The Empire Strikes Back.
Who would have thought the sequel to the 1977 surprise hit Star Wars, would hit so much harder than its progenitor. But it did with its darker and more mature tone, and one of the greatest cinematic twists in moive history. It did indeed, and the franchise, strike back.
And so has Studio Santa Monica.
It has been 4 years since their reimagining of the franchise God of War. Jumping off from the God of War 3 ending where Kratos (Christopher Judge) vanishes off a cliff after his final battle with Zeus, he has seemingly washed up in the realm of Midgard. Bearing a son, Atreus (Sunny Suljic), with their now deceased wife Faye, the father and son journey across the realms to scatter her ashes at its highest peak. Led down a path once again to destroy all gods, Kratos and Atreus succeed in their mission only to stumble upon their own Empire-like twist come its conclusion. And that’s not even including the secret ending.
Fimbulwinter has come.
The death of Baldur has set the cogs in motion for Ragnarök, or the end of all things. Kratos and Atreus train daily in preparation for things they are not prepared for. And with time passed and the taxing nature of Fimbulwinter, Kratos has lost almost everything we learned in 2018’s God of War. A convenient way for players to rebuild, but don’t fret too much. We still hold some key items and the Blades of Chaos aren’t gated for almost half the game. Because you would already have them, right?
Traversing a more barren version of your homestead, the game reminds you of how to play. A nice tutorial, much like the former. More so as it almost plays out exactly the same! Which I thought was a cute reference to remind us of what we’re getting into. And that’s never really the end of them, as the game is constantly bringing you back to these sort of moments from the previous title you loved.
Battle is much the same fare, but because this is an early impressions I’m not sure I can make a precise call yet. The nature of being as underpowered as you are, hands over to the issues I have with it. And a lot of this is tied to the skill trees not being fully available yet. But there is a certain frustration with the amount of effect an off-screen enemy can have on the flow of battle. The amount of times ground-level creatures would one-shot me because I simply could not see them in any way, even with companions telling me, was staggering to say the least at the beginning. But once you unlock a few more tricks for the Leviathan and Blades which give you a bit more AoE, it seems to ward these annoyances off.
Speaking of companions!
Your two “brothers” on the journey are back. Atreus and Mimir join you on this new adventure, and are as talkative as ever. Obviously Atreus has aged up with their actor, and is a little bit more challenging toward the ethos of Kratos in this game. Not a bad thing, as it speaks directly to what may be their role in Ragnarök. And honestly, some of the banter they provide speaks hilariously to a lot of the things you, as a player, will do. Don’t have a clear path on what you’re doing? They’ll tell you. Looting too much? Oh they’ll tell you alright. Don’t see an enemy? Yes, I told you they tell you. Whether it will wear me down as we push further into the game will come out in the full review.
The UI seems a little bit more clunky. I’m not sure what it is exactly, whether it’s too bright, too bold or too bare. I just don’t find it as captivating as 2018’s version. But I may dive into the settings a little more to see if I can jazz them up further. Overall though, they do their job of communicating the world and my characters status back to me in ways I can navigate and translate back into the game.
My current impression for this game is: Banger.
Talking to the success of the previous game, and capturing that lightning in a bottle once more has had me relishing the world of the single player experience once again. From the story it creates around you, to the sheer enormity of its environments and scale, it feels good to be a god again. Even if they don’t want to be one. For players who have been waiting for this game, your wait will be worth it. You will rise through the Fimbulwinter, travel across the realms again and do what you do best:
Bring an end to all gods whether you like it or not.
XENOJAY.COM was supplied with a digital copy for review by PlayStation NZ. It was played on the Playstation 5 console primarily in Performance mode, on a Sony TV running in 4K.
