You know, this has been a long time coming for me. I remember one time I had an early copy of God of War 2018. This was well before Hive forked from the other guys. But ah, I've been waiting for the sequel for a long time. Except I sold my console around 2021, so never got around to it.
But what do I have to say now? After getting my hands, 2 years after its release? Yeah, it doesn't completely stick the landing, narrative shortcomings, a couple of few technical and mechanics issues here and there. I'm sorry but in 2022, when it comes to triple AAA exclusives like this, shouldn't have been released in such a way. Especially 2 years after the PS5 came out.
Ok, so the negatives are out, what are the positives? Well, I enjoyed the bond between Kratos and Atreus. They've gone changed quite a bit since then, having to learn a lot, but forced to adapt in order to make sure they never fall apart as father and son. It's a coming of age story that sort of works, but it's God of War, so not everybody will be pleased with the results.
I have played this to the end, in fact, I also platinum the game right before writing this. Compared to the 2018 title, this one was kind of grueling, so to speak. I didn't have fun about the achievement hunting, least the overall experience became very noteworthy.
Ok, so to put this out of the way, one thing that can be misconstrued easily is God of War being a direct sequel. It's not entirely is, more like part 2, a second volume, like an extension to the prior game with its scope expanded upon to be far bigger. As well as an epilogue to this saga.
So one of the core strengths that this game has is obviously the storytelling, and rich characters. Atreus made me literally weep for a wolf that's dying, despite knowing the poor fella for only a minute. Kratos and son are on the run from forces they couldn't compel themselves to understand. But his son wants to confront his future, while Kratos his past.
The core tenants of this game series revolves around having godly powers and the tragedy that follows. If you've played the OG GoW titles, you know who exactly Kratos is. He had to deal with his role of being a father while also having to do hide his past from his son.
Fast-forward a few winters, and the duo are hiding from the Aesirs, most notably Thor and Odin. Kratos killed Freya's son, Baldur, while Atreus not believing that his father trusts him to follow his path, sort of rebels against the old man, and ventures into his own. Of course, much less the moody kid, and more like the frustrated horny for war teenage god that he is.
Though it's never that simple, they're always dealing with moral dilemmas, they're trying to be better despite dealing with vengeful gods, a crazy winter across Midgard, and eventually going on a journey of forgiveness, and betterment despite so much tension. Man, that Cory Barlog wholesomeness just keeps coming up. I am great that the writers managed to pull it the best way they could. Sadly, not every facet of it pays off. Sometimes, I feel like my intelligence is being insulted.
This feels like a swan song of a video game, the writing and characters are on a high bar, the emotions hit hard, it's difficult to be critical when you're sucked into feeling for these characters. We shared a moment when we free a bunch of mythical jellyfishes called Hafgufas.
Atreus released his wolf Fenrir's spirit into a hellhound, and now he's a cute, docile giant doggo. Kratos, Mimir, and Atreus share so many moments with each other whenever the other characters aren't involved. You get to flesh that out during the interval time when doing side content was possible before getting to the next chapter of the story.
There's a lot going on, with both the good and the bad moments mixed in all. The problem is, how the focus of the main themes and narrative kind of lacks cohesion when everything is hitting me fast like multiple brick walls. I swear, it feels like part of the game has been cut off, even when reading the lore and mythologies, listening to the characters talk, slightly does fill in.
But what I don't get is the constant handholding, constantly remind me of things like Kratos and Atreus forgiving each other, Thor having daddy issues, Mimir being made fun of for being too much of a wisecrack, and dear god, I hated Tyr's pacifism here (until the ending plot twist, holy crap).
The emotional weight these characters are supposed to hold, because of all the horrible things that have happened, just goes to be reconciled by group therapy pillow talking. It's too saccharine, even for a series based around bad blood. If it was a little more grounded, it would have easily earned the climactic ending for both Kratos and Atreus themselves.
Also speaking of Atreus, he kind of grew on me from the first game, and I get what his issues are. But this game's playtime, almost half of that, is split between him and Kratos. Not saying he doesn't have much to give, but compared to his dad, it's still not enough.
Right, let's get to the gameplay. It's mostly the same as the prior game, in fact it's a big DLC step up from that one. New armors show up, but the old ones come back with slight variations. Weapons actually feel better to swing here, plus more added skills.
I miss the axe, but I also thought the Blades of Chaos were underwhelming in 2018, here, you can go absolutely destroy enemies. Kratos, as he said, weapons are tools, they are deployed based on the battle circumstances. But nothing goes even further when you get the spear mid-game. Oh man, I love this thing so much. You have no idea how tough the battles here are.
Enemies are more annoying, early on, they put pressure on me, making it difficult for me to take them out while anxiety dodging here and there. Once I got the power back, and upgrades going, business gets booming baby. Gameplay feels smoother, attacks hit so well, this is an RPG, and here, there's a lot going on like picking Atreus, and other character's skills even. End of the day, I can keep trying to max out skills, gear level, pick the right equipment, relic and enchantments builds.
It still boils down to mastering the combat. Read the enemy attacks, dodge, parry, and attack while combining various ailments against them. Including the purple hexes that amplify them. The spear, this thing can stick on enemies, and on a press of a button, explodes while knocking them up. Picking off anyone from a distance even. Unfortunately, they made enemies spongier, too.
Like, come on, three weapons with different elemental ailments, and I have to slug at crazy Berserkers for 2 minutes while dodging their insane attacks? Plus the Valkyrie in Muspelheim. And the crazy Muspelheim challenges, if you knew how infuriating this one was.
I also dig the metroidvania design of the levels, it makes exploration tricky, yet find intriguing places. Here, it is much more expanded upon due to the fact that there are 8 realms to explore. However, if you're like me, trying to complete trophy hunts, good luck not getting lost a lot.
By the way, the lock on assist still sucks. I hate it. Especially when the larger group of enemies surround me. It doesn't help with the crowd control unless I don't use it at all. The puzzles on one hand though are more intricately designed, especially with the hex arrow from Atreus. This thing forced me to go Garry's Mod on so many areas that are so far out of reach.
While the enemy variety is greater, being surrounded early on was super hard to deal with. I played this from normal difficulty, and I got whooped, real hard. Especially with the bosses, of which there's plenty more. Oh, and there are dragons, so many DRAGONS. These were the fight of my life, near impossible attacks to dodge, while forcing me to adapt, fight better.
I can't give this game my full blessing. I also spotted technical issues from texture pop-ins, visual glitches and bugs, and all this for a PS4 game running in a PS5. It took me 53hrs to fully platinum this, I had a lot of help from the internet. The 2018 was a bit shorter and easier.
