@Varkster I can appreciate that you love DMC, but you're wrong. lol

Anyway I'm going to skip a lot of what you had here (I did read it though), simply say just understand the game design. I have played all of these games, all on the hardest setting. God of War Ascension proving some ground for conflicting game play systems getting in the way of each other. Conversation for another forum.

Let's get down to your real issue here. How does god of war stand up to other "Character Action Games". Pretty well honestly. You seem to fixate on the character of Kratos himself. I have to say after playing 6 games, I like the character, I like the power fantsy of him, in some ways I can even relate to him. He is a man who is fighting against fate, had his family taken from him multiple times, forced to choose between his daughter or the world (though some may say his vengeance, but its pretty muddy in COO), had his brother murdered in front of him (though thanatos is a bit justified, but who is the bigger [removed] here?), had the furries incur madness upon him and placed unrighteous judgment upon KRatos, Manipulated by Ares, I mean I could keep going. The man has every right to be an angry [removed]. You don't like him, that is fine. However ever I know many who have been playing GoW games since 2005 who would disagree with you on your whole "The Last of Us" assertion. Though honestly you should be saying "Uncharted", because that is where that form of storytelling in games was born.

Atreus doesn't make Kratos instantly likeable. That's a very shallow explanation of what is going on there. For starters most people haven't played GoW (2018) yet. They have no idea what to expect. In fact its garnered the game negative reaction in the community on initial reveal of the game. Atreus is what part of what might be what is making GoW(2018)'s story good. He's a FOIL for this man. A man who basically destroyed the greek pantheon to satisfy his revenge, rage, and bloodlust. In his last moments also had to deal with the consequences of his actions in the last of Pandora. A loss he partly blames himself for at the end of the game. Though she understood she was a pawn and her purpose to free us all from that state. The greek gods were not nice people and God of War is very clear about that. So we have a man recovering from this. Who is also haunted by other aspects of who he is. Include the line of patricide that works its way through his family line. The Rage that consumed not just Kratos, but Zeus and Cronos. These are things Atreus will have to deal with, that is how Atreus further humanizes him. not because Atreus brings something to the character that was absent before. Deimos and Calliope already supplied those factors for him. It's been a far less shallow explanation of human nature than many of the other games out there.

I won't deny that God of Wars early beginnings under Dave Jaffe were a bit on the shallow side. Tricked into killing his family and now seeking revenge, but it was a starting point. By time you got to God of War Ascension there was so much more to work with. You still have to satisfy Kratos' final goal. There is a lot more going on there than then what you'll find with Dante or Bayonetta. Those two compared to works not just outside of gaming from japan are pretty weak by comparison. Nothing wrong with that though. If every game had Kratos as the lead character I would be bored, just as much as if Dante or Bayonetta were also some sort of template to live by. We should be happy there is a rich plethora of characters out there with varying backgrounds, levels of depth, and intensity. Happy we have the Joel's, The Nathan Drake's, The Krato's, The Master Chief's, The Peach's, the Mario's, the Ratchet and Clank's, Jak's and Daxter's, etc of the gaming world. Except the Rider Twins from Mass Effect andromeda, they suck. Also silent protagonists, creepy bunch they are, set them on fire (sorry Crono).