theravensfall
3 reviews liked by theravensfall
This review contains spoilers
This review will contain full story spoilers.
I had been looking for a reason to replay this game and figured this was as good a chance as any. So I am reviewing this as the whole game and I will talk about the "Remaster" at the end. This is undoubtably one of the most divisive games of all time, but as someone who has always liked this game I am happy to see that since its release a lot more people are coming around to it. I want to take a look at the controversial narrative choices that this game made and give my own opinion on them I have a lot to say here so this will be a long one.
I think this should be considered as one of the most over hated games of all time. The vicious backlash that this got upon its release baffles me as when I first played it I found it to be one of the most harrowing and engrossing stories that I had ever seen. This game makes you feel empty by the time it is over. A brutal depiction of what the thirst for revenge can do to people, pair that with an already ruined apocalyptic world and you have yourself one of the most emotionally gut wrenching stories that has ever been seen in a videogame.
Straight away lets talk about one of the biggest controversies, what happened to Joel. Within the first two hours of the story, Joel is killed by the new protagonist Abby. He is killed in a brutal way with Ellie unfortunately forced to watch as Abby beats him to death. This was an incredibly ballsy move to put so early into the game, as far as i can tell most people thought that Joel was going to die in this game but from the hatred poured out online most people were not happy. In my own opinion, I don't have a problem with Joel's death, it is brutal don't get me wrong but it does make a lot of sense, Joel had crossed a lot of people, someone was bound to catch him eventually. It pushes Ellie's character in the direction she needs to go in this game and i think if the ending was handled a bit better this wouldn't be as controversial is it is.
The next and probably biggest controversy is having to play as Abby. Now when i first played this game i had a very similar reaction to most people so this time through i looked at it differently. When you really think about it Ellie and Abby are doing pretty much the same thing. Ellie is hunting down Abby for killing Joel, as Abby hunted down Joel for killing her father. Now i do think that the writers tried to hard to make Abby sympathetic which they should of realised was never going to work but her section of gameplay is just as enjoyable as the first half, so much so that it feels like two completely different games. By day 2 of Abby's section I had it felt like all the stuff with Ellie was part of a different game. While Abby's character in my opinion isn't anywhere close to Ellie's she still has a half decent arc. One complaint i have about Abby's section is having to fight Ellie, The fact that anyone working on this game thought that they had gave Abby enough development for players to like her over Ellie is insane and it is a choice that still boggles my mind.
Lastly, the ending, and this is one i fully agree with. I do believe that the ending was a cop out and should of been handled in a much different way, my biggest problem is that it completely 180's Ellie's motive out of nowhere. When you take control of Ellie during the Santa Barbara section she is obsessed with finding and killing Abby, she gave up everything she had to finish what she started, only at the last second to let her go. This choice makes no sense to me as the writers could of easily had the same ending which i think would of made it hit harder. Going down the whole "Revenge doesn't change anything" route. Having Ellie kill Abby but still being burdened with everything she has done which would still give that "It was all for nothing" ending but at least players would of had the satisfaction of avenging Joel. Instead they go down the forgiveness route, which I originally took for one of those hard pill to swallow endings which make you consider your own morals but this time upon completion i questioned it a lot more because Ellie has killed hundreds of people to get to Abby, but only takes the forgiveness route at the last second. If anyone disagrees feel free to try and explain why this was the right choice but to me this just seems like a strange choice to make, probably due to Druckmann's obsession with Abby and probably wanted to keep her alive to be the protagonist if there is to be a 3rd game.
Besides these moments I think this game is almost perfect. The story is told in strange ways, struggles with pacing at points and has an ending that falls flat, but the game still manages to tell an amazing story. With great characters and performances especially Ashley Johnson as Ellie who gives a spectacular performance. Some side characters of note that i think stood out are Lev, Tommy and Dina who all add a lot to the part of the story they are in. Tommy especially is a fucking terminator in this game.
Gameplay wise it keeps the great resource management paired with realistic shooting. Adding small differences between both characters is a good way to keep it from feeling stale. Like Ellie being able to kill clickers without having to craft shiv's. Each character gets a specific arsenal as well which keeps everything feeling different.
Visually this game is breath-taking. Speaking for both games here as the difference is almost unnoticeable. The attention to detail is phenomenal with stuff like cuts healing across the multiple days. No complaints at all here.
Now to talk about this "Remaster". Did this 4 year old game which was already a spectacle on last gen hardware need a remaster. No. But from what i have played of it, the no return mode is a lot of fun and makes up for the £10 price tag alone for me. Other neat stuff like skins and the lost levels are good editions too. I really think this should of been called Directors cut or something as I couldn't see any difference beside a bit of a better frame rate. Only looking at the remaster its no higher than a 5 out of 10. The No return game mode is good but calling it a remaster is a bit of a strange move considering it really didn't need one. But the £10 price tag is reasonable and at least they aren't charging 70 like they did for the last remake.
Overall, The Last of Us part 2 will forever be controversial, it is one of those games that will no one will share the same opinion of. However in my opinion looking past some poor writing choices and a bit to much forced sympathetically character moments this game is amazing and is one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had.
I had been looking for a reason to replay this game and figured this was as good a chance as any. So I am reviewing this as the whole game and I will talk about the "Remaster" at the end. This is undoubtably one of the most divisive games of all time, but as someone who has always liked this game I am happy to see that since its release a lot more people are coming around to it. I want to take a look at the controversial narrative choices that this game made and give my own opinion on them I have a lot to say here so this will be a long one.
I think this should be considered as one of the most over hated games of all time. The vicious backlash that this got upon its release baffles me as when I first played it I found it to be one of the most harrowing and engrossing stories that I had ever seen. This game makes you feel empty by the time it is over. A brutal depiction of what the thirst for revenge can do to people, pair that with an already ruined apocalyptic world and you have yourself one of the most emotionally gut wrenching stories that has ever been seen in a videogame.
Straight away lets talk about one of the biggest controversies, what happened to Joel. Within the first two hours of the story, Joel is killed by the new protagonist Abby. He is killed in a brutal way with Ellie unfortunately forced to watch as Abby beats him to death. This was an incredibly ballsy move to put so early into the game, as far as i can tell most people thought that Joel was going to die in this game but from the hatred poured out online most people were not happy. In my own opinion, I don't have a problem with Joel's death, it is brutal don't get me wrong but it does make a lot of sense, Joel had crossed a lot of people, someone was bound to catch him eventually. It pushes Ellie's character in the direction she needs to go in this game and i think if the ending was handled a bit better this wouldn't be as controversial is it is.
The next and probably biggest controversy is having to play as Abby. Now when i first played this game i had a very similar reaction to most people so this time through i looked at it differently. When you really think about it Ellie and Abby are doing pretty much the same thing. Ellie is hunting down Abby for killing Joel, as Abby hunted down Joel for killing her father. Now i do think that the writers tried to hard to make Abby sympathetic which they should of realised was never going to work but her section of gameplay is just as enjoyable as the first half, so much so that it feels like two completely different games. By day 2 of Abby's section I had it felt like all the stuff with Ellie was part of a different game. While Abby's character in my opinion isn't anywhere close to Ellie's she still has a half decent arc. One complaint i have about Abby's section is having to fight Ellie, The fact that anyone working on this game thought that they had gave Abby enough development for players to like her over Ellie is insane and it is a choice that still boggles my mind.
Lastly, the ending, and this is one i fully agree with. I do believe that the ending was a cop out and should of been handled in a much different way, my biggest problem is that it completely 180's Ellie's motive out of nowhere. When you take control of Ellie during the Santa Barbara section she is obsessed with finding and killing Abby, she gave up everything she had to finish what she started, only at the last second to let her go. This choice makes no sense to me as the writers could of easily had the same ending which i think would of made it hit harder. Going down the whole "Revenge doesn't change anything" route. Having Ellie kill Abby but still being burdened with everything she has done which would still give that "It was all for nothing" ending but at least players would of had the satisfaction of avenging Joel. Instead they go down the forgiveness route, which I originally took for one of those hard pill to swallow endings which make you consider your own morals but this time upon completion i questioned it a lot more because Ellie has killed hundreds of people to get to Abby, but only takes the forgiveness route at the last second. If anyone disagrees feel free to try and explain why this was the right choice but to me this just seems like a strange choice to make, probably due to Druckmann's obsession with Abby and probably wanted to keep her alive to be the protagonist if there is to be a 3rd game.
Besides these moments I think this game is almost perfect. The story is told in strange ways, struggles with pacing at points and has an ending that falls flat, but the game still manages to tell an amazing story. With great characters and performances especially Ashley Johnson as Ellie who gives a spectacular performance. Some side characters of note that i think stood out are Lev, Tommy and Dina who all add a lot to the part of the story they are in. Tommy especially is a fucking terminator in this game.
Gameplay wise it keeps the great resource management paired with realistic shooting. Adding small differences between both characters is a good way to keep it from feeling stale. Like Ellie being able to kill clickers without having to craft shiv's. Each character gets a specific arsenal as well which keeps everything feeling different.
Visually this game is breath-taking. Speaking for both games here as the difference is almost unnoticeable. The attention to detail is phenomenal with stuff like cuts healing across the multiple days. No complaints at all here.
Now to talk about this "Remaster". Did this 4 year old game which was already a spectacle on last gen hardware need a remaster. No. But from what i have played of it, the no return mode is a lot of fun and makes up for the £10 price tag alone for me. Other neat stuff like skins and the lost levels are good editions too. I really think this should of been called Directors cut or something as I couldn't see any difference beside a bit of a better frame rate. Only looking at the remaster its no higher than a 5 out of 10. The No return game mode is good but calling it a remaster is a bit of a strange move considering it really didn't need one. But the £10 price tag is reasonable and at least they aren't charging 70 like they did for the last remake.
Overall, The Last of Us part 2 will forever be controversial, it is one of those games that will no one will share the same opinion of. However in my opinion looking past some poor writing choices and a bit to much forced sympathetically character moments this game is amazing and is one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had.
Hey gamers
I'm not interested in talking about the story. The discourse surrounding it continues to be a toxic cesspit 3 and a half years later. I have my issues with it, but I like it overall. I admire stories that are challenging and ambitious in its narrative, themes, and subject matter.
First, while I agree that the term "remastered" is quite generous, I can't get on board with the hate. The bonus content alone is enough to warrant the 15 CAD price for the upgrade. You're not paying the full 65 CAD for this if you already own a copy of the original; if you don't, then guess what? You can still buy the original version which is currently 50 CAD. That's right, the price difference between the two versions is the same as the upgrade price. I promise you that if all this bonus content was released as a DLC package for PS5 owners priced at 15 CAD, which is exactly what this release is, then nobody would bat an eye; but people are all up-in-arms over this for reasons I don't understand. If you're still upset about that, then where were you in 2014 when The Last of Us Remastered came out? A whopping 13 months after the first game, Naughty Dog re-released The Last of Us on the PS4 with the exact same goals as this PS5 Part II re-release - upgrade the game for the next-gen, improve the graphics/framerate, and include bonus content - however, there was NO reduced price for the upgrade. If you already owned the PS3 version and wanted the remastered upgrade for a reduced price, well too bad. You could only own the PS4 version if you coughed up 60 CAD; no exceptions. Where was all the hate for that? I haven't the foggiest idea.
Anyway, let's look at the additions and improvements to the game, starting with the core game. The DualSense usage was in line with the Part I release. There's less overall vibration due to the decrease in the bombastic moments of the first game, and it coincides with the game's more somber and quiet tone. As for the visual improvements, I'll be honest and say I didn't notice much aside from the frame rate increase. One thing I found annoying is, same with the original version, there's this weird digital sheen coming off the edges of most textures throughout the entire game. I'm 90% sure that it's chromatic aberration, but there's more blue than the rest of the colour spectrum, perhaps due to the cooler temperature of the natural lighting. If this was in Part I, I didn't notice, and no tweaking in the display menu seemed to change it, so idk. (After I wrote this, I checked the photo mode settings and the default chromatic aberration setting is 53 instead of 50, which is slightly toward the blue end of the aberration, so that leads me to believe that this is the case during gameplay as well. Still haven't figured out how to change it though.)
This really has nothing to do with the remaster, I just felt like pointing it out: There's one shot that's always stuck with me for the past few years, and it's this one with Ellie waking up on day 3. This is the first time I've genuinely been this impressed by a game's visuals that I thought to myself "this looks like real life" since playing the EA Battlefront back in 2015 and seeing individual snowflakes land on my character's blaster.
Now let's look at the new content:
Guitar free play. I wasn't expecting much from this at all, and my expectations were met. All the cosmetic changes don't do much for me, though I like that you can play different guitars and use different pedals. I think a missed opportunity is the ability to customize your chord wheels. All you have are 5 chords wheels which correspond to the chords in A, B, C, Db, and Eb major. If you're trying to play a song that isn't in those keys, you'll have to keep switching between chord wheels, and it's a pain. Customizing these wheels would improve things way more. If that was an option and more chords were added on top of that (suspended, power, maj7/min7, etc.), then I think guitar free play would be worthwhile, but, idk, at that point you're better off spending your time playing Rocksmith or a dedicated guitar simulator instead. As it stands now, guitar free play is just a gimmick that I never returned to once I fiddled around with it for a few minutes.
Commentary tracks. I'll admit, I'm not much of a commentary fan since it sucks me out of the moment, but the few scenes I watched with it were pretty interesting. I think the next time I replay both games, I'll give their applicable commentary tracks a go. At the very least, I appreciate the addition.
New skins. I really don't care much about cosmetics for linear, narratively-focused games. I find that they pull me out of the moment, especially in a story as grounded as this. I'll go crazy with them in No Return though, and I, again, appreciate the addition.
Lost levels. These are basically deleted scenes but for video games, and I found them really interesting. The commentary sections were super cool. I wouldn't mind there being some of these in the story mode for the game designers to add commentary during gameplay as we only have cutscene commentary. I love stuff like this that provides insight to how these kids of projects are made, and I'm excited to watch the Grounded II documentary next week. Though I find it kind of funny how the three levels shown here were removed for pacing reasons when the game's pacing ain't all that great to begin with.
And that leaves us with the real meat of the bonus content, the No Return mode. I am really enjoying this so far. It's a completely different experience than the combat of the story mode. In the main story, around 75% of the combat encounters can be bypassed without killing anyone by sneaking or running to the exit (as long as you know where it is). As someone who has played this five times now, I do this a lot to save resources. You cannot do that in No Return - you are forced into combat. This, along with mods, gambits, and generous resources, change the way combat flows, and each encounter is different from the last. The challenges give you something to work towards so that the mode doesn't get stale. I guess my only concern is that the mode will get stale once I complete the challenges, but more can easily be added later on, so I'm not sufficiently worried.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on this re-release. The story is what it is for me, but I appreciate most of the bonus content, and No Return will provide me a replay value that the story mode doesn't.
God help Kaitlyn Dever.
I'm not interested in talking about the story. The discourse surrounding it continues to be a toxic cesspit 3 and a half years later. I have my issues with it, but I like it overall. I admire stories that are challenging and ambitious in its narrative, themes, and subject matter.
First, while I agree that the term "remastered" is quite generous, I can't get on board with the hate. The bonus content alone is enough to warrant the 15 CAD price for the upgrade. You're not paying the full 65 CAD for this if you already own a copy of the original; if you don't, then guess what? You can still buy the original version which is currently 50 CAD. That's right, the price difference between the two versions is the same as the upgrade price. I promise you that if all this bonus content was released as a DLC package for PS5 owners priced at 15 CAD, which is exactly what this release is, then nobody would bat an eye; but people are all up-in-arms over this for reasons I don't understand. If you're still upset about that, then where were you in 2014 when The Last of Us Remastered came out? A whopping 13 months after the first game, Naughty Dog re-released The Last of Us on the PS4 with the exact same goals as this PS5 Part II re-release - upgrade the game for the next-gen, improve the graphics/framerate, and include bonus content - however, there was NO reduced price for the upgrade. If you already owned the PS3 version and wanted the remastered upgrade for a reduced price, well too bad. You could only own the PS4 version if you coughed up 60 CAD; no exceptions. Where was all the hate for that? I haven't the foggiest idea.
Anyway, let's look at the additions and improvements to the game, starting with the core game. The DualSense usage was in line with the Part I release. There's less overall vibration due to the decrease in the bombastic moments of the first game, and it coincides with the game's more somber and quiet tone. As for the visual improvements, I'll be honest and say I didn't notice much aside from the frame rate increase. One thing I found annoying is, same with the original version, there's this weird digital sheen coming off the edges of most textures throughout the entire game. I'm 90% sure that it's chromatic aberration, but there's more blue than the rest of the colour spectrum, perhaps due to the cooler temperature of the natural lighting. If this was in Part I, I didn't notice, and no tweaking in the display menu seemed to change it, so idk. (After I wrote this, I checked the photo mode settings and the default chromatic aberration setting is 53 instead of 50, which is slightly toward the blue end of the aberration, so that leads me to believe that this is the case during gameplay as well. Still haven't figured out how to change it though.)
This really has nothing to do with the remaster, I just felt like pointing it out: There's one shot that's always stuck with me for the past few years, and it's this one with Ellie waking up on day 3. This is the first time I've genuinely been this impressed by a game's visuals that I thought to myself "this looks like real life" since playing the EA Battlefront back in 2015 and seeing individual snowflakes land on my character's blaster.
Now let's look at the new content:
Guitar free play. I wasn't expecting much from this at all, and my expectations were met. All the cosmetic changes don't do much for me, though I like that you can play different guitars and use different pedals. I think a missed opportunity is the ability to customize your chord wheels. All you have are 5 chords wheels which correspond to the chords in A, B, C, Db, and Eb major. If you're trying to play a song that isn't in those keys, you'll have to keep switching between chord wheels, and it's a pain. Customizing these wheels would improve things way more. If that was an option and more chords were added on top of that (suspended, power, maj7/min7, etc.), then I think guitar free play would be worthwhile, but, idk, at that point you're better off spending your time playing Rocksmith or a dedicated guitar simulator instead. As it stands now, guitar free play is just a gimmick that I never returned to once I fiddled around with it for a few minutes.
Commentary tracks. I'll admit, I'm not much of a commentary fan since it sucks me out of the moment, but the few scenes I watched with it were pretty interesting. I think the next time I replay both games, I'll give their applicable commentary tracks a go. At the very least, I appreciate the addition.
New skins. I really don't care much about cosmetics for linear, narratively-focused games. I find that they pull me out of the moment, especially in a story as grounded as this. I'll go crazy with them in No Return though, and I, again, appreciate the addition.
Lost levels. These are basically deleted scenes but for video games, and I found them really interesting. The commentary sections were super cool. I wouldn't mind there being some of these in the story mode for the game designers to add commentary during gameplay as we only have cutscene commentary. I love stuff like this that provides insight to how these kids of projects are made, and I'm excited to watch the Grounded II documentary next week. Though I find it kind of funny how the three levels shown here were removed for pacing reasons when the game's pacing ain't all that great to begin with.
And that leaves us with the real meat of the bonus content, the No Return mode. I am really enjoying this so far. It's a completely different experience than the combat of the story mode. In the main story, around 75% of the combat encounters can be bypassed without killing anyone by sneaking or running to the exit (as long as you know where it is). As someone who has played this five times now, I do this a lot to save resources. You cannot do that in No Return - you are forced into combat. This, along with mods, gambits, and generous resources, change the way combat flows, and each encounter is different from the last. The challenges give you something to work towards so that the mode doesn't get stale. I guess my only concern is that the mode will get stale once I complete the challenges, but more can easily be added later on, so I'm not sufficiently worried.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on this re-release. The story is what it is for me, but I appreciate most of the bonus content, and No Return will provide me a replay value that the story mode doesn't.
God help Kaitlyn Dever.
God of War Ragnarök
2022
This review contains spoilers
I'll do my best to avoid specifics but there will be spoilers in here
In almost every way this game manages to improve upon the first. Despite the few issues I had with 2018 I thought it would be hard to top it, but Santa Monica managed to do it.
Starting with combat, this is simply an improved version of the first game. The axe and blades of chaos are almost identical, except for a few new skill and mechanics. One weird thing is that this game decided to do the Metroid sequel thing of having you lose all your abilities from the first game, even though Kratos apparently spent all the time in between preparing and training. Weird but not a huge issue. The combat feels just as great as it did in the first god of war.
One major change is the inclusion of a third weapon. While it wasn't what I was expecting, it actually fits Kratos perfectly as pretty much the first weapon in the series that is truly his own (the blades of chaos I don't consider to be his own) while fitting with where he came from. It's also incredibly fun to use and has some great unique mechanics around it.
Another major change is that there are now sections where you play as Atreus. While not as fun Kratos in my opinion, he did offer a unique playstyle more suited to ranged combat. And seeing things from his perspective I think helped with the story.
The combat helper system with atreus also returns and its also great like the last one as their assistance is helpful and you rarely ever have to worry about them in combat.
My major complaint from the first game, being a lack of enemy and especially boss variety, has been more than addressed. There are a large range of enemy archetypes in the game, with multiple types within them. they also aren't just reskins either and have unique attacks, strategies and status effects. This kept the game from feeling boring or that it was too long, and later encounters would still keep introducing new difficult enemy types. There is also a strong variety of bosses and minibosses to be fought. Most of them were great bosses and good spectacles, although a couple felt straight up unfair to fight, either because the combat system didn't feel like it was designed for that kind of fight, or because one particular boss barely telegraphed their attacks and would change attack patterns (At least on give me no mercy, which I played the game on) you pretty much had to die a couple of times to learn how to fight them.
This is a massive game, with a ton of side content. As was hoped for after the first game, all 9 realms are accessible, and 7 of them freely explorable, though some more than others. They are well varied and tend to have unique enemy types and hazards. A few of these have large open areas to explore with side quests that have better stories than the ones in the first game and feel more unique and worthwhile. Of course these also provide ample opportunity to listen to the conversations with Mimir, which are just as delightful as they were in the first game. These open areas individually werent too big, and felt very dense in terms of activities and secrets to find. The other good thing is this felt like like a Ubisoft open world tick box game like how Horizon and Ghost of Tsushima felt. One thing I particularly enjoyed was how completing some side quests actually made changes to the environment, giving the feeling like you're doing something that matters to the world. I will say I prefer the Valkyries from 2018 a lot more to the Berserkers in this one.
When it comes to the story itself, I'm still unsure of whether I like this better than the first game or not, however I find myself leaning towards liking it better than the first. The first game had a lot of "your princess is in another castle" moments, where you progress to where you think you need to go, then learn you were wrong and have to go elsewhere or you find yourself blocked then go somewhere else to get something then backtrack and come back later. In Ragnarok it felt more like you accomplish goals you set out to do and that the story is actually advancing more than it did in the first one.
It's still amazing to see Kratos evolve from this shitty one note character (who admittedly was rather tragic and earned all that rage) to one of the best characters in videogames. His relationship with Atreus felt fully realized and believable here, and there were many emotional moments that almost got me (it succeeded at the very end). Atreus himself has vastly improved as a character from the first game, sure he was a kid and that's how kids act, but it was still annoying, and his arc was resolved a little too quickly for my taste, however here he is struggling with the knowledge of Kratos' impending death, and combined with secrets he learns and is forced to keep concerning the Giants, we see a believable internal struggle.
We also see the Norse mythology aspects more realized here, seeing all the 9 realms, Vanir, Aesir and giant characters. As with the first its great to see how GoW subverts mythology, and I think this is done largely well here. While Thor is what I expected based on the descriptions in the first game for the most part, I think his character is done really well here. Odin was a very surprising portrayal, but the idea of this Gaslighting mob boss kind of character grew on me. It also helps that every performance in this game is excellent, the dwarfs, Freya, the Aesir, Kratos and Atreus are all amazing. The game also does the "one take" gimmick which is also very well done here, and has some creative transitions.
I think where I was let down was two points in the story. Atreus's time in Ironwood, while cool, felt very weirdly paced to me, like it took a lot longer than it should have. Although Angrboda was a very fun character and I really liked her chemistry with Atreus
The other point was the final battle of Ragnarok. It felt rather underwhelming to me, like I was expecting this grand battle but all we really got to see was us running through narrow pathways largely fighting enemies on our own. I also wasn't much of a fan how the things we worked towards were almost instantly shut down, like the realm towers instantly getting destroyed and us losing our reinforcements, and when the Ragnarok beast shows up we decide not to use it (makes it feel like wasted time and effort). however the boss fights and character interactions in this section very much helped make up for it.
The ending of the game was very well done and emotional in my opinion, and made for a strong conclusion to the Norse saga. It leaves the future wide open for this franchise if they choose to continue it.
There's a strong post game as well, with new world events to do and side quests, including the proper final ending to the game which was also fairly emotional, and a great payoff to what felt like a random throwaway moment earlier in the game. There are also very challenging (and sometimes unfair) optional bosses and the opportunity to find and talk to characters after the end of the game for some unique dialogue, including a surprise character I wont spoil.
Overall this is an excellent game that anyone with a playstation needs to play and experience for themselves. Few things here and there keep it from being perfect but they're still far outweighed by the good.
In almost every way this game manages to improve upon the first. Despite the few issues I had with 2018 I thought it would be hard to top it, but Santa Monica managed to do it.
Starting with combat, this is simply an improved version of the first game. The axe and blades of chaos are almost identical, except for a few new skill and mechanics. One weird thing is that this game decided to do the Metroid sequel thing of having you lose all your abilities from the first game, even though Kratos apparently spent all the time in between preparing and training. Weird but not a huge issue. The combat feels just as great as it did in the first god of war.
One major change is the inclusion of a third weapon. While it wasn't what I was expecting, it actually fits Kratos perfectly as pretty much the first weapon in the series that is truly his own (the blades of chaos I don't consider to be his own) while fitting with where he came from. It's also incredibly fun to use and has some great unique mechanics around it.
Another major change is that there are now sections where you play as Atreus. While not as fun Kratos in my opinion, he did offer a unique playstyle more suited to ranged combat. And seeing things from his perspective I think helped with the story.
The combat helper system with atreus also returns and its also great like the last one as their assistance is helpful and you rarely ever have to worry about them in combat.
My major complaint from the first game, being a lack of enemy and especially boss variety, has been more than addressed. There are a large range of enemy archetypes in the game, with multiple types within them. they also aren't just reskins either and have unique attacks, strategies and status effects. This kept the game from feeling boring or that it was too long, and later encounters would still keep introducing new difficult enemy types. There is also a strong variety of bosses and minibosses to be fought. Most of them were great bosses and good spectacles, although a couple felt straight up unfair to fight, either because the combat system didn't feel like it was designed for that kind of fight, or because one particular boss barely telegraphed their attacks and would change attack patterns (At least on give me no mercy, which I played the game on) you pretty much had to die a couple of times to learn how to fight them.
This is a massive game, with a ton of side content. As was hoped for after the first game, all 9 realms are accessible, and 7 of them freely explorable, though some more than others. They are well varied and tend to have unique enemy types and hazards. A few of these have large open areas to explore with side quests that have better stories than the ones in the first game and feel more unique and worthwhile. Of course these also provide ample opportunity to listen to the conversations with Mimir, which are just as delightful as they were in the first game. These open areas individually werent too big, and felt very dense in terms of activities and secrets to find. The other good thing is this felt like like a Ubisoft open world tick box game like how Horizon and Ghost of Tsushima felt. One thing I particularly enjoyed was how completing some side quests actually made changes to the environment, giving the feeling like you're doing something that matters to the world. I will say I prefer the Valkyries from 2018 a lot more to the Berserkers in this one.
When it comes to the story itself, I'm still unsure of whether I like this better than the first game or not, however I find myself leaning towards liking it better than the first. The first game had a lot of "your princess is in another castle" moments, where you progress to where you think you need to go, then learn you were wrong and have to go elsewhere or you find yourself blocked then go somewhere else to get something then backtrack and come back later. In Ragnarok it felt more like you accomplish goals you set out to do and that the story is actually advancing more than it did in the first one.
It's still amazing to see Kratos evolve from this shitty one note character (who admittedly was rather tragic and earned all that rage) to one of the best characters in videogames. His relationship with Atreus felt fully realized and believable here, and there were many emotional moments that almost got me (it succeeded at the very end). Atreus himself has vastly improved as a character from the first game, sure he was a kid and that's how kids act, but it was still annoying, and his arc was resolved a little too quickly for my taste, however here he is struggling with the knowledge of Kratos' impending death, and combined with secrets he learns and is forced to keep concerning the Giants, we see a believable internal struggle.
We also see the Norse mythology aspects more realized here, seeing all the 9 realms, Vanir, Aesir and giant characters. As with the first its great to see how GoW subverts mythology, and I think this is done largely well here. While Thor is what I expected based on the descriptions in the first game for the most part, I think his character is done really well here. Odin was a very surprising portrayal, but the idea of this Gaslighting mob boss kind of character grew on me. It also helps that every performance in this game is excellent, the dwarfs, Freya, the Aesir, Kratos and Atreus are all amazing. The game also does the "one take" gimmick which is also very well done here, and has some creative transitions.
I think where I was let down was two points in the story. Atreus's time in Ironwood, while cool, felt very weirdly paced to me, like it took a lot longer than it should have. Although Angrboda was a very fun character and I really liked her chemistry with Atreus
The other point was the final battle of Ragnarok. It felt rather underwhelming to me, like I was expecting this grand battle but all we really got to see was us running through narrow pathways largely fighting enemies on our own. I also wasn't much of a fan how the things we worked towards were almost instantly shut down, like the realm towers instantly getting destroyed and us losing our reinforcements, and when the Ragnarok beast shows up we decide not to use it (makes it feel like wasted time and effort). however the boss fights and character interactions in this section very much helped make up for it.
The ending of the game was very well done and emotional in my opinion, and made for a strong conclusion to the Norse saga. It leaves the future wide open for this franchise if they choose to continue it.
There's a strong post game as well, with new world events to do and side quests, including the proper final ending to the game which was also fairly emotional, and a great payoff to what felt like a random throwaway moment earlier in the game. There are also very challenging (and sometimes unfair) optional bosses and the opportunity to find and talk to characters after the end of the game for some unique dialogue, including a surprise character I wont spoil.
Overall this is an excellent game that anyone with a playstation needs to play and experience for themselves. Few things here and there keep it from being perfect but they're still far outweighed by the good.