Climb Every Mountain

I have a confession: I have never wanted to play a God of War game. Being a Gamecube owner during the PS2 era, and an Xbox 360 during the PS3 era, I never had the opportunity to play the story of the bald, angry, blood-covered man with fire blades on chains. I did, however, watch a decent bit of gameplay and cutscenes of the three major entries in the series. To be honest, I never found these games to be something I’d be interested in, as they seemed to be the epitome of the word gratuitous. Every time I would watch or read or hear someone talking about a game, it was always describing the game’s extremely bloody and violent combat, ridiculous sex mini games (yes, you read that right), or the massive, grand-scale, cinematic, and gory boss battles. This mentality of being as “over-the-top” as possible in every aspect of the game, in combination with a combat system that was seemingly comprised of button-mashing and quick time events, led to me pass right over them. Regardless of how I felt about the previous entries, when I heard that the director Cory Barlog and his team, Santa Monica Studio, were reworking God of War from the ground up and looking to mature the series, I was intrigued. Upon watching E3 gameplay, it became clear that this game truly was going to be something different; it was going to be personal. With its new-found direction, the willingness to let the past die, and a renewed mentality on how a game should operate, Santa Monica has delivered a game that shakes a series to its core and adds much needed maturity to a franchise defined by gratuity.

Santa Monica has delivered a game that shakes a series to its core

God of War tells a story of a father and son learning to cope with the mother’s recent death with a simple quest of scattering her ashes on the “highest mountain in the Nine Realms.” Seeing as the title of this story is “God of War” – this quest ends up being anything but simple. For starters, the Father, Kratos, is a Greek demi-god who has left the realm of the Greek Pantheon (after murdering all of the gods in previous games) – far from a standard backstory for a regular father. In an attempt to escape his past, Kratos chooses to try and live a quiet life in the mythological Norse land of Midgard. Here, he married a local woman named Faye, and fathered a son named Atreus (who knows nothing of his father’s past).

We enter into the story after Faye’s presumably untimely and unexplained death, with Kratos and his young (probably ten years old or so) son Atreus gathering wood to build a pyre for a proper funeral. It doesn’t take long to realize that this father and son have a very complicated and distant relationship, especially with how they each handle the loss of Faye. Kratos is a serious, stoic man of very little words that handles his pain internally, and has no idea how to express this and relate to his young, impressionable, and needy son. Atreus seemingly spent much time with his mother and wants to be able to impress his distant father, but is physically and emotionally unable to meet Kratos’ impossible standards that no child ever could. In their quest to honor Faye’s final wish, Kratos and Atreus are forced into a long journey together that will push their already fragile and misunderstanding relationship to its absolute limits.

To me, one of the best aspects of God of War is the narrative as a whole; so other than the basic introduction I have already stated, I will not discuss the story any further. I am hoping that you take my word for it and go in as blind as you possibly can, because the structure, pacing, writing, and character progression are all superb and deserve to be experienced from an uninformed point of view. However, what I can say is that the writers and voice actors have done a phenomenal job in creating a diverse and extremely well developed cast of characters that fill the world. Atreus, in particular, is such a complex and likeable character, which is a wonderful contrast to Kratos’ rough and completely unrelatable (at least to me) personality. (This is not a bad thing at all, because I found it very unique to play as a character and get mad at him for behaving different than I would).

The other characters that Kratos and Atreus interact with are very interesting and I wanted to get to know every little detail I could about their past and their personalities. I particularly enjoyed the blacksmith dwarf brothers Brokk and Sindri, especially with their odd quirks and differences that make them absolutely hilarious to interact with. There are many other great characters that I won’t discuss for spoilers’ sake, but every single one is voiced by an actor or actress who really gave their all to the role and make the characters seem like real people. My personal favorite of these characters is Mimir (voiced outstandingly by Alistair Duncan), who is responsible for all of the Lore building of the Norse Universe.

The writers and voice actors have done a phenomenal job in creating a diverse and extremely well developed cast of characters.

As you travel through Midgard, Norse mythology is slowly revealed through paintings, statues, and most importantly stories told in person. Mimir, in particular, knows everything there is to know about all of the nine realms and its inhabitants, and always finds time to give you a full backstory about the major events that have happened in the past. Thanks to Atreus’ inquisitive nature, we are able to hear Mimir tell us the games’ unique interpretation of the mythology, adding fascinating twists on characters that many have become (seemingly incorrectly) familiar with in the Marvel Universe. Whenever Kratos goes on a boat ride through the game’s central hub-lake, some character will always kill traveling time by telling a story about the land’s past. These stories are so well told that I often sat in the boat by a dock, just so that it wouldn’t be interrupted and I could hear it all the way through! Learning about the true nature of Odin, the vastly different Nine Realms, the fight of Thor and the World Serpent, and hundreds of other fascinating stories really help this world feel fully realized and filled with a complicated, real history.

Santa Monica Studio really knocked it out of the park with their world building, but all of that would mean nothing if the world they made is not enjoyable or worth spending time exploring. Thankfully, the amount of care and detail that was put into the narrative was also put into the gameplay itself. While previous entries in the series were very linear in terms of world design, this one is almost open world. When I say “almost” – I mean something more along the lines of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Batman: Arkham Asylum’s “sectioned” layout with backtracking upon receiving new abilities, rather the entire world being open and 100% explorable like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. To me, this was an excellent design choice for the overworld as it allows players to feel heavily involved in a world with exploration, but not be completely overwhelmed by the ability and need to go everywhere to find everything.

God of War utilizes a pretty standard RPG format for its storyline progression and side quests, using a simple “Quest Menu” that lists all objectives and their rewards. While major plot-based quests have the biggest XP rewards, the side quests offer a good incentive to procrastinate from the main goal and are a very fun way to explore every nook and cranny of the world. While many games can feel bloated with standard “fetch-quests” – God of War never feels like it gets caught in this trap of monotony and actually has some really fun and unique things to do. There may be a “fetch quest” – but it involves going to an ancient tomb, killing a large troll creature, and solving puzzles to get what you are looking for. I don’t know how this compares to say, The Witcher 3 (as I haven’t played it, but I know it has amazing side quests), but I can say that I completed every one available to me because they were just that good. Even if you don’t enjoy them as much as I did, the loot gained from these quests really start adding up when leveling Kratos and Atreus up for the combat. Using this loot, Kratos and Atreus can get new armor, upgrade previous armor, improve their weapons, learn new moves, and increase health and damage – which are all crucial to surviving the seemingly endless amount of foes trying to stop you from finishing your journey.

Kratos and Atreus … make up one heck of a brutal team.

Having a good story and character progression is good and all, but what would a God of War game be without having that proper combat side to it? Thankfully, Kratos and Atreus, despite their physical and emotional differences, make up one heck of brutal team. Kratos, wielding his trusty magical boomerang axe, absolutely demolishes everyone and everything in his way while Atreus shoots from a distance with his enchanted bow and is able to stun enemies and let his father come in for a powerful final blow. However, as mentioned before, combat does work a little differently than previous entries, so don’t be expecting to simply button mash through waves and waves of enemies.

Taking heavy inspiration from the 3D Legend of Zelda games and Dark Souls (I know, what doesn’t these days?), the camera is positioned behind Kratos rather than above, restricting your field of view quite a bit and leading to a much more intimate combat style. Kratos has two forms of melee attacks with the axe, those being a standard swing and a slower, heavy swing; and a shield bash with a nifty, collapsible shield. You “lock-on” to enemies one at a time and walk in circles around them, smacking them as much as you can. When they go for a return swing, you can either dodge-roll, block with the foldable shield (love that thing), or do a shield bash at the exact right time and “parry” their attack. After enough damage has been done to an enemy, they start glowing red and a “R3” icon shows up above their head, meaning that Kratos can do a brutal finishing move on them when it is pressed.

For the most part gore is limited in combat, but when you do one of those finishing movies man does Kratos just take out all of his frustration on that poor schmuck with a target above his head. Many monster enemies have odd, neon colored yellow or blue or green innards, making these moves not as mortifying as they would be if they were humans; but seeing anything, alive or undead, get ripped in half by an angry bald man’s hands is still hard to watch at times. One complaint I have about this is that the animation for a certain enemy type is always the same, which can get kind of old. Seeing the amazing takedown of a giant mountain troll is spectacular the first two times; but after that it just made me wish that there could have been at least one more animation used on these larger enemies.

I launched the axe at everything I saw just to see what would happen.

Where the combat really deviates from the average “third person action RPG” is the secondary function of the axe: a throwable weapon. When the throw mode is selected, a simple crosshair shows up on your screen indicating where the axe will fly when tossed. Like the melee combat, there are two ways to use the axe toss: there is a quick toss that spins the axe horizontally that will slice and bounce off of beings and objects, and there is a heavy toss that slowly spins it vertically and sticks in whatever it comes in contact with, leaving an ice effect upon impact. I cannot convey to you the deep satisfaction that comes from chucking this axe at a faraway enemy and smacking them right in the face – turning them into a frozen statue with a truly splintering headache. I don’t know what it is, probably just the combination of a solid vibration for tactile feedback, smooth animation, and amazing sound design for satisfying “clunks” upon impact and return to Kratos’ hand, but I launched the axe at everything I saw just to see what would happen. In addition to combat use, many puzzles require well-timed combinations of the two throws in creative ways, reminding me heavily of the Zelda franchise once again, in the best possible way.

Also while in this aiming mode, you are given control of the extremely important third weapon at Kratos’ disposal: Atreus. At any time, you can command Atreus to fire his bow at a target you are aimed at, allowing for enemies’ weak spots to be hit from a distance while you are running for your life from a large attack. Later, you can unlock some really cool attacks for his bow, which I won’t spoil, but it can lead to some really devastating Father-Son combos when applied correctly. Atreus also has a very helpful AI programmed into him, so even if you forget to command him to do things, he still fires his bow and does some up close combat to try and help out as much as he can, which is extremely helpful to those who aren’t the best at multitasking.

There are some awe-inspiring cinematic battles that are long, exhausting, and just absolutely grand.

You’re probably sitting here thinking “But what about boss battles? Is there even a point in playing if all I can do is fight little things?” Rest easy, because Kratos does fight some big bads in truly spectacular fashion! I really don’t want to say much about who or what you may fight, but I can say that there are some awe-inspiring cinematic battles that are long, exhausting, and just absolutely grand. During these fights, Kratos has to summon his inner Spartan Rage (by clicking R3 and L3) where he drops his axe and just beats the snot out of anything in his path with his bare fists and will continue to do so until the timer runs out on the ability. Times like these are just an absolute blast to play, but could easily have been overdone if Santa Monica Studios hadn’t paced them so excellently in the story and used them so sparingly. Seeing a demi-god go full on rage and become a near-unstoppable force of destruction to take on other immensely powerful beings is amazing, but 35 hours of that would have simply been too much for me.

The last thing I want to quickly pay special attention to is the audio and visual design. In order to add a more intimate and personal connection with the character, Santa Monica Studio moved the camera behind Kratos instead of above him, as stated before; but what really sets it apart from any other game I have played is that the camera never transitions. The entire game (minus a quick fast travel blip through a portal here and there) plays out in one, continuous, cinematic camera shot; and for a 30+ hour game, this is absolutely mind-blowing. This, in combination with gorgeous, colorful visuals and landscapes and an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack by Bear McCreary, creates a true cinematic masterpiece that I have yet to experience anywhere else.

In conclusion, if you couldn’t tell from everything I’ve stated, I absolutely adore God of War on the PlayStation 4. Everything, from the wonderful and lengthy narrative, complex and deep lore, breathtaking visuals, brutal and satisfying combat, to the rewarding exploration and great RPG elements, make this one of the greatest games you can possibly experience this console generation, if not all time. While it may not be like the previous entries in the series, this is a game that everyone,previous fan or not, should experience, and is reason enough to purchase or at least borrow a friend’s PS4 to play.

Is it Cannon?

Yes, if you: Care about meaningful, well-written and presented narrative;Want a game to reward you for exploration and taking your time.;Like a solid, versatile, fun, and often brutal combat system that grows as you play.;Appreciate a world full of lore (specifically Norse Mythology) that is opened up as you progress.;Are itching for a well-crafted, gorgeous, and lengthy (but not overly-so) experience. Care about meaningful, well-written and presented narrative

Want a game to reward you for exploration and taking your time.

Like a solid, versatile, fun, and often brutal combat system that grows as you play.

Appreciate a world full of lore (specifically Norse Mythology) that is opened up as you progress.

Are itching for a well-crafted, gorgeous, and lengthy (but not overly-so) experience. No, if you: Are the player who skips cutscenes to get to the action.;Want a game to play with your friends online.;Really don’t enjoy fantasy stories about mythological gods and their flaws.;Don’t handle brutality or violence well. Are the player who skips cutscenes to get to the action.

Want a game to play with your friends online.

Really don’t enjoy fantasy stories about mythological gods and their flaws.

Don’t handle brutality or violence well.

God of War released on April 20th, 2018 on the PlayStation 4.