Probably the most overrated game in recent memory. I don't dislike this game by any means and from what I played the story, characters and world are all great. The problem lies within the gameplay. It just isn't fun. Once you unlock each sword stance the game becomes too easy and you can just turn your brain off and efortlessly mow down any enemy that comes after you, even in hard mode. The stealth isn't much better either with minial options within movement and distractions making it more annoying to do stealth than rewarding or entertaining. I will come back to this game one day and complete it once and for all but for now it will remain a game which unfortunately severely disappointed me.

A few years after playing it for the first time and I have no idea what I was on about this game is amazing

After over 50 hours of playtime and achieving the platinum trophy I can confidently say that God of War Ragnorok is a masterpiece which exceeds its predecessor in every way. The story, characters, exploration, spectacle, gameplay, music, graphics, voice acting, everything is vastly improved upon from the last game.

Long gone are the tiresome and repetitive combat with the same enemies and the constant, annoying traversal up and down walls, Kratos now has a whole arsenal of new moves, abilities and weapons which makes combat and traversal both much more fun. Then when you add on the plethora of new enemies introduced to the game and the massively improved boss fights AND the significant improvements on the builds you can make through the games RPG elements, Ragnork's combat becomes something that far exceeds God of War 2018's.

And then there's the characters, of course Kratos and Atreus are back and Cristopher Judge and Sunny Suljic both give incredible performances as their respective characters, especially Christopher Judge who can portray an astounding amount of emotion through simple body language, grunts and facial expressions. His performance however does not overshadow Sunny’s, Atreus goes through an amazing arc throughout this story and his and Kratos’ relationship was a pleasure to watch develop. Danielle Bisutti is also giving her all in her portrayal of Freya, I don't think she quite reaches the peaks that she did in 2018, however that's due to her not being given the opportunity to do so rather than a fault of her acting abilities, and Freya remains an incredible character nonetheless. Then there’s Brok and Sindri, the two comedic relief dwarves from the first game who are given much more in this game, both are given more in depth backstories and real character arcs which makes them much more significant characters and their emotional scenes that much more impactful.

Then of course there's the new characters, all of which are just as good as those before them, especially Thor and Odin. The two main antagonists of the game are perfect, Thor is given actual depth beyond a mindless and cruel killer and his relationship to his daughter and surprisingly Atreus were both touching, and the parallels created between him and Kratos make for more great character development from both of these murderous Gods. Then there’s Odin, the main antagonist, the Allfather, what is there to say? Odin is perfect from start to finish, he’s not some big grand all seeing deity who poses a massive threat to our characters, instead he's a cunning and intelligent mob boss who uses his superior intellect to manipulate the world and story of the game in order to reach the best possible outcome for him, whos plans where both highly intelligent and ended with one of the greatest twists in any game I have ever played.

God of War Ragnorok is an incredible feat of gaming that is near impossible to top, it’s an incredible, one of a kind masterpiece that everyone should experience once in their lives. 5/5, easily my game of the year and definitely one of my favourite games ever made.