God of War Ragnarök is here. It feels like I just played God of War from 2018. Oh, right I did. Now the sequel is here, in all its Playstation 5 glory.
Ragnarök
At the end of the previous God of War game, the protagonist Kratos murdered a certain other God, and triggered Fimbulwinter. The new game starts deep in Fimbulwinter, with Kratos and his son Atreus seeking to avert or survive Ragnarök.
For those who do not know, Fimbulwinter leads to Ragnarök, and Ragnarök is the apocalyptic end times of Norse mythology. Like many mythological predictions of the end of time, it features a final fight between opposing gods that cascades into utter destruction of the world and the gods.
Well, good times for Kratos and Atreus.
Gameplay
The gameplay is much like the previous game. You play Kratos, with the camera hovering over his shoulder. You beat up monsters with your axe and blades of chaos. Your son Atreus helps from the sidelines, bow in hand. You run into puzzles between fights, as well as other obstacles. Both the previous game and this one feature metroidvania-style unlockable tools that allow the player to access new areas and find certain treasures. This all takes place in an open world, and the unlockable tools encourage backtracking.
In Ragnarök, there are new things. You get to play Atreus in certain sections of the game. His role as a side-kick to Kratos has also been expanded. The game also takes you to new parts of the nine realms and adds slightly more types of enemies, and tweaks some mechanics.
Of course, it also continues the story from the previous game. What role does Atreus have to play in Ragnarok? What does fate have in store for Kratos? The previous game introduced a well-rounded cast, whose stories deepen, even as Ragnarok adds to that cast.
The previous God of War was already so good that doing more of the same is already awesome, but the game really tries to build on top of that success.
Verdict
All in all, Ragnarök continues where the previous game left off and remains just as strong. I haven’t finished it, but so far, I’m equally impressed with the puzzles, settings, and the story as I was by the first instalment.
I don’t know what the story is leading to, and I may be disappointed by the end; I doubt it, but we will see. So far, I’d advise this game to everybody who liked the first game.
And if you haven’t played either, you should. Well, you should if you like action adventures, or metroidvania games, or games with a strong story. And, if my endorsement isn’t enough, maybe the fact that it won several awards is.
