The Epic New Installment to the Beloved Franchise

How God of War: Ragnarok improves upon the previous game and has a little bit of something everyone can love (mostly everyone).

As the long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed "God of War" (2018), God of War: Ragnarok promises to take players on a journey through Norse mythology unlike anything seen before. The game continues the story of Kratos and his son Atreus, as they navigate a world on the brink of apocalypse and face new challenges and enemies.

Here's what our reviewers had to say.

Lucas Luna's Review:

God of War: Ragnorak continues to push the technical boundaries of games, creating a cinematic adventure that pretty much everyone can enjoy, making my dad say something to the degree of “Wow they make games like this these days?!”

As everyone did, I had high expectations for this game. With the Winter season of gaming approaching, I was excited to dive into this game, which had already garnered its perfect scores from IGN, EGM and all sorts of other publications. Surely, this game was going to blow me away.

While I wouldn’t say this game floored me, I will say that I am quite a bit more bearish on it than most reviewers. This game re-hashes a lot of the mechanics of the previous game, although with a lot more efficiency and sharpness. Traversal is now faster, the combat is more fluid and the combo game is flashier. The game has built upon its previous title completely by the book, becoming sharper in all aspects of game play.

That’s about as much as I can say about the improvements from the original.

The story is more bloated, taking us to boring, elongated stretches. The talent trees are still in large part a non-customizable chore and the puzzle solving is still a hand-holdy setup that de-emphasizes player agency and thought. While playing this game I felt that Santa Monica Game Studio was applying the lowest common denominator to its audience creating what I’d call an unhateable game.

GOW is cinematic, fun to play and goes to an epic scale. Some of the new characters kick ass (ahem THOR) but some of them do not kick any ass at all (ahem Angrboda). But for those of us looking for sharp edges to our games, challenge or vision, you won’t find what you’re looking for here. The game overall is fun, and pushes games to new technical heights and cinematic universes. And for that I must give credit where credit is due.

8/10

Matt Hrachovy's Review:

God of War: Ragnarok may very well have been one of the most highly anticipated games of all time. With how well the first game was received, many believed it could only go up from here and improve on the last game. There were many ways Santa Monica Studio could’ve gone about this and sadly, they chose the path of least resistance. Making an unhateable game.

GOWR is what the movie industry may think of as “oscar bait”. A game that critics will love and everyone will love because they think they’re supposed to. When you take a closer look at the gameplay and the story, you start to peel back the layers of the game and find an uninspired mess.

The gameplay is, at best, average and remarkably simple. Enemies show up in front of you, you hack and slash enemies until they’re gone and roll/parry a few times. That’s it. No nuance, nothing to truly spice up engagements or make combat feel any different from the original. The upgrade system of the weapons is uninteresting and the timing of getting your third weapon feels awkward, as I was just finally starting to learn the mortal kombat-esque combo sequences of the blades of chaos and the ax. Perhaps the only bright side of the gameplay is getting to play as Atreus this time around, though that experience quickly falls flat as well though as there is little variety in his approach to combat.

While the highlight of its predecessor was its incredible story, GOWR unfortunately has trouble meeting the pedigree of its parent game in this regard. The story feels simply messy. In many parts, relying on your prior knowledge of Norse Mythology to explain what are otherwise convoluted plot points within the game. The lone bright points are the relationship between Brock and Sindri, and at some points, seeing Kratos and Atreus interact. Though these points barely shine through the convoluted maelstrom is GOWR.

Ultimately though. GOWR is a AAA title. With the pedigree behind it, many will look past its faults and find enjoyment in the game and may even rate it a masterpiece. To those of you that fall in that category, more power to you. For those that don’t though, just know, you are not alone.

6/10

Timurhan Vengco's Review

The God of War (GOW) series is near and dear to my heart - to the point where God of War 3 inspired me to write about the narrative possibilities of video games for my masters thesis. When God of War: Ragnarok (GOWR) was announced as the second and final to the series' storyline in the Norse realm, I had extremely high expectations like everybody else. As a lifetime fan of the series, GOWR not only had to wrap up the Norse storyline, but it also had to deliver closure to Kratos' entire character journey spanning 8 games and 2 separate mythologies.

While 2018's God of War focused squarely on Kratos' and Atreus' father/son relationship, GOWR expands its scope and stakes greatly. At the end of the last game, Kratos and Atreus unknowingly triggered the beginning of the Norse apocalypse, and we see new and returning major figures from throughout the Norse pantheon enter the mix. Thankfully, GOWR still places the relationship between Kratos and Atreus at the emotional core of the story; Kratos is still trying to be a better father figure while Atreus tries to make sense of his agency and destiny. Returning characters such as Mimir and Freya continue to be fantastic foils to our main characters. Newcomers such as Ben Prendergast's Tyr, Ryan Hurst's Thor, and especially Richard Schiff's Odin shine as complicated characters with their own conflicts and definition of godhood in this universe. All of this is coupled with the already excellent narrative presentation from 2018's GOW, including the (mostly) one-shot camera, incredible voice acting, and Bear McCreary's thunderous soundtrack, create another immersive narrative experience.

All that being said, GOWR struggles to establish a growing sense of urgency while balancing moments of quiet and exploration. Some parts of the game slow down to an insufferable crawl between plot points, and some sequences simply feel like filler. Further, some of GOWR's best content is tucked away within side quests and the postgame, so those that do not have the interest to explore the realms will inevitably miss out on some incredible moments.

Although GOWR does not overhaul the combat system from the first game, it adds enough wrinkles to make gameplay more interesting. Players can freely switch between the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos, both of which now deal elemental damage, from the start of the game. The game also introduces more shields for parrying or blocking, additional combos, and my favorite weapon from the entire GOW saga. GOWR also improves the diversity of enemies players encounter, and players can more easily navigate the battlefield and use their environment to their advantage. Unfortunately, the RPG mechanics of creating "builds" falls short, as it is largely the same as the first game and overall pretty forgettable.

I am not ashamed to admit that I may be a little biased in scoring this game. I have been invested in Kratos' story for years, and GOWR delivers a powerful conclusion to Kratos' arc while continuing to raise the technical and cinematic bar for narrative-driven games. I stand with most critics on this one in calling this game an absolute masterpiece.

10/10

THE TFP SCORE: 8/10 - GREAT!