God of War (2018)

Update: 01/07/26

I just did a replay of the game on hard, getting 100%… I have no clue what my previous review is on about. Maybe my tastes have changed since 2018? But yeah, this is like one of the greatest games of all time. I love the level design so much, the exploration is amazing with all of the side content being unique and a BLAST. Combat is great, story is great, everything is amazing.

I am going now to do a replay of Ragnarok - it will be interesting to see if I actually like it MORE, equal, or less… but I loved it the first time.

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Old Review: Decent! The combats pretty fun, story is ok, some of the locations are cool, puzzles are sometimes good… the exploration is pretty limited, skill tree and upgrades kinda hit a wall and your left with tons of money that you can’t use. It all felt a bit short and constrained. But fun for what it is. Still like the original trilogy better, especially GOW 3.

This God of War franchise entry tells a deeply personal yet grand tale set within Norse mythology. The MC continues to be Kratos, once the rage-driven Spartan warrior, is now portrayed as a more complex character, struggling with fatherhood and his violent past while guiding his young son, Atreus, on a perilous journey. The storytelling is one of the game’s strongest points. It seamlessly blends large-scale mythological encounters with intimate, emotional moments. The single-camera perspective, where the entire game plays out without visible cuts, keeps you immersed in both action and narrative, making every scene feel personal and immediate.

Kratos’s relationship with Atreus grows naturally as the game progresses, giving weight to their journey beyond just combat. Playing this feels like playing something like The Last of Us, the dynamic between the two characters is very similar. On the gameplay side, combat is brutal, satisfying, and layered. The Leviathan Axe, with its recall mechanic, feels incredibly impactful and is versatile in both melee and ranged encounters. As you progress, upgrades and new abilities add depth, allowing for varied strategies against different enemy types.

You can even feel light metroidvania elements since most of the maps are linked, and have a hub area that you can come back to, in order to explore more, or to find new paths. The mix of heavy, deliberate strikes with responsive dodging and parrying creates a combat system that feels both methodical and rewarding. The art direction already shines with breathtaking landscapes, detailed character models, and dynamic lighting, but the technical enhancements make it feel like a current-generation title. Exploration leans toward a semi-open design.

While not fully open-world, the game features hubs and side paths that reward curiosity with lore, puzzles, and optional boss fights. These side activities add depth without overwhelming you, though those seeking true open-world freedom may find the structure a bit constrained. If there’s a criticism, it’s that the pacing can feel deliberate, especially early on, with tutorials and narrative buildup taking center stage before combat fully opens up. Some backtracking also occurs later in the game, which may not appeal to everyone. However, these are minor compared to the overall polish and narrative depth.

A standout for me are the optional content with very difficult combat sequences, similar to previous titles of the franchise. But this time, it has been escalated to insanity in comparison, being one of the most difficult combat sequences that I've played on a Hack'N Slash videogame. Overall, it is both a technical triumph and a storytelling landmark. It successfully reinvents the series while staying true to its roots in visceral action. With its emotional narrative, refined combat. It’s a must-play for anyone who enjoys cinematic single-player adventures, and there is no excuse for fans of the franchise not to play this, despite it being very different from the previous entries.

Going with a two- because it's pretty and to try and respect that maybe this game just isn't for me- but man am I struggling to see how this won game of the year. Maybe it's not fair to compare it to The Last Of Us but since every reviewer and their mother did (in a positive light) it was really hard for me to go into this game not holding the two side by side. And as someone who holds TLOU as one of their all time favorites, I was just continually struck by all the parallels, and how GoW doesn't hold a candle in a single one of them.

The gameplay/combat is decent, nothing groundbreaking or addicting but definitely fun enough for it's purpose. I still think the controls feel flipped but again that might just be based on what games I have/haven't played so I don't want to put much weight in that. But this game wasn't lauded for it's combat, it was supposed to be the story that makes it such a great journey, and unfortunately I just couldn't find myself CARING about any of it. Full disclosure I only made it through about a third of this game (it is LONG for something so narrative), but if 7-8 hours in I'm not only uninvested in the story but finding it actively grating that seems like a problem that "pushing through to the end" wouldn't fix. And that gets me to my main issue with this story: Atreus.

It's frustrating because I think there could be so much room for nuance and emotion between him and Kratos, but unfortunately Atreus is a character second and a hand-holding navigation assistant first. He's there to tell you how to solve a puzzle 2 seconds after you've started it. He's there's to point out that a gigantic structure has just dramatically emerged from the sea as if you could have possibly missed it. He's there to verbally telegraph his every thought feeling and emotion under the assumption that I, the player, couldn't possibly understand subtext or nuance and so they better not risk it. Any story or relationship development that happens between him and Kratos feels unearned, because it feels less like the characters got there as people and more like I was told by the devs "hey they got there, don't worry about why or how just trust us on this one."

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this game. Maybe one day I'll be at a place in time where I do, and that just isn't right now for me. But with most Ragnarok reviews seeming to say this problem of handholding and constant saying-instead-of-showing is somehow even WORSE in the sequel, I don't really see a reason to keep trying to push through this.

Joguei no final de 2018, porém este ano decidi jogá-lo novamente para platinar... E mais uma vez fora incrível!

O jogo é totalmente fora da curva do "mundo God Of War", não existe mais deuses gregos (ou será que existe? hehehehe) e nem hack 'n' slash.

De primeiro momento, ainda em 2018, tive minhas dúvidas sobre mudarem abruptamente o estilo de jogo (trazendo uma mecânica de combate com esquiva, defender na hora certa e etc.) e toda a mitologia presente.

A campanha em si não tenho o que falar, é impecável, por mais que não tivemos tantas apresentações da mitologia nórdica (por ser o primeiro jogo), pude curtir bastante tudo que fora apresentado (menos os corvos de Odin, que coisa chata de matar).

Gostei muito da forma em que vão "humanizando" o Kratos cada vez mais e trazendo essa "confiança" ao Atreus, a forma que isso fora explorado ao decorrer do jogo me impressionou bastante.

Minha maior dificuldade com toda certeza fora matar a rainha das valquírias, que bicho infernal, mas depois de decorar todos os golpes dela, fora bem tranquilo (por ser um boss opcional, creio que deixaram mais difícil de propósito).

Podem jogar a vontade!

God of War (2018) is a deeply enthralling experience. Stepping away from Greek Mythology and taking you deep into Norse Mythology. It tells a beautiful story of Kratos and his son, Atreus. This is a very different Kratos from older titles. He is older and wiser. He lives a life full of regret and wants to forget his past.

The story is extremely simple. Kratos just lost his wife, Faye. He and his son go on a journey through Norse Mythology on a quest to spread her ashes on the highest peak in all of the realms. Atreus and Kratos grow closer as the game goes. A simple story of Father and Son. One of the few games to make me cry.

Aside from the story, the gameplay (though a lot less intense than previous titles) is still insane and as bloody as you would expect. It uses an upgrade system and you can buy and upgrade armor and weapons along the way.

The combat is simply fun, the music is spectacular, and the game looks amazing. God of War (2018) is so big in scale with its characters, world, and story.

However, there are some issues. The upgrade system is pretty tedious and the bosses are really repetitive.

A small nitpick is the number of times Kratos refers to Atreus as "Boy". I welcome it. It gives the game some charm.

God of War (2018) has one of the best stories I've ever seen in a video game. It has great characters, worlds, and the relationship between Kratos and his son his extremely well done. Cannot wait for the sequel

4/5

Would Highly Recommend

So the God of War franchise is my favorite Game Franchise ever. I mean the third one was the first real game I ever played and I remember finishing it with my brother in just three days and then playing it again and again. And then I went out and bought all the other games of the franchise and did the same with all of them. Even with Ascension (which I consider the worst one) I have a ton of fond memories.

So yeah I really wanted to play this game and I finally got around a PS4 and this game and damn I was amazed by this. I love the first 6 games, but other than the three main ones, the other three are kinda like extra adventures without much heart. And the three main games can feel at points like endless adventures without that much to them (other than the third game and parts of the rest). So it was a huge surprise the road this game took.

You see a Kratos that is calm, doesn't want to kill for no reason, tells his son to not give in his anger and oh yeah has a son!!! And a wife actually who has just passed. And through the whole game you can really see Kratos grieving actually and going through a tough phase of his life. And at the same time he really wants to raise his son correctly, not make the same mistakes he made. We see a Kratos that not only hides his past, but also is ashamed of it. This game gave more substance in this character than all the past games did together.

But nevertheless Kratos is still kinda the same. Doesn't talk much, he is serious, never laughs and also he doesn't really know how to communicate with his son. Kratos and Atreus' chemistry is my favorite part of the game. You can see the love, but Kratos is such a close character and doesn't know how to show what he feels. And throughout the story you see these fight, communicate and most of all cooperate. The arcs of these characters and their relationship is the heart and soul of the whole game and I can't wait to see what is next.

Now what I also loved was that this wasn't as big as the previous game. It is more subtle, there ain't many big bosses and even the final boss doesn't feel that much as a boss. The game understands that you can't have huge bosses and a Kratos like this from the get-go and the tell a story with less battles, while at the same time building for a next chapter than can have all that.

All the new characters had a lot to them. I mean I ended up being really into a talking head, what can I say. The game doesn't feel like a God of War game, but at the same time it feels. Weird thing. I really loved the progression of the story and even know I still have a ton of things I can and will explore and find. I loved the change to Norwegian mythology and they went really well with that.

The graphics are fucking fabulous and the one-take camerawork is mind-blowing. At points when you have to walk through some huge white doors, the one take seems kinda weird, but other than that it is beautiful and I loved both the idea and the execution. The voice acting is some of the best ever and the story was so interesting, emotional and kinda heart-warming in the end. It explored a lot of new things and all that while being extremely fun and addicted. It is as hard as it should (I went with "I want a Challenge" type of difficulty) and it just is such a great time. Amazing game!

This has to be my favourite PS4 game, and possibly one of my favourite video games of all time (Don't worry, Metroid Prime, you're always safe at the #1 spot).

I received this game as a gift for Christmas, which doesn't really matter because I really wanted to play this game anyway. But, having received this game, I knew I had to hurry my ass and play the other God Of War games first, and so I did. What a blessing and a mistake. The God Of War trilogy is fantastic and I had a lot of fun with it, but holy hell it made me suck SO HARD in GoW4. This game is NOTHING like the other games. At all. To its core, this game is a Metroidvania, with the difficulty of Dark Souls. No. Scratch that. Dark Souls WISHES it was this hard.

Let's focus on that for a hot second. God of War is harder than Dark Souls (on hard difficulty, anyways). I decided to go on hard mode because I had just played all the other GoW games pretty easily, and I was up for a challenge. But immediately, with the first encounter in the game, I was thrown away with the mechanics and died in 3 hits by the first enemy. What the hell. I tried again, this time killing the first enemy, but now more enemies started to spawn. And I died. Again. And again. Playing the other GoW games right before this one had me trained for this mechanic which was completely thrown away in this game. At first I was a little mad. Worst, I was disappointed. The I got to the first boss and finally started getting the hang of it. Throughout the entire play through, I was continuously learning new stuff with the combat and improving, and even though the hard difficulty really made me want to try that Leviathan axe throw on my T.V. with my controller, I kept the hard difficulty setting and powered through the rest of the game.

The story is something else. I was reeled in through the entire experience, and felt the connection between Kratos and Atreus all the way to the end of the game, and I felt a little sad parting ways with the two once I was done with the game. The entire game was apparently only using a one camera setup, which made things so much more impressive. The amount of effort and love that went into this game really shows through the entire game. The world is huge and fresh everywhere you go.

I really don't know what else to say about this game, I could gash out for hours about how much I love this game. There are a few things that are off with it, such as the illusion of difficulty by shitting a bunch of enemies your way in an overwhelming way, which has always been a pet peeve of mine, but no game is perfect (except for you, Metroid Prime. You know you're perfect)

If you haven't played this game yet, do it. If you have, then play it again.

Wow. You know a game is good when you get the sinking feeling as you watch the credits go by, thinking, "I know it's over, but I want more of this story."

Incredible combat, world-building, narrative, characters, soundtrack, literally I love everything about this game. The only flaw I would see is the ending feeling like it needed one last epic hurrah, but I understand that with this story, this isn't that kind of game.

Having never really paid any attention to this franchise, I was taken by surprise when the reviews all dropped seemingly proclaiming this God of War reboot as a masterpiece and the essential PS4 game. And maybe that was why I finished it feeling kind of disappointed, in spite of the fact that it’s clearly an excellent game.

It is because of said disapointment that I’m about to write my most critical five star review ever. And hopefully I won’t get too brutally crucified for it...

The storytelling is competent and the characters have enough depth to feel distinct from most video games. Though most of the truly interesting moments happen in the final hours of the story and I didn’t find any of the character reveals to be particularly compelling (contrary to what everyone else seems to be saying). The bare bones of the storyline are comprised of quite obvious tropes and nothing truly unique happens until the third act. It is in the ending where a lot of seemingly inconsequential stuff is paid off surprisingly well and there are a number of very compelling character moments. It is clear that the game knows how to set up and pay off in a very satisfying manner; but it also very much takes its time to do this.

Having heard comaprisons to The Last of Us and Uncharted, I was ill-prepared for the game to have such a simple, contained and slowly building story arc. I have huge respect for the developers as this was a bold move. Unfotunately the expectation I had from reviews and word of mouth caused me to get frustrated at experiencing such a small, nuanced story.

The only aspect of the story that I thought was actually poorly done was a particular (albeit brief) development in the character of Atreus, which I found to be too sudden and not natural enough to be believable; which is a shame because this development does a lot to help us understand certain themes at play in the story.

The set pieces are often stand out; and as you traverse the map there is a lot of lore spoon fed to you (often in the most charming and intriguing way it could’ve been). As such the world building and spectacle are top notch!

As far as visuals go, it’s a mixed bag. There are some locations that have absolutely gorgeous landscapes, while I also found some to appear relatively bland and repetitive (although beautifully rendered nonetheless). This is another area where I thought the game has been somewhat overrated.

The combat (like the story) is simplistic but expertly crafted. It is very satisfying; and one area where I felt Santa Monica excelled above almost any other game was the way that the combat is gradually introduced and implemented, so as to teach the player step by step how to better control Kratos in a confrontation. It felt more seamless than in most other melee games I’ve played.

My biggest gripe with the combat is in the difficulty. I often found the medium difficulty far too easy! Unfortunately, the harder one would regularly dole out enemies with painfully long health bars and shamelessly tight margins of error...often leading to rage quits that hurt my enjoyment of the game. A more balanced challenge mode would’ve been appreciated. Of course, this complaint could be attributed to my lack of skill or patience with certain enemies. I’m sure many players will have found them less frustrating on the challenging difficulty.

Overall, this is an excellent game and worthy of much praise. Though a 10 out of 10 masterpiece, essential for all Playstation owners I think it is not. If you don’t particularly care for God of War, melee based combat games or mythology in general, I wouldn’t recommend this. God of War caters well to existing fans of the franchise and to gamers with patience and an appreciation of small-scale, nuanced storytelling. It is very good but it really isn’t for everyone.