Synopsis:
His vengeance against the Gods of Olympus years behind him, Kratos now lives as a man in the realm of Norse Gods and monsters. It is in this harsh, unforgiving world that he must fight to survive… and teach his son to do the same.

Publisher: Sony Entertainment Interactive
Reviewed on: PC (5800X, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3070)
Also available for: PS4/PS5

Cast: Christopher Judge, Sunny Suljic, Jeremy Davies, Danielle Bisutti, Alastair Duncan, Robert Craighead, Adam J. Harrington, Carole Ruggier, Corey Burton, Nolan North, Troy Baker

Developer: SIE Santa Monica Studio, Jetpack Interactive
Creative Director: Cory Barlog
Writers: Matthew Sophos, Richard Gaubert, Cory Barlog
Story & Design Lead: Dori Arazi
Design Director: Derek Daniels
Gameplay Design Lead: Jason McDonald
Composer: Bear McCreary

God Of War is the story of father and son, Kratos and Atreus, on a journey to lay their beloved wife and mothers ashes to rest at the peak of a mountain, as per her final request. On the way, battling against monsters and gods to fulfil their oath. 

God of War is one of Sony’s longest-running franchises, its roots found deep within the PlayStation 2s life cycle. It also found a home on PSP, PS Vita, Mobile and the PlayStation 3. Seeing the title revitalised in such spectacular form on the PlayStation 4 in amazing glory, the game seemed ahead of its time. Presenting a new, deeper story, more focused battle systems, RPG elements, and better visuals seemed like we had peaked. But we were wrong; with the PC version of God of War, we have the chance to experience the magic of this world in brilliant widescreen resolutions, including up to 4k resolution at 120 frames, plus the addition of ray tracing elements and DLSS. I was running God of War 3440x1440p at 120 frames, and it was glorious. 

Father and son observe the fading magic that has protected them without their knowledge – image captured by the author on their PC

God of War opens on Kratos, cutting down a tree with a golden hand embedded in it. This scene shows Kratos in a new light, and we see the once goatee laden, God-hating, God of War, with a new beard, axe and missing the Blades of Chaos instead, his arms are wrapped in bandages. With a few swings, the tree falls, and we turn with him to see a teen, referred to as “boy”. There is tension in the air as he attaches the tree to the boat, moving back to the house. Kratos’s home is a shabby looking shack surrounded by woodlands. We soon discover the timber is for a funeral pyre. We learn that the boy has a name, and it is Atreus. This opening scene shows much of the struggles found throughout this new God of War game, struggles between child and father, and them both against the world. Both are lost in the world and unsure how to share their emotions. This opening scene is touching, as Atreus gives the last rites to his mother in the Nordic tradition. This touching scene displays many of the games graphical fidelities. It opens the players’ emotions straight away, seeing the emotional scene between son and mother and the pain in the eyes of Kratos as he says his final goodbye to his wife. 

Kratos, struggling with the death of his wife – image captured by the author on their PC

Soon after the mother’s body is burned and the ashes have been gathered, a stranger arrives at the door. The stranger is looking for a fight. Kratos is hesitant, but this interaction fast becomes your first battle with the stranger’s provocation. During this epic battle, the player learns different attacks and defensive strategies on this strange and seemingly unbeatable opponent. We feel the rage Kratos has hidden so well but is also well known from previous games. During this battle, we learn how to fight both with and without the axe, which always returns to Kratos hand in spectacular form. Heavy and light attacks, combined with blocks and parries, are your choices in battle; these can combine for more devastating effects, and filling up the rage meter allows for a release of devastating energy and a more powerful ultimate set of attacks. After the epic battle levels the local area destroys the hillside, and the enemy is defeated; Kratos climbs from the ruins of his home. Gathering Atreus from his hiding spot and collecting his wife’s ashes, it is time for them to start this new journey to the mountain peak together. 

Kratos and the stranger, sizing each other up – image captured by the author on their PC

This journey is long, and there are many direct and indirect paths the player can take. Still, the game also allows players to experience the world around them. Combining linear and non-linear story elements allows the player much more freedom, and choice is how their version of the story plays out. I dove headfirst into the story for a while, and then once I felt stronger and collected a few additional perks, I began to explore the side missions more. These side missions lead to gaining experience points to upgrade Kratos and Atreus and a variety of specialised gear. The RPG elements to the game are some of the more specialised I have found. Allowing a more customised build and the ability to hot-swap builds on the fly before battles was a godsend. 

image captured by the author on their laptop

God of War gives the player many graphical choices for setting up the game for each user-preferred PC specifications. I used Nvidia Experience to set up optimal setups for my gaming devices. Getting the best result from my PC, but the laptop experience was as solid and was running at 60fps with only a few tweaks while using DLSS allowed me to keep the game at the 2k resolution range. Having the extra range of screen space makes all the difference in the open world. There were many times I just had to stop and screenshot or use the games photo mode. The photo mode was great for capturing the incredible detail in this game; from the ash of Kratos’s skin to the different textures on the enemies in battle, the game is visually stunning. The world of God of War builds on these graphical highlights with multiple zones with vastly different structures and visuals. From fire world to ice world, to the watery central hub, and the multitude of places in between. The ray tracing and DLSS service this game with extreme beauty. 

During my playthrough, I decided to test a variety of controller types available to me. I have the Xbox controller, mouse, keyboard, PS5, PS4 and even my Backbone controller; all functioned amazingly well. The game adapts to the controller’s input immediately, changing the button prompts on the fly. I felt more at home using the PS5 controller but using the Mouse and Keyboard feels natural due to the intelligent nature of the control layout. Ultimately, I returned to using my PS5 controller with the recent update that supports the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers for more emersion. However, I did have a little trouble getting the PC to recognise the PS5 controller sometimes. These issues didn’t affect gameplay, just changing the inputs displayed on the screen. 

Playing God of War on a laptop using the Backbone Controller – image captured by the author

God of War has a vast cast of characters with unique tales that fill the world with a sense of story. These tales come from many accompanying characters found throughout the world, from the Freya to Sindri and Brok and Mimir; their adventures fill the world as much as Kratos and Atreus Journey. I often went back to talk with these characters or sit and listen as they told their tales, many interesting stories are heard just through the time spent with Mimir telling the history he has witnessed, and it was mesmerising. Even the enemies have interesting stories, while these are generally told indirectly through the journal and diagrams and imagery found throughout the world. Other enemy information can also be found in the journal, alongside the different languages and lores of the other worlds discovered using the world tree.