Sights & Sounds
- It's a AAA Sony game that came out a while ago, so there's been plenty of patches to make the it look amazing even if you're on slightly older hardware. If so, there's DLSS2 and FSR2 options available to try out. If not, crank up your settings and enjoy the show
- That said, once you're done tweaking the game, it looks spectacular. Some cutscenes and walking segments are honestly breathtaking
- The design of basically any character you encounter is fantastic, and the bosses are menacing and interesting. Some enemy designs do feel a little recycled, though
- If I had any complaint about the visual aesthetics of the game, it would have to do with the near omnipresence of caves and caverns. I know the God of War franchise dates back to the "greige" era of gaming where everything was varying shades of brown or gray, but I wish the devs would have strayed from that tradition
- The sound design and voice acting are spectacular. I was expecting to get annoyed by Atreus because I'm almost always skeptical of child voicework in games, but was pleasantly surprised by the competent work and good direction for that role
Story & Vibes
- This is much more mature that the earlier games in the franchise that used titties and gore to grab consumer attention. There's still plenty of gore, but the overall tone is much less juvenile than its PS2 roots
- The story is well-written and provided plenty of food for thought. In broad strokes, it's a there-and-back-again journey epic with a nice redemption arc for Kratos that features plenty of character development via father and son bonding
- Despite the refreshing maturity of the story and themes, there are a few clumsy missteps. In fact, the game's emotional climax is handled in a fairly disappointing way. After our heroes have to make a dicey moral choice, they basically blow off the implications of it immediately after it happens. Kinda ends the game on a sour note
- The game does a nice job of giving you some nice scenery and puzzle-solving in between all the frantic bloodshed. All-in-all, it's a well paced game
Playability & Replayability
- Although there's plenty of time spent on the plotline and character development, the combat is the game's bread and butter. The systems aren't too hard to pick up on but offer enough diversity that you'll be having a fun time by the time you'll unlock everything. Seriously, by the end of the game, Kratos becomes a tornado of sharp (or occasionally blunt) objects switching between weapons and stances while occasionally firing fire and ice
- The puzzles aren't very complex, which makes the fact that Atreus and Mimir constantly bark out the solutions a little insulting
- The game rewards careful observation and exploration with armfuls of currency and upgrade materials, so poke around as much as you can if you're interested in finding, crafting, and upgrading the best gear
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Look, I know you don't need some rando telling you the game is good. It (somehow) won GOTY over Red Dead Redemption 2 back when it released, so it's obviously a quality game. I just review everything I play
- As mentioned before, you can get the game looking good and running quite well if you take the time to optimize your settings
Final Verdict
- 9/10. It's not without some clear flaws, but it's still an excellent character action game with a great story and a deep, intuitive combat system. Its blemishes are easier to ignore when the core gameplay and presentation are as good as they are
- It's a AAA Sony game that came out a while ago, so there's been plenty of patches to make the it look amazing even if you're on slightly older hardware. If so, there's DLSS2 and FSR2 options available to try out. If not, crank up your settings and enjoy the show
- That said, once you're done tweaking the game, it looks spectacular. Some cutscenes and walking segments are honestly breathtaking
- The design of basically any character you encounter is fantastic, and the bosses are menacing and interesting. Some enemy designs do feel a little recycled, though
- If I had any complaint about the visual aesthetics of the game, it would have to do with the near omnipresence of caves and caverns. I know the God of War franchise dates back to the "greige" era of gaming where everything was varying shades of brown or gray, but I wish the devs would have strayed from that tradition
- The sound design and voice acting are spectacular. I was expecting to get annoyed by Atreus because I'm almost always skeptical of child voicework in games, but was pleasantly surprised by the competent work and good direction for that role
Story & Vibes
- This is much more mature that the earlier games in the franchise that used titties and gore to grab consumer attention. There's still plenty of gore, but the overall tone is much less juvenile than its PS2 roots
- The story is well-written and provided plenty of food for thought. In broad strokes, it's a there-and-back-again journey epic with a nice redemption arc for Kratos that features plenty of character development via father and son bonding
- Despite the refreshing maturity of the story and themes, there are a few clumsy missteps. In fact, the game's emotional climax is handled in a fairly disappointing way. After our heroes have to make a dicey moral choice, they basically blow off the implications of it immediately after it happens. Kinda ends the game on a sour note
- The game does a nice job of giving you some nice scenery and puzzle-solving in between all the frantic bloodshed. All-in-all, it's a well paced game
Playability & Replayability
- Although there's plenty of time spent on the plotline and character development, the combat is the game's bread and butter. The systems aren't too hard to pick up on but offer enough diversity that you'll be having a fun time by the time you'll unlock everything. Seriously, by the end of the game, Kratos becomes a tornado of sharp (or occasionally blunt) objects switching between weapons and stances while occasionally firing fire and ice
- The puzzles aren't very complex, which makes the fact that Atreus and Mimir constantly bark out the solutions a little insulting
- The game rewards careful observation and exploration with armfuls of currency and upgrade materials, so poke around as much as you can if you're interested in finding, crafting, and upgrading the best gear
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Look, I know you don't need some rando telling you the game is good. It (somehow) won GOTY over Red Dead Redemption 2 back when it released, so it's obviously a quality game. I just review everything I play
- As mentioned before, you can get the game looking good and running quite well if you take the time to optimize your settings
Final Verdict
- 9/10. It's not without some clear flaws, but it's still an excellent character action game with a great story and a deep, intuitive combat system. Its blemishes are easier to ignore when the core gameplay and presentation are as good as they are