So this is one of those games that gets lauded as a modern gaming classic. A game that sets the benchmark for deep storytelling within games with 10/10 scores across the board. While I did enjoy the game overall, I didn’t think it quite lived up to the critical acclaim.

There’s plenty of good within the game. Visually, it looks incredible - especially playing it on the PS5, the game looks incredibly stunning and enhances the already stellar presentation. The gameplay isn’t a complete departure from the previous games in the series - it has the familiar hack and slash gameplay but within a different context, and it totally nails the combat when done right. There’s some great humour and the writing is generally pretty fun.

But when you take a step back, there’s quite a few things holding the game back from being the masterpiece it is. The game is perhaps longer than it needs to be with some noticeable padding near the end of the game. This results in the game feeling a bit repetitive after a while. While the long stretches of walking and climbing can feel immersive at first, when you take a step back they’re merely just a bridge between the fast paced combat. While previous God of War games had you battling several Greek Gods and Goddesses, here you only encounter three Norse Gods with the majority of your boss battles being the same repeated giant battles. Then the game ends on a pretty underwhelming cliffhanger just as it starts to pick up.

This is definitely not a bad game. I was sucked into it and played it in rather long stretches, and when it nails what it’s going for, it’s great. However, the kinks do end up preventing the game from being the classic it’s been lauded as. Hopefully Ragnarok irons out the kinks and delivers on the promise set up from this game.