the game as a whole (if you’re gonna do it commit to it, and find a way to ditch the traditional equipment/skill menus, tutorials, lore dumps, etc), but it’s a worthy decision for the cutscenes, shackling themselves with a constraint that necessitates such meticulous staging and rhythm, and thereby giving this game a style and language that fits the subject wonderfully in my eyes

All that said, I’m so glad they’re not making another one of these