At one point, Santa Monica Studios considered spreading Kratos’ new story across three games. This is his trilogy reflecting the original adventures of a vengeful god. This is worth bringing up as I have a feeling God of War Ragnarok could have been split in half and sold as two separate pieces. It completely underwhelms his 2018 God of War in every way, and given the sheer scale of this project, other developers, and indeed publishers, are more likely to see his aforementioned It can be said that it may have pushed the trilogy.
But no, Santa Monica Studio has delivered a game that makes its already excellent predecessor look like a prologue. A lot happens in Ragnarok, so by the time the credits roll you can’t help but feel tired in a good way. I can only imagine the amount of effort that went into making it.
We’re not saying Ragnarok is a 200-hour monster, but most players take around 50 hours to see everything packed into its stunningly detailed world. story thing.Again, it’s range Of a game that’s surprisingly close – it’s a title that always raises itself a notch.
But then this sequel had a solid foundation to build upon. ) again, traversing both linear and more open locations. Combat and environmental puzzles. In some areas they also host side quests. Of course, there are also many secrets.
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ragnarok was just a god of war. After all, Sony fraction What Ragnarok has to offer — crazy in hindsight — is why it’s best to consider this as blindly as possible. rampant With spoilers of all shapes and sizes, so many surprises are in store.
Speaking of spoilers, I’m not going to spoil anything with this review, but the main story is a very difficult one. I’m in a bit of a rut. Their realm of Midgard is in the midst of an endless winter, and Kratos is only paralyzed by indecision, forcing Atreus to “prepare” for the inevitable fury that lurks somewhere in the near future. only. .
It’s a tense opening that explodes into action quickly, and the plot snowballs from that point on. Indeed, this is no longer just the story of Kratos and Atreus (and Mimir), but a father-son duo amassing a ragtag group of comrades as the plot unfolds.
As we’ve come to expect from a single-player Sony gig, the narrative presentation is of an incredibly high standard. , and the title’s talented motion capture and voice actors give a masterful performance. In particular, many of the interactions between Maine and his characters feel impressively organic for such a fantastical story.
Ragnarok can have cinematic sheen at times, but to say that the movie is like doing the title’s best gameplay is a serious prejudice. Just as the returning player remembers. Instead of starting over, the developers basically branched things out in all directions. In and out of combat, Kratos is rewarded with a variety of new toys that add meaningful depth to the entire board. But even if you’re unfamiliar with the first game, this sequel does an admirable job of introducing new elements at a steady, manageable speed.
Combat has a similarly satisfying learning curve, even considering Kratos’ new options. is gaining more weight. As was the case in 2018, the camera hangs near his Kratos right shoulder, so it’s important to track enemies and make sure they’re not surrounded.
Combat hasn’t changed much on a basic level, but the increased enemy variety has played a big part in making Ragnarok feel like a true advance. introduced, and quite a few of them have been reused from the previous game, but there are some clarifications to make sure you’re not just tussling with a slightly different group of decrepit draugrs every five minutes. effort is being made.
And then there’s the boss battle. The overall lack of amazing bosses was one of the most common criticisms of its predecessor, so this time Santa Monica his studio goes far beyond big villains. His first ten hours of Ragnarok have more unique bosses than the entire runtime of God of War 2018, all of which are highlights.
As for improvements, while the first game’s somewhat fragmented gear and leveling system is better implemented than before, I’m still not convinced it adds real value to the experience. This new God of War saga, then, makes use of equipment that can be upgraded with materials, with weapon and armor ranks contributing to Kratos’ overall power level. It means you can defeat tougher enemies more easily.
A gear system is basically a way of gating optional content. Leveling up gives you a reason to return to previously visited realms, allowing you to emerge victorious in battles that were once insurmountable.As for the design, I can kind of understand the reasoning behind it, but it’s just strange You see Kratos fighting regular undead warriors due to their higher levels and different health bar colors.
Thankfully, I never once felt locked out of the main story progression because Kratos’ loincloth didn’t work. had enough resources to do so. Even if you avoid every slice of optional content, you’ll be handed gear that can get you through the campaign.
A relatively minor complaint, so here’s another one.Ragnarok is not very The visual spectacle we wanted.Don’t get me wrong, this is extremely It’s quite a game at times, but I’d argue that it’s largely down to some sublime art direction as opposed to the technical weight of the title. understand. It’s not an instantly recognizable upgrade in 2018 installments.
But 60 frames per second on PS5 is perfect. For us, the game’s performance mode works best. The action is too good to be satisfied with less.
DualSense support is also worth noting. Ragnarok is great to play with Sony’s newest pads, forcing all sorts of haptic feedback based on your actions. It gives combat an extra crunch and helps sell Kratos’ heavy movement when traversing environments.
