This journey comes to an end…
When God of War was resurrected in 2018 I had my concerns. What we ended up getting though was one of if not the best game of last generation. Four years later the sequel has finally arrived and it has a lot of hype and expectation around it. God of War Ragnarök is a rollercoaster of a ride in several aspects. The game has peaks and valleys running throughout its entirety. I could feel the limitations from the previous generation while also recognizing the grand ideas it was pushing forward. When Ragnarök hits, it hits hard, but it also feels held back at times. There is a lot to unpack here.
The story kicks off a while after the events of the first game. Kratos and Atreus are still dealing with the effects of their actions. I am not going to go too deep into spoiler territory here as some players may be coming in fresh, or need to finish the original game. There is a decent recap available on the main menu to refresh players on the high points of the original game. I wish it was a bit more fleshed out though as it omits several characters that make an appearance in Ragnarök.
MSRP: $69.99 (PS5) $59.99 (PS4)
Platforms: PlayStation
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
Ragnarök continues the trend of excellent performances. Kratos moves deeper into his progression while Atreus struggles with his destiny. The side characters are equally impressive with the Brok and Sindri providing just the right amount of humor, albeit a little more forced at times. The story also feels like it has ups and downs. There are times when I was glued to the screen while other times when I couldn’t wait to move on. There is so much ebb and flow with this game it almost gave me whiplash.
The world of Ragnarök feels very familiar to the previous game. The entire experience is done with a single camera cut once again. I thought this was neat in the original, this time around I feel like it could have been dropped. Some stuff felt awkward due to it. Moving between realms once again has characters running in a circle until the door loads. This is a running theme in Ragnarök. The game was built with the PS4 in mind and it shows. There are constant hidden loading screens such as the aforementioned circles as well as tons of slow moving sequences where characters stop to slide between crevices and through small tunnels. It became jarring after a while as they cropped up so frequently.
So much of the journey this time feels back and forth. There are times when the game is just firing on all cylinders and it feels like an epic adventure that is unparalleled on every level. Then there are times when its warts are front and center. The aforementioned loading screens really drag down the pacing of the game, which is all over the place. There are “hidden” chests around the world. They really don’t take much clever thought to obtain, and instead just feel like chores to make the game longer. The same can be said of the critical path. A lot of times I come to a block in the road. It isn’t hard to figure out how to progress, instead it is more of an obstacle that I walk around the corner to remove. It becomes tedious when I am just trying to move the story forward.
This game is also very long. I clocked my first run at around 30 hours. This was avoiding a lot of the side stuff as I was trying to see the end before revisiting that content. To do everything you can easily double that. There is just so much here to see and do. Not all are of equal quality. The combat trials return, and the collectibles are almost identical to the first game. Some of the side quests are more interesting than others, including searches for new armor and such. There are also quests that can only be done once the credits roll. Without spoilers they do a good job of letting players revisit the world once it is over, but keep a save before that end sequence regardless. You will know when it happens.
The areas in the game also feel more linear than last time. Maybe I am remembering them wrong, but when I revisited places from the past it didn’t feel as epic as it did. The new hub feels almost like a Mass Effect style area where new characters join over time and side quests can be completed as well as just hanging out and talking with them. I really like this new method as it gave me time to really dive deeper into the lore.
Combat feels similar to the last game, but much more visceral. Kratos really does a number on foes. The brutality in this game feels on par with the original games. Plenty of decapitations and up close gore during fights. Kratos starts the game with all the items from the previous game so there are options for combat. Of course there are new items that show up along the way, but the combat remains pretty similar to the previous game. This is great as it was already really fun to play. The armor and upgrade system also remains mostly untouched. There is a larger focus on companions in this game, again that is as far as I will go to avoid spoilers about how some mechanics in the game work.
One of the biggest improvements to Ragnarök though are its accessibility options. Right out of the gate the game offers up a host of preset defaults. Players can also customize a host of options individually to tailor the experience. What I found odd was that some of these options feel like they should be standard. For example, auto pick-up items are weird. I don’t find any advantage to hitting the circle button five times after beating a boss to pick up all the items. That should be automatic. Same with combat lock-on. Why is auto-target switching after defeat not default? Weird design choices, but at least I can turn them on now.
There are of course a ton of other options that do make sense. Audio cue options as well as colorblind and difficulty choices that make the game more accessible to all gamers. I think Sony is truly the gold standard when it comes to making their games playable by more people. Each new entry from their first party studios (outside of the Souls-style games) feels like it ups the ante on these features. Someday I hope these types of options are just the standard for all games.
God of War Ragnarök is a very pretty game. Make no mistake this is definitely a PS4 game, but that doesn’t mean it cannot look absolutely stunning. The new enemy designs are great and the characters look fantastic. Sony once again owns the market on facial capture. The emotions conveyed in certain scenes are downright amazing. The world continues to have that sort of plastic shine to it, but these areas are breathtaking. There is one sequence that was simply jaw-dropping when I panned back. The massive bosses continue to impress and the game just looks incredible in HDR. This is one gorgeous showpiece even if it is not taking full advantage of the PS5.
Right out of the gate the game also offers up a host of performance options. Players can opt for the full 4K treatment at 30fps or switch to a lower resolution to achieve 60fps. There is even a 120fps mode that feels sublime, even if it doesn’t manage to max it out. The music is absolutely stellar. It kicks in at just the right times with some truly amazing themes that hit very hard. The voice acting is equally impressive with performances ranging from good, to absolutely knocking it out of the park. There are no audio disappointments in the entire game. It is that good.
God of War Ragnarök is an outstanding game with some questionable pacing and flow at times. There are moments in this game where I was simply in awe of what was on screen. Then there are times when the game feels like it is doing everything in its power to keep me from progressing or enjoying its playground. It is a weird mix of emotions from start to finish. Still Sony continues the trend of creating some of the best games in the industry and Ragnarök is no exception. While it doesn’t up the ante from the previous game as much as I would have liked, this experience is one that no one should miss. One of the best games of the year.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
