The story is amazing as well as the graphics and set pieces. A good mix of the old games and newer playstation games. The exploration is very fun and rewarding with chests and upgrades at every corner. The combat usually is very fun and snappy and responsive the weapons feel very satisfying.
The story beats are memorable with a new perspective on Kratos as well as his son. Story moves a little quick around Atreus for my tastes but I understand it might be hard to flesh out a character with an only 20 hour story. The environments are masterfully done with a great sense of scale even with the new camera. One thing I personally love about the art is how colorful it is with the artists using the color to really convey the themes of an area before you even get to explore it. Particle effects are also used to great effects in the world as well as in combat to add a visual depth to the game. I have heard from some people that they don't like Midgard but there is a decent amount of variety to the different sections that make them feel different. Late game the Lake of Nine is great to explore around and get the chests and doing the sidequests. The effort that the team has put into the world design oozes in just about every corner of the game and makes it a joy to look at as well as play and achieves a great balance of gameplay, exploration and story.
I would say DO NOT let it detract from the amazing base game but with the game, they have what feels like tacked on faux RPG stuff that makes enemies feel so artificially difficult. Santa Monica already had a perfectly fine way to keep you from exploring with upgrades you get later in the game. Later in the game after the story is done it almost felt as though I hit a wall where the enemies are very tough but my gear can not get better and I have to resort to the OP runic attacks. Muspulheim and Neifelheim also were just way way harder than anything in the base game. People who like trying over and over and over at a challenge will probably get a kick out of it but most the time it felt like the enemies would just do some move that takes half my health with a very small prediction window as well as what feels like random attack patterns.
The story beats are memorable with a new perspective on Kratos as well as his son. Story moves a little quick around Atreus for my tastes but I understand it might be hard to flesh out a character with an only 20 hour story. The environments are masterfully done with a great sense of scale even with the new camera. One thing I personally love about the art is how colorful it is with the artists using the color to really convey the themes of an area before you even get to explore it. Particle effects are also used to great effects in the world as well as in combat to add a visual depth to the game. I have heard from some people that they don't like Midgard but there is a decent amount of variety to the different sections that make them feel different. Late game the Lake of Nine is great to explore around and get the chests and doing the sidequests. The effort that the team has put into the world design oozes in just about every corner of the game and makes it a joy to look at as well as play and achieves a great balance of gameplay, exploration and story.
I would say DO NOT let it detract from the amazing base game but with the game, they have what feels like tacked on faux RPG stuff that makes enemies feel so artificially difficult. Santa Monica already had a perfectly fine way to keep you from exploring with upgrades you get later in the game. Later in the game after the story is done it almost felt as though I hit a wall where the enemies are very tough but my gear can not get better and I have to resort to the OP runic attacks. Muspulheim and Neifelheim also were just way way harder than anything in the base game. People who like trying over and over and over at a challenge will probably get a kick out of it but most the time it felt like the enemies would just do some move that takes half my health with a very small prediction window as well as what feels like random attack patterns.