What a sequel should be. Masterful character work, and some great boss fights. Improvements on the first game in terms of gameplay and enemies, but I play games for the stories and man... elite. I finished the game on a binge which was so cinematic. Christopher Judge as Kratos is a defining role in fiction. The entire Norse Pantheon of characters that come into play here are rich and deep characters. Atreus is fun and a welcome addition to gameplay. I love it.

Something about these games that still bugs me, which is so nitpicky but I can't get over it, is that bro can't jump. I may be able to fight Odin himself, but Valhalla forbid I need to hurdle over a stone to explore a little bit.

This spider-man universe is the best spider-man universe. Yuri is THE Spider-man. Nadji Jeter is as much the perfect Miles as Shameik Moore. Their performances carry, and make up for a lot of the weaknesses. The story does have its flaws, but it is really doing SO much that it's easy to look past them because it somehow all comes together. Venom is so great, the gameplay is still fun, the world is vast, it takes ADVANTAGE of the fact that it's a next gen game, and you can tell that the devs worked at making sure each moment was an experience that pushed boundaries.

My literal only issue with this game is the reduced emphasis on stealth and that missed the web bomb and trip mine as gadgets.