I went in to this expecting "God of War 2018 but more" and I didn't know how right I'd end up being. This game has a lot going on, at times too much, both in story and gameplay.
A departure from 2018's very focused narrative, this one was a little bit all over the place at times. It worked well sometimes as an excuse to let us explore the world more and meet characters we otherwise might not, but other times it felt a little lost. This also affected the last section of the story and ending, which I felt was pretty rushed for what it was meant to be. Overall though, it had some nice twists and turns and I liked getting the chance to expand the world a bit with how many places you touch on, and even how this tied into gameplay (with controllable and companion characters).
On the gameplay side, things felt more varied than I remember 2018 being, which was nice and an attempt to address a perceived problem in 2018. People complained about the troll fight showing up a million times in that game, and here there wasn't anything so egregious. I did think a couple unique minibosses should have stayed unique here instead of being repeated 2 or 3 times though. It just takes away from that first encounter feeling like something special when there's another nearly identical fight later on. And this isn't a "there should be more unique minibosses" ask, I think there were plenty, they just could have cut some of the repeat fights instead. A couple times during the main story I felt like the pacing was a little off. There would be several combat or puzzle sections in a row instead of mixing them up more evenly, which led to some fatigue at times. I also thought the puzzles were a little much this time around, in the sense that there were 1 or 2 too many mechanics at play. This isn't a difficulty complaint, but more like "why is there a set of branches I can set on fire with R2, but also another that requires a Rune arrow setup first". Rune arrows in general had some of the slowest and most particularly precise puzzles that didn't feel like they worked as consistently as they should, especially for how long they take to setup your chain reaction solution. It didn't help when I was in the middle of executing the puzzle's solution and my companion would should out hints because I was taking too long.
Companion dialog in general was just a little too frequent, too, when it comes to suggestions or callouts during combat and exploring. One the one hand, I was impressed by how specific some of the hint lines were for every puzzle in the game which could only possibly be used one time, and on the other, you have "You're on fire! ...But you probably already knew that." Ugh. Same with Shield Strikes, the blue circles would appear and I'd already be in the middle of hitting the input, but I'd get a "Use a shield strike!" before it even got out. Some variation there or waiting more than half a second before shouting at me every time I get a status would've gone a long way (and also maybe slightly less quippy dialog for these, mostly for Atreus/Mimir/Odin's intro, though it generally wasn't too offensive).
The RPG mechanics were, like in 2018, just fine. They didn't feel super necessary but didn't get in the way too much. Following the trend, there was probably a little too much going on here too. You've got so many systems in play that you can customize and upgrade that I don't even want to list them all out. Again it feels like cutting one or two of these might have been some nice streamlining, like did we really need the amulet, and did that really need set bonuses? It didn't really feel like it added much that couldn't have been given elsewhere, like on armor or weapon hilts.
I want to commend this game for its accessibility options too, which were a good showcase of how those kinds of settings benefit everyone. I ended up using the auto pickup option for pretty much the entire game, which saved me the fatigue of spamming circle every time I defeated a pack of enemies. I could see it getting in the way during combat though, and I did get punished once or twice for picking up a health or rage stone at a bad time, but that was totally fine as a tradeoff to me. On the theme of customization, I almost recoiled when the Skyrim-style compass appeared for the first time and proclaimed itself a permanent immersion-breaking fixture in the HUD. So I was very glad that I could customize the HUD to not only disable it, but also assign a new motion (touchpad swipe right) that would make me face the direction of my current objective when I needed it instead of having to turn on the compass in case I got stuck. Also, I could turn off the annoying blurred background for subtitles. Props here for sure.
It goes without saying, but this is also a beautiful looking game with tons of polish and great presentation, just like 2018. The more varied locations really shine through here too, which are great to take in visually. Character performances were generally very good too (special shoutout to Ratatoskr), with some more unique takes on ones like Thor and Odin compared to their usual pop culture representations. The game, and 2018 for that matter, definitely fits in that "AAAA" or "AAA+" space that a handful of high budget and very visually impressive games occupy (like FF7R), which are really cool to just behold, even before you talk about actually playing through them.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game, and I got what I came for. I think I would put it ahead of 2018 if I had to rank them, though it wasn't entirely consistent in its quality for both story and gameplay. When it was at its best, it was captivating to follow and satisfying to play, but there were definitely some duller or more frustrating parts along the way. And based on my rating, you can tell that despite some of the negative points I've made, I have a very positive impression overall, and the highlights are really what I'll take away. Also, the attack plants in Vanaheim are awful.
Slight vague SPOILER: there is a new weapon in this game (what a shock!), for which the sequence of acquiring was a highlight. After getting it, I thought it was very cool and went to use it as much as possible, but I never felt like it was actually the best choice for almost any situation (compared to the other weapons which had clear spots to stand out). This could just be me not 100% clicking with it or missing some aspect, but I didn't totally get what its niche was meant to be, and I can't recall any fights or enemies (other than the obvious one) where I felt compelled to swap to this, other than maybe for long range.
ACTUAL SPOILER WARNING: I think Atreus's Ironwood sequence + its immediate follow-up was actually where I thought the game got more interesting and picked up a little, so it's interesting to see others saying that a slog or filler (though I'll concede there was one too many chores to do with Angrboda). Up til about that point, it was extremely just "more 2018" in the general structure. Swapping characters completely and getting a lot more story going on for Atreus's side kind of woke me up in a good way (though technically you do play as Atreus earlier, briefly). I also actually really liked Atreus's combat, especially later on with Ingrid, so that helped keep things fresh. The same happened with the main Asgard section (the second, I could take or leave) where it was a cool way to expand the world and pair up with different characters that you just couldn't get with Kratos. I saw someone compare Ironwood with the Cloud & Aerith section of FF7R which was interesting to me too (more like "downtime," new characters and setting that get you away from what you've been used to up til that point, etc). Angrboda was a nice character and it was cool to see Atreus get to be himself outside of his dad's watchful eye.
A departure from 2018's very focused narrative, this one was a little bit all over the place at times. It worked well sometimes as an excuse to let us explore the world more and meet characters we otherwise might not, but other times it felt a little lost. This also affected the last section of the story and ending, which I felt was pretty rushed for what it was meant to be. Overall though, it had some nice twists and turns and I liked getting the chance to expand the world a bit with how many places you touch on, and even how this tied into gameplay (with controllable and companion characters).
On the gameplay side, things felt more varied than I remember 2018 being, which was nice and an attempt to address a perceived problem in 2018. People complained about the troll fight showing up a million times in that game, and here there wasn't anything so egregious. I did think a couple unique minibosses should have stayed unique here instead of being repeated 2 or 3 times though. It just takes away from that first encounter feeling like something special when there's another nearly identical fight later on. And this isn't a "there should be more unique minibosses" ask, I think there were plenty, they just could have cut some of the repeat fights instead. A couple times during the main story I felt like the pacing was a little off. There would be several combat or puzzle sections in a row instead of mixing them up more evenly, which led to some fatigue at times. I also thought the puzzles were a little much this time around, in the sense that there were 1 or 2 too many mechanics at play. This isn't a difficulty complaint, but more like "why is there a set of branches I can set on fire with R2, but also another that requires a Rune arrow setup first". Rune arrows in general had some of the slowest and most particularly precise puzzles that didn't feel like they worked as consistently as they should, especially for how long they take to setup your chain reaction solution. It didn't help when I was in the middle of executing the puzzle's solution and my companion would should out hints because I was taking too long.
Companion dialog in general was just a little too frequent, too, when it comes to suggestions or callouts during combat and exploring. One the one hand, I was impressed by how specific some of the hint lines were for every puzzle in the game which could only possibly be used one time, and on the other, you have "You're on fire! ...But you probably already knew that." Ugh. Same with Shield Strikes, the blue circles would appear and I'd already be in the middle of hitting the input, but I'd get a "Use a shield strike!" before it even got out. Some variation there or waiting more than half a second before shouting at me every time I get a status would've gone a long way (and also maybe slightly less quippy dialog for these, mostly for Atreus/Mimir/Odin's intro, though it generally wasn't too offensive).
The RPG mechanics were, like in 2018, just fine. They didn't feel super necessary but didn't get in the way too much. Following the trend, there was probably a little too much going on here too. You've got so many systems in play that you can customize and upgrade that I don't even want to list them all out. Again it feels like cutting one or two of these might have been some nice streamlining, like did we really need the amulet, and did that really need set bonuses? It didn't really feel like it added much that couldn't have been given elsewhere, like on armor or weapon hilts.
I want to commend this game for its accessibility options too, which were a good showcase of how those kinds of settings benefit everyone. I ended up using the auto pickup option for pretty much the entire game, which saved me the fatigue of spamming circle every time I defeated a pack of enemies. I could see it getting in the way during combat though, and I did get punished once or twice for picking up a health or rage stone at a bad time, but that was totally fine as a tradeoff to me. On the theme of customization, I almost recoiled when the Skyrim-style compass appeared for the first time and proclaimed itself a permanent immersion-breaking fixture in the HUD. So I was very glad that I could customize the HUD to not only disable it, but also assign a new motion (touchpad swipe right) that would make me face the direction of my current objective when I needed it instead of having to turn on the compass in case I got stuck. Also, I could turn off the annoying blurred background for subtitles. Props here for sure.
It goes without saying, but this is also a beautiful looking game with tons of polish and great presentation, just like 2018. The more varied locations really shine through here too, which are great to take in visually. Character performances were generally very good too (special shoutout to Ratatoskr), with some more unique takes on ones like Thor and Odin compared to their usual pop culture representations. The game, and 2018 for that matter, definitely fits in that "AAAA" or "AAA+" space that a handful of high budget and very visually impressive games occupy (like FF7R), which are really cool to just behold, even before you talk about actually playing through them.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game, and I got what I came for. I think I would put it ahead of 2018 if I had to rank them, though it wasn't entirely consistent in its quality for both story and gameplay. When it was at its best, it was captivating to follow and satisfying to play, but there were definitely some duller or more frustrating parts along the way. And based on my rating, you can tell that despite some of the negative points I've made, I have a very positive impression overall, and the highlights are really what I'll take away. Also, the attack plants in Vanaheim are awful.
Slight vague SPOILER: there is a new weapon in this game (what a shock!), for which the sequence of acquiring was a highlight. After getting it, I thought it was very cool and went to use it as much as possible, but I never felt like it was actually the best choice for almost any situation (compared to the other weapons which had clear spots to stand out). This could just be me not 100% clicking with it or missing some aspect, but I didn't totally get what its niche was meant to be, and I can't recall any fights or enemies (other than the obvious one) where I felt compelled to swap to this, other than maybe for long range.
ACTUAL SPOILER WARNING: I think Atreus's Ironwood sequence + its immediate follow-up was actually where I thought the game got more interesting and picked up a little, so it's interesting to see others saying that a slog or filler (though I'll concede there was one too many chores to do with Angrboda). Up til about that point, it was extremely just "more 2018" in the general structure. Swapping characters completely and getting a lot more story going on for Atreus's side kind of woke me up in a good way (though technically you do play as Atreus earlier, briefly). I also actually really liked Atreus's combat, especially later on with Ingrid, so that helped keep things fresh. The same happened with the main Asgard section (the second, I could take or leave) where it was a cool way to expand the world and pair up with different characters that you just couldn't get with Kratos. I saw someone compare Ironwood with the Cloud & Aerith section of FF7R which was interesting to me too (more like "downtime," new characters and setting that get you away from what you've been used to up til that point, etc). Angrboda was a nice character and it was cool to see Atreus get to be himself outside of his dad's watchful eye.