Having not played any of the GOW games in the past-ive only seen reviews raving about this game, however I lowered my expectations going into it since I do not like these type of games, typically. I am in position to say that this has been an excellent play. The story itself is pretty decent, deep at times but the development of the characters throughout the journey is very nice. Satisfying combat, challenging bosses, loot EVERYWHERE, beautiful environments and excellent weapon choices. The axe is a very diverse and useful weapon, and the skills are not present just to be there. Easy to perform and hard to master, I really liked the fact that the skills were effective and there wasnt a long combo-process which allowed me to jump back into the game after not having played for a while. Later on with the introduction of the blades, the story and the combat get spici-er?. I really loved the companions in the game, Atreus, although not the most useful at the start, turns pivotal to your encounters with some upgrades. Keep in mind that Atreus will ask a LOT and I mean a lot of questions, lol, most of the time it was things that i was also interested to know. Mimir is my favourite companion tho, no unnecessary fill-in small talk and funny at times, helps move the story-on delightfully too. Cant forget about the dwarves! Frequent visits to their shops are advised! Overall, this game has stunning environments, great combat, good story-telling (not to mention the unbeatable soundtrack), interesting puzzles, a good upgrade system, a variety of bosses and other encounters (f* the Valkyries btw took me DAYSSS to get past one or two), fun gameplay in general and it left me with a desire to play the next entry in the series in the future.