Developer: Santa Monica Studio
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 9th November 2022
Platforms: PlayStation 5 & 4
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
▫️ Code provided by the publisher ▫️
WARNING: Mild Spoilers contained within.
A little over a year ago, September 2021 to be precise, God of War (2018) director Cory Barlog announced he was “exhausted” and he wouldn’t be directing the follow up sequel, Ragnarok, and instead the mantle was being passed to studio veteran Eric Williams to take the helm. Brave? Bold? Concerning? Absolutely all three, I won’t pretend this information didn’t make me a little nervous: for me, my ignorance suggested Ragnarok needed Cory Barlog, boy was I wrong…
Arriving on Odin’s Day, the 9th of November 2022, God of War Ragnarok has been met with incredible plaudits and reviews, sitting with a 94 Metacritic score and having also been nominated for ten awards at The Game Awards, including Best Game. Early reports also suggest sales have blown expectations out the water.
Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic return as Kratos and Atreus/Loki respectively, along with the incredible Danielle Bisutti returning as Freya (more on her later), and of course the likes of Alistair Duncan returning as fan-favourite Mimir. A raft of new voices have also joined the cast, including: Sons of Anarchy star Ryan Hurst as Thor, and The West Wing star Richard Schiff as Odin, to name just two.
It’s these voices that elevate Ragnarok to stratospheric heights, every single one of them does the most incredible job in portraying their character: the highs, the lows, the love, the pain. Aided by sublime writing, every line, every scene hits all the right notes.
Freya’s story arc, and performance from Danielle Busetti, is a work of genius. At the beginning of the game in one of the first scenes, our two protagonists are being hunted by the brokenhearted and vengeful Freya, out for the blood of the man who killed her son, Baldur, in 2018’s previous title. Freya is ferocious and dark, and genuinely haunting, and Danielle’s performance captivates that pain perfectly. Her arc, her redemption, her forgiveness as we reach Vanheim, was perfectly illustrated on paper by the writing team, and performed majestically by Busetti – it’s a moment of realisation and beauty that you can’t quite believe is a video game.
When we left 2018’s God of War, Kratos and Atreus, or Loki as he’s often called here, their relationship had blossomed from the troubled and testing beginning, to a beloved and trusting one. That relationship continues in this game, and Kratos’ affection for his son is shown to us right away, we the gamer see this: this isn’t Father & Boy now, it’s Father & Son.
The relationship does come under strain as the game progresses. Atreus, now desperately trying to be Loki and carve out his destiny, defies his father, and seeks out Odin for guidance. He wants answers, he wants to understand who he is, and where he really comes from.
It’s this dynamic that changes God of War Ragnarok from 2018’s, it’s this dynamic that laughs at the snarky DLC remarks we had pre-launch, and it’s this dynamic that makes God of War Ragnarok, the bravest video game I’ve ever played.
Ragnarok could have literally been a sequel, Kratos and Atreus on their merry journey of survival and personal discovery for 20…30+ hours. And it could have been fantastic, and I’m sure it would have been. Instead, Eric Williams and his team changed everything, not only did they split up Kratos and Atreus, now we could BE Atreus. For the first time in the God Of War mainline series, Kratos wasn’t the only player controlled protagonist.
To keep things fresh, as I said, to laugh at the DLC comments, combat is revolutionised by having Kratos either go it alone, or with Freya as your supporting act. Whereas as Atreus, you have Angrboda as your support, and Thor, yes Thor. Eric and his team are so brave and so damn good at their jobs, they wrote a story so engaging that you are in control of Atreus and Thor is assisting you. It was a moment of absolute shock (pun intended), when Richard Schiff’s Odin said “Thor, go with him”. What? Is this actually happening? – my literal reaction.
Freya and Atreus also now have their own skill trees, and weapons to use and upgrade. Being armed with these different skills, as well as Kratos’ range of skills and weapons, makes combat more engaging and rewarding. What complaints about combat there may have been in 2018, have been blown right out the water in Ragnarok. Plus, *big spoiler*, the extra third weapon you get, the Draupnir Spear, allows you to then chain more skills together, creating bigger, devastating combos to take down your multiple trolls… sorry enemies, not trolls, not many trolls in Ragnarok…
Enemy variety has grown massively since the prior game, old favourites like Draugr, and yes some trolls, are back, but a vast increase in regular enemy types stand in your way: gargantuan types like Gravel Belly, oh and dragons, dragons aplenty too. Enemy attack types have improved, and tactics now play a larger part. If you treat this like 2018’s hack and slash approach, you’re going to die – a lot. Ragnarok seems to have taken on a more Soulslike formula, in hit, hit, move, roll, evade, patience, timing, and back in. Still, of course aided by red and yellow hit circles, so as not to make it too hard naturally…
What good is combat without a great story, quests and world to look at? Thankfully, God of War Ragnarok delivers on all three of these. From the first moment with Thor, to the final acts, the story is rich and engaging – you never want to turn away and miss anything. Incredible moments of storytelling are never far away from God of War Ragnarok. We have a family dealing with grief and alcoholism in a wonderfully told story that is all too real. Betrayal, shock and awe are around every corner waiting to amaze and delight your eyes and ears.
The story never disappoints, it never stops surprising you, or giving you wow moments, and plenty of laughs too. The humour from Mimir is there throughout, and as usual Brock adds in his bullish moments also, and Sindri steals multiple scenes with some raw, and deep storytelling.
Each of the mainline quests takes us on a new adventure, either to a new realm, or switching between controlling Kratos or Atreus, it keeps the game fresh and exciting throughout. Five hours can pass in Ragnarok and you genuinely have no idea how. With what never feels like filler or padding, side quests can be quick find-an-item affairs, or they can be a whole game do X when you arrive at each location. They’re quick enough to never feel like a slog, and there’s enough of them spanning the entire game to make sure when you are in Midgard, for example, you need to make sure you do go here to do X, to tick that box.
Visually, God of War Ragnarok is the best looking game ever made. A game still built on the Playstation 4 certainly doesn’t lend itself to it, Ragnarok is more next-gen than anything we have seen yet, if you thought Horizon Forbidden West was pretty, you are in for a real treat. From the Fimbulwinter ravished Midgard to the lush green vibrant woodlands of Vanheim, your eyes are treated to beauty everywhere you go: visually, you’ll never be disappointed. Add in the incredible work done with mocap making the characters feel alive and real in these worlds, it’s hard to see where reality ends and gaming begins. If you have the means to play the game on HDMI 2.1 with VRR, performance is incredible routinely hovering around 90fps making this game a joy to play.
I could go on and on about God of War Ragnarok, I really could. My closing thoughts continue to be about what an incredible journey this game is. It’s near flawless, in every way, and any criticisms are nitpicks, rather than genuine weak points. The Game Of The Year, right here, and to be honest, in my humble opinion, by a country mile.
-Dony
