This game is very well done, especially for a Triple-A reboot, but it has two major problems that hold it back from true greatness:
1) The "one take", no cutaways, unbroken perspective thing. This might work for something like HALF-LIFE, which only seeks to tell a tiny sliver of a much larger story, content to hint contextually at the rest, but using it to try to do this multiverse-spanning historical epic is a serious mistake. We're dropped right into the middle of this incredibly complex world of Norse mythology, and since we're shackled to the perspective of Kratos and his son for what amounts to one long day^, that means a whole hell of a lot of telling and not showing. Mountains and mountains of lore about gods, monsters, weapons, realms, artifacts, wars, and history are just barfed out at us in conversation ONLY, and even the main antagonists are only (incessantly) described to us, and never actually seen. They did probably the best they could within this framework, but I think it was a bad choice to begin with, despite the benefits to our relationship with the characters.
2) The entire game ends up feeling like sequel setup. I just KNEW from the moment they started talking about Thor and Odin THAT way, that we were absolutely not going to be seeing them in any meaningful way in this game. Heading towards the finale I was praying that they would find some way to deliver a satisfying and real ending beyond some stupid teaser but I knew from pretty much the first five hours that that was exactly how it was going to go. Through essentially every minute of the game, we are constantly being told of Bigger Things On The Horizon but it's crystal clear that they mean in the next one. That sucks!
The rest is pretty great though. Good combat, great small open world, respectable writing. This is clearly the best of the series and an impressive reclamation of a story and a character for whom a revival definitely needed some justification.
^this, by the way, makes absolutely no sense in context
1) The "one take", no cutaways, unbroken perspective thing. This might work for something like HALF-LIFE, which only seeks to tell a tiny sliver of a much larger story, content to hint contextually at the rest, but using it to try to do this multiverse-spanning historical epic is a serious mistake. We're dropped right into the middle of this incredibly complex world of Norse mythology, and since we're shackled to the perspective of Kratos and his son for what amounts to one long day^, that means a whole hell of a lot of telling and not showing. Mountains and mountains of lore about gods, monsters, weapons, realms, artifacts, wars, and history are just barfed out at us in conversation ONLY, and even the main antagonists are only (incessantly) described to us, and never actually seen. They did probably the best they could within this framework, but I think it was a bad choice to begin with, despite the benefits to our relationship with the characters.
2) The entire game ends up feeling like sequel setup. I just KNEW from the moment they started talking about Thor and Odin THAT way, that we were absolutely not going to be seeing them in any meaningful way in this game. Heading towards the finale I was praying that they would find some way to deliver a satisfying and real ending beyond some stupid teaser but I knew from pretty much the first five hours that that was exactly how it was going to go. Through essentially every minute of the game, we are constantly being told of Bigger Things On The Horizon but it's crystal clear that they mean in the next one. That sucks!
The rest is pretty great though. Good combat, great small open world, respectable writing. This is clearly the best of the series and an impressive reclamation of a story and a character for whom a revival definitely needed some justification.
^this, by the way, makes absolutely no sense in context