A bigger, more bombastic, more refined sequel to the original and an incredible achievement in a lot of ways.
...but bigger isn't always better. The original was an intimate story about a father and a son on a very personal journey with Norse mythology expertly interwoven into it. This game is a full on Norse epic with a huge cast of characters and multiple storylines. The change isn't jarring because it was set up in the last game, but I vastly prefer the vibe in GoW 2018. Meeting new characters in the original felt like something special, whereas in this one it happens constantly up until the final hours of the game, for example.
I commend them for making a Norse duology and not a trilogy, but...I kind of wish it were a trilogy. They stuffed so much into this game story-wise, and it resulted in plenty of the characters not getting enough screen time and plenty of the emotional moments straight-up not landing at all. This also extends to the actual length of the game. It's far too long for its own good, and that could've been remedied had they saved the final chunk of the game for a third game and focused on expanding what they already built in this game instead of rushing to the conclusion.
Gameplay-wise, it's better than GoW 2018 in pretty much every way imaginable. the areas are more expansive, there's a lot more visual variety, the combat is more refined, the sidequest are incredible, and all the new gameplay mechanics are great (except some of the sigil stuff).
My review sounds harsh but I did genuinely love my time with the game and it's my current GOTY, but it just didn't hit the same way GoW 2018 did. I wasn't expecting it to recapture its magic, but it's still kinda disappointing that it didn't.
...but bigger isn't always better. The original was an intimate story about a father and a son on a very personal journey with Norse mythology expertly interwoven into it. This game is a full on Norse epic with a huge cast of characters and multiple storylines. The change isn't jarring because it was set up in the last game, but I vastly prefer the vibe in GoW 2018. Meeting new characters in the original felt like something special, whereas in this one it happens constantly up until the final hours of the game, for example.
I commend them for making a Norse duology and not a trilogy, but...I kind of wish it were a trilogy. They stuffed so much into this game story-wise, and it resulted in plenty of the characters not getting enough screen time and plenty of the emotional moments straight-up not landing at all. This also extends to the actual length of the game. It's far too long for its own good, and that could've been remedied had they saved the final chunk of the game for a third game and focused on expanding what they already built in this game instead of rushing to the conclusion.
Gameplay-wise, it's better than GoW 2018 in pretty much every way imaginable. the areas are more expansive, there's a lot more visual variety, the combat is more refined, the sidequest are incredible, and all the new gameplay mechanics are great (except some of the sigil stuff).
My review sounds harsh but I did genuinely love my time with the game and it's my current GOTY, but it just didn't hit the same way GoW 2018 did. I wasn't expecting it to recapture its magic, but it's still kinda disappointing that it didn't.