This review contains spoilers
God of War: Ragnarök is the type of sequel that builds on nearly everything that was set up and established in the previous game. Everything here is superb, and at a level of polish that should be the golden standard for all AAA games. Everything from the story, the combat, the exploration, the performances, the visuals, and presentation blew me away. God of War: Ragnarök is absolutely one of the best games of the year.
The story is a bit less structured and personal than the last game, but what it lacks in a more personal touch, it supplements it with grand scale and a plethora of both new and returning characters that have an incredible amount of depth. The writing here is superb. The story has so many twists and turns, and moments that will make you emotional. This is also helped by the great dialogue and truly fantastic performances from the entire voice cast. There isn't a weak performance in the bunch, from our leading characters to even the most insignificant of sidekicks.
The main gameplay is fantastic. It is a great mix of linear levels and huge open areas for you to explore and complete a ton of quests in. Some areas even open up further as you progress in the story, going from one big area to an even BIGGER area with more interesting lore and quests to complete. I never got bored of seeing what quests awaited me in each realm.
You do get to visit all 9 realms in this game, which is a real treat. It provides a ton of variety to the game's beautiful scenery. Not all of the realms are big and explorable, but I am fine with that. Not every realm needed to be this huge, open area.
Combat is more finely tuned from the last game, which was already a very polished system. This time, Kratos starts off with both of his weapons from the previous game, giving the player a lot of variety early on. Things will continue to open up for the player as their progress their skill tree for both Kratos and Atreus, gain new armor, and upgrade their weapons.
The visuals are stunning. Every location is incredibly well-realized. Their isn't a bad looking place of the bunch, and each realm gives you visual variety as you progress through the story. This is complimented by another incredible score from Bear McCreary, who did the last game's soundtrack as well. There are so many great pieces here. I have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat since finishing the game, its that good.
Now while this game is absolutely phenomenal, I do have some issues with it. However, some of these complaints go into spoiler territory. You have been warned:
The Atreus sections are...okay. I enjoyed getting to play as him in his combat sections, as he provided a new way to engage in combat scenarios. However, his sections, at times, felt like padding or too drawn out. For example, Jotunheim felt like a toooooon of standard video game padding, with slow movement and lots of little fetch quests (though admittedly it has a fantastic boss battle at the end). Atreus is a very interesting character, but his sections detracted from the main story at times, which I didn't appreciate.
While talking about spoilers, I just wanna say how much I loved the characters again here. Odin was done superbly well, being written and acted in the way a true manipulative narcissist would behave; at times even fooling the audience into thinking he isn't a half-bad person. Thor is also great. His depiction of alcoholism and inner struggles with losing his sons from the first game was incredible to see. But of course, the star of the show is Kratos, as he continues to strive to "be better" not for his own salvation, but for his son's. It was incredibly powerful towards the end when he spares Thor. Kratos has quickly become my favorite PlayStation mascot with this game.
To close, I want to say just how special this new GOW series is. These two games have made me believe in big, bold, and beautiful AAA games again. Something that not only looks great, not only plays great, but also uses its story and themes to touch your heart. Everything culminates to a gaming experience that I won't soon forget.
Man, its going to be HARD to pick between this and Elden Ring for GOTY.......
The story is a bit less structured and personal than the last game, but what it lacks in a more personal touch, it supplements it with grand scale and a plethora of both new and returning characters that have an incredible amount of depth. The writing here is superb. The story has so many twists and turns, and moments that will make you emotional. This is also helped by the great dialogue and truly fantastic performances from the entire voice cast. There isn't a weak performance in the bunch, from our leading characters to even the most insignificant of sidekicks.
The main gameplay is fantastic. It is a great mix of linear levels and huge open areas for you to explore and complete a ton of quests in. Some areas even open up further as you progress in the story, going from one big area to an even BIGGER area with more interesting lore and quests to complete. I never got bored of seeing what quests awaited me in each realm.
You do get to visit all 9 realms in this game, which is a real treat. It provides a ton of variety to the game's beautiful scenery. Not all of the realms are big and explorable, but I am fine with that. Not every realm needed to be this huge, open area.
Combat is more finely tuned from the last game, which was already a very polished system. This time, Kratos starts off with both of his weapons from the previous game, giving the player a lot of variety early on. Things will continue to open up for the player as their progress their skill tree for both Kratos and Atreus, gain new armor, and upgrade their weapons.
The visuals are stunning. Every location is incredibly well-realized. Their isn't a bad looking place of the bunch, and each realm gives you visual variety as you progress through the story. This is complimented by another incredible score from Bear McCreary, who did the last game's soundtrack as well. There are so many great pieces here. I have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat since finishing the game, its that good.
Now while this game is absolutely phenomenal, I do have some issues with it. However, some of these complaints go into spoiler territory. You have been warned:
The Atreus sections are...okay. I enjoyed getting to play as him in his combat sections, as he provided a new way to engage in combat scenarios. However, his sections, at times, felt like padding or too drawn out. For example, Jotunheim felt like a toooooon of standard video game padding, with slow movement and lots of little fetch quests (though admittedly it has a fantastic boss battle at the end). Atreus is a very interesting character, but his sections detracted from the main story at times, which I didn't appreciate.
While talking about spoilers, I just wanna say how much I loved the characters again here. Odin was done superbly well, being written and acted in the way a true manipulative narcissist would behave; at times even fooling the audience into thinking he isn't a half-bad person. Thor is also great. His depiction of alcoholism and inner struggles with losing his sons from the first game was incredible to see. But of course, the star of the show is Kratos, as he continues to strive to "be better" not for his own salvation, but for his son's. It was incredibly powerful towards the end when he spares Thor. Kratos has quickly become my favorite PlayStation mascot with this game.
To close, I want to say just how special this new GOW series is. These two games have made me believe in big, bold, and beautiful AAA games again. Something that not only looks great, not only plays great, but also uses its story and themes to touch your heart. Everything culminates to a gaming experience that I won't soon forget.
Man, its going to be HARD to pick between this and Elden Ring for GOTY.......