God of War Ragnarök (2022)

I just want to open with a clarification, of course this is a masterpiece, this technical marvel of a game includes some of the grandest set pieces in any visual medium, some of the most impressive writing of any video game and a level of consistent quality that feels almost impossible. ⁠The criticism I throw at it comes from love, not spite, an urge to sand down it's edges because the whole, for the most part, is utter perfection. Ok, now…

I only had one issue with God of War 2018, there wasn't enough of it, it's re imagination of a rage infused god killer into a father utterly terrified at the prospect of turning his son into the type of man who would make the same mistakes might be some of the most inspired writing of any medium, let alone video games. The script plus a combat system ripped straight out of Mortal Kombat gave us a near flawless fable on masculinity, grief and redemption.

Ragnarok on the other hand is a sequel in every sense of the word with a philosophy of ‘more’ that has forced me to reassess Part 1 and conclude that that piece ended early because Barlog and his team had said what they needed to say. At the end of the first, Kratos and his son have faced their demons, and both come to place of mutual understanding, a love and acceptance that has pushed the man beyond shame and towards hope.

Ragnarok feels like more of the same, and I must again stress the fact that that alone is more than worth the time you'll spend with it because It manages to achieve the impossible and match the brilliance of the first over and over again, and yet I don't mean to say ‘more’ makes anything better, because regardless of the fact that this iteration of the original story is filled to the brim with more God's made in the image of man, more realms at the brink of destruction, more loot picking and chest smashing than you would ever need in an immortal life time (I swear to god if I watch Kratos open another chest I'm gonna fucking scream), at the 20 hour mark I genuinely felt like I had seen enough. That feeling persisted.

This is the first AAA game I've played in about 3 years, and at the end of it, more than the awe at the sheer scale of narrative, the weight of work it would have taken to achieve it. What i feel above all else is exhaustion.

It's odd to slight anyone for doing ‘too much work’ but here we are. I think 2018's restraint surprisingly enough was its greatest strength as it drew a clear line of action in plot, character, and world(s), where in contrast this mashes a convoluted plot, into a multilayered setting, filled with an ensemble cast of gods and warriors with their own convoluted plots etc etc. Every time I went off the beaten path, and fought some random mini-boss, or did some annoying ass chest puzzle, I couldn't help but ask myself, ‘what tf am I doing?’ because I genuinely wasn't sure. I never once asked that question with 2018.

To clarify one last time, I'm not saying this is a bad game, I'm saying this wasn't for me. I can imagine being 13 again and being thrown into Vanaheim, only to be rushed to Muspelheim 5 minutes later, then back to Vanaheim and feeling awed by the grandiosity of it all, but now as a grown ass man with other shit to do I couldn't help but feel like my time was being wasted. There worse ways to waste time though.

Story is passable, it puts the mid in Midgard. It felt like writers had predetermined ideas (good) of the endpoints of characters and character arcs, but they weren't able to construct an engaging journey to connect these points. Also, I could completely skip Atreus's arc as it felt like a story about friendship in a different genre, moving away from the mature path that Dad Of Boi ought to be about.

Game is lifted to godhood by amazing tactical combat, the weight of the lore, and character interactions (outside main quest). Voice acting is exceptionally good and optional game content is of a polished quality. Using all the weapons and skills at my disposal, I felt like a god of war. Yet, the enemies throughout the realms required constant attention and aggression to come on top.

Graphics, dare I say look better than reality itself. First look of the plains of Asgard had my breath taken away. Game devs put a lot of care in Garm's nose as well, it was physically painful to attack it.

Edit: My views on the game have changed after facing Gna and Hrolf on balance difficulty. Reduced difficulty to take them down just to finish the side content and shelve this game. At maxed out build, there was no fun left with these fights after multiple attempts. Disagree with anyone who thinks its easy or fair. The fights sometimes feel buggy, felt my inputs aren't respected when time keeps going slow or fast (not a problem with any other enemy since they have respectable windows to react). I dislike how they hyperarmor through my attacks at will, especially with Gna's grabs. The other half, I'm fumbling through my shield accidentally bashing instead of blocking and subsequently getting hit. Finally, the worst part feels that when I take them to the end of their health bar, they increase aggression at the last minute and become buggier, I lose the fight and I have to redo. The problem with appeasing everyone (folks who like difficulty in this case) is that you end up appeasing no one.

I've read the criticisms: Ragnarok panders to the masses. While much of the heartstring tugging and adrenaline fueling is built on cornerstones of predictable human emotions, I can't help wondering why this is so distateful to those self-identifying as non-masses.

Everyone has felt loss. We love people. Then those people die. The desperate grief that follows is not easily forgotten. Channeling that shared experience into a game's story requires a delicate touch. We feel the pain of Fenrir's last breaths, of Brok's unexpected end. Immediately training/hunting without a word to the preceding trauma resonates with our memories of denial, reminding us that an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal. The drive for revenge is accutely palpable because we have been there. Themes of depression and acceptance are sprinkled throughout, and while not as poignant as the first three stages of grief, these profound human states are masterfully, and ironically, crafted in these gods, dwarves, giants, and other dedicedly non-human characters.

There are moments that break the connection. I don't much appreciate Freya shouting at me to shield bash every time a blue circle shows up. Companions calling "I see something," absent any indication of what or where the something is, chips away at my sense of invested duty. Atreus' grunt every time I bump into him - frequent enough that I suspect he is positioning himself in my path intentially so that he might further irritate me with his ungghh - waters down my motivation. For these shortcomings, Ragnarok is admittedly imperfect and loses a star.

For every compulsion to assist, protect, avenge, stars are earned.

Supporting this story of humanity is excellent combat with widely different weapons, compelling skill trees and upgrades, interesting lore, optional challenges for collectors and masochists alike, and entertaining traversal through gorgeous environments.

I'm quite grateful to be part of the masses for whom this game was designed.

Oversimplified opinion: Love Norse mythos and this game hits home further what the first one did. Great combat and scene setting. The story is really cheesy at points, but does have emotional highlights.

Sub-genre: Action adventure, Norse mythos, wolf and cub, Thor's belly

Favorite part: The slightly more psychedelic scene setting. Perfecting the parry while leaning berserker king's moves.

Rating: 3/5

Review: Hard to write up a critique on this one other than "it's good". Solid gameplay to a solo action/adventure. Voice acting was good and engaging. Hard to complain about much. But cannot help the feeling that it felt like such a slog with how long it went.

I realized 3/4ths in that this game reminds me of banjo kazooie, it's a collect-a-thon at the end of the day. With a dash of brutal combat.

Still, everything is polished to a shine. Don't regret playing, but I was tired of it when I realized I'd need to put in another 40 hours or so to 100% it. Then I still had 8 hours of mainline to go through.

If you liked God of War (2018), you'll probably like this one too. If you didn't, then there's not much here that's gonna change your mind. Not a whole lot of differences, in terms of design and gameplay. Just... more of it, in new locales. Same combat, same world design, same presentation style, with minor tweaks all around.

A good time. You'll probably like it. Same gripes with the 2018 game's RPG system feeling a bit meaningless, same story pacing issues in the 3rd act, same technical tradeoffs between impressive visuals and limited environmental interactivity/load times (though the loads are less obtrusive than in 2018.)

I played this through three separate times, to 100% completion each round. I had a good time. I had fun. Just... not much more than that.

My excitement for Ragnarok was palpable. After the glorious reimagining in the form of God Of War (2018) the much anticipated follow-up possibly could not fail right? WRONG! well kind of... The first 7-8 hours I found to be what makes God Of War great, solid combat system, heartfelt storytelling and some mesmerizing action set-pieces. (Looking at you Thor you big burly man you.) I was locked-in just as I was in the previous entry and then came.... Ironwood. God damn Ironwood. Now I understand the need to progress the story and characterization of Atreus but did it need to feel so laborious? I'm here to Leviathan Axe anything that moves, not ride yaks. To have that section of the game feel longer than Ragnarok itself felt like a poor decision personally.

Which I believe is the crux of the problem with God Of War: Ragnarok - too much shit is happening for the time we are given. Far too many storylines are shoved into which was already a long game and it just felt a bit too messy for my tastes.

Not really sure how long these reviews should be so I wont ramble on too much. God Of War: Ragnarok was good... but it should of been great.

• The world feels alive, colors pop, character models look great and flow smoothly
• Narrative is fantastic, the characters are complex, their storylines are human
• Combat takes some time and effort to enjoy, it does feel a bit stiff.
• "Vibe" feels too similar to the 1st game early on
• RPG elements appear to be overly complicated for the payoff... Maybe some experimentation is in order
• Cinematic set pieces are fantastic

The highlight remains the narrative. Overall, more of the 1st game with some nice twists along the way.

So as I stated in my review of GOW a few years back, I'd never really picked up a GOW game in the past, even though friends always encouraged me to do so. But the game before this one changed all that. I was a fan. Great gameplay, loved the storyline, compelling action and really dug how they wove in the lore of the Greeks. That storyline of father/son is what really drove it home for me.

So, of course, I was looking forward to the sequel. And I really wasn't disappointed. It basically pics up where the other one left off (no spoilers, I promise) and is a continuation of the first game - at least that's how I felt. This one delves even more into Greek lore - and since where I get most of my limited knowledge is from my old Latin classes and Thor movies, I learned a lot and it kept moving the story forward. on top of that, the father/son relationship continues to evolve and those tender/learning moments were just as powerful as the first game - which, being a person that likes to get drawn into the emotional aspects of a game - I really enjoyed.

One thing that I LOVED was the new weapon - how we acquired it, how it functioned, all of it. Excellent stuff.

The trouble with a strong first game/story/movie is that it's hard to do it again and do it better. I'm reminded of Thor: Ragnarok which introduced this "funny" and "quippy" Thor. I loved it. And then Love and Thunder tried to recreate that. It was a good flick, but you can never put the genie back in the bottle as they say. In other words, once you're surprised and delighted, what can surprise and delight you the next time? This is how I feel about GOW Ragnarok. It's REALLY good, but it's more of the same really good of the first one.

I'm in the process of running down the side missions and cleaning things up after beating the main story, but there are some baddies that I'll never beat, and so while I won't get that 100% complete, I'm definitely satisfied with the time I put in to this game.

If I had any fans, they would be aware that I, unlike everyone, was not a big fan of 2018 GoW. I thought it was unremarkable, if polished. I didn't relate to the characters and I didn't enjoy the story.

With this game (why did I play this if I didn't like the first one??) I have to admit, it's very good. The story is much improved and actually made me feel things. Is it the best game story ever? no not at all. But it's good. The characters are much more likeable and relatable. the annoying kid I wanted to stomp on and throw off a mountain is actually rather endearing now and a joy to play as. the gameplay is varied and interesting unlike the simple and repetitive joyless gameplay of the previous entry.

The story still drags ass for much of it and contrives drama and reasons for gameplay in a clumsy way but it's forgivable.

The annoying this is this makes the first game and the chore of playing it necessary to set up for the better experience of this game. The first game should have been compacted into a prologue chapter at the start of this game and that would have been much much better. Don't know if that would have worked, but it'd be a better series if it did.

I must reluctantly admit I recommend this game. If you liked the original, you'll love it to bits. and if you didn't, you might still like it.