God of War review: Growing Up
I said, “Well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles?”
-A Tribe Called Quest, Excursions
The World Serpent agrees. It's Big Boy Season.
Jormungandr, the world-spanning Midgard Serpent destined to battle, and to have battled, Thor at Ragnarok, is just one of the ways that the cyclical nature of Norse mythology reveals itself.
Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, so desperate to end a cycle of violence, manipulation and patricide, has sought refuge within an entirely new mythology to escape his own ghosts.
God of War, the eighth installment of the franchise if you count that odd mobile phone game from 2007, is also an attempt to break a cycle.
Kratos, who up until now has taken a decidedly hands-off approach to fatherhood, is left with little choice upon the death of his wife. And so he sets out on a journey with his son, Atreus, to scatter her ashes from the highest peak of all the nine realms. Kratos’s seething rage, previously aimed at the entire Greek pantheon, has (mostly) subsided in his old age. Ire has been replaced with crankiness and his fiery Blades of Chaos with the frosty new Leviathan Axe, a gift from his recently-deceased wife. But it’s her other gift, Atreus, that quickly becomes the focal point of the journey.
Thematically and tonally, God of War could not share less with former installments in the series. The Last of Us in a Scandinavian skin though it may be, it is unabashedly a game about parenthood. But that it wrings so much from a formerly one-note cipher such as Kratos, all while developing an adolescent tag-along into a compelling lead in his own right, is an achievement.
That's a low bar, Kratos.
Aside from Kratos’s disposition, the tightly-cropped perspective is perhaps the most immediately apparent departure. God of War director Cory Barlog shared in a recent interview that if previous games’ cameras, looming high over the battlefield, were the developers’ perspective, then this newer, over-the-shoulder viewpoint was meant to be to the player’s. Much has been made of God of War’s Birdman-style continuous tracking shot approach, and it does lend a sense of immediacy to the narrative as well as combat. The other narrative device is the inclusion of Atreus, who also doubles as Kratos’s most effective weapon.
Though God of War takes numerous cues from fellow series revamp Resident Evil 4, Atreus needs no escort; aside from a handful of moments in which enemies attempt to carry the young archer away from combat, the boy can take care of himself just fine. As it turns out, he does a pretty stellar job of taking care of Kratos, too. His arrows, mapped to the square button alongside all of his actions, grow from mere distraction to strategic lynchpin as his confidence in battle grows. Though you never control Atreus directly, players can fire a volley of arrows at whichever enemy Kratos is facing. You can do this in between the windows of Kratos’s attacks to keep enemies aloft and extend juggles and combos, or to cover the openings of Kratos’s larger, slower abilities. Eventually, Atreus can perform runic summons that allow him to call upon a number of spirit animals for aid, such as a pack of wolves to flank the enemy, a murder of crows to harass from the skies or a particularly bitter squirrel to dig up resources on the battlefield.
Atreus, with the aid of a stellar supporting cast that includes a witch, a sage and a pair of dwarves, also provides key moments of levity in a lengthy adventure filled with foreboding. God of War is several orders of magnitude funnier and longer than its predecessors, and it’s an achievement that the writing is so consistently compelling. Atreus’s presence both in and out of combat is one of many examples that prove God of War is capable of marrying narrative with mechanically-rich, satisfying third-person action. And neither aspect comes at the expense of the other.
We all probably know Kratos's stance on prayer...
Another equally-versatile addition to the formula is Kratos’s Leviathan Axe, which can be thrown and recalled (to extremely satisfying effect) much like Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. It is the crux of dozens of thoughtful puzzles littered throughout the nine realms, not unlike the hidden tombs of the Tomb Raider reboot and its successor. But, expectedly, it shines brightest in combat. Kratos can hack and hew at his enemies with an ever-expanding repertoire of melee skills, accumulating frost damage to slow his foes’ response time all the while. Or he can freeze enemies where they stand from long range by launching the axe into them, freeing him up for a bare-knuckle brawl with a monster that isn’t preoccupied with an axe blade protruding from its sternum. Axe blows peel off damage while punches build up a stun meter that, when full, leaves enemies susceptible to a gory, enemy-specific execution. With the exception of one comically violent finisher (Wulvers), their welcome wears out pretty quickly due to monotony, though they do provide a useful period of invulnerability during the animation.
Though the narrative tone, perspective and combat serve as huge departures from previous entries, God of War’s change in structure eclipses all else. This iteration offers less of an overworld than a Metroidvania-style hub, with the massive Lake of Nine as the center of the wheel and the other realms and adjoining landmasses serving as branching spokes. With few exceptions, each of these worlds alone feels like they could house an entire previous God of War game.
Atreus often scouts ahead for enemies. Unsurprisingly, he finds a bunch of them.
With side quests (favors), personal challenges (labors), artifacts, Diablo-style loot (complete with the green > blue > purple > gold rarity tiers) and much more to find, one could easily sink 60 hours into seeing all that God of War has to offer. The equipment system, full of enchantments, weapon pommels, armor for your chest, arms and waist, talismans and runic attacks that allow Kratos to fire off special attacks governed by a cooldown, don’t immediately justify their inclusion into what has generally been a straightforward action series. But in time, they offer a welcome degree of customization and creativity that nicely complement an already-diverse suite of approaches. This is especially true of mid and late-game loot that provide Kratos with perks far beyond simple stat bonuses.
Mainlining the story would take half the time, but doing so would mean missing half of what makes God of War worth its weight in hacksilver. Seemingly taking a cue from The Witcher 3 and its ilk, dialogue is often the driving force of side quests. Each opportunity to explore offers more valuable worldbuilding in the form of stories told during boat rides from one location to the next. Wisely, the game will even cut one of its many stories short when Kratos and co. reaches shore, and it will resume just as naturally when they next hit the high seas. It’s a small touch that games like Uncharted 4 have employed in the past, but it underscores the fact that these dozens of quiet seaside moments inform Kratos and Atreus’s journey just as much as any of the numerous epic battles and set pieces.
God of War is more vibrant than any of its predecessors. Kratos and Atreus's journey through the nine realms will also take them on a journey throughout the color spectrum.
Where God of War occasionally stumbles with respect to Metroidvanias of old is the navigation. Given the degree of backtracking to older environments, which open up even further upon obtaining new abilities, getting from one area to another can feel like a chore. The game’s fast-travel system is hamstrung for more than half of the game by preventing direct travel from point to point, instead limiting players to a one-way ride to the game world’s central hub. Additionally, some of the fast-travel points are placed throughout other realms in such a way that it is quite literally faster to not use the fast-travel points. It stands to reason that the developers would want to encourage exploration and the chance to trigger as many stories as possible, but the price paid in convenience is occasionally steep.
#BigBoySeason
God of War’s presentation deserves far more than a footnote at the end of a review. It is a stunning game that masks loading times in clever ways, even if they grow tiresome over time (obnoxiously slow elevators, crawl spaces, etc.). It’s so effective, in fact, that if you somehow push the game enough to force a traditional loading sequence, it’ll be jarring beyond belief. Likewise, the sound design makes for a quality experience with a proper sound system; I would pay a premium for a Jormungandr-recorded voicemail.
While God of War is sometimes more content to borrow the ideas of its peers than to break new ground, it remains a bold game in nearly every respect. Any number of its small shortcomings (a useless map, a cumbersome fast travel system, not being able to accurately compare equipment without removing enchantments first) pale in comparison to its strengths. Much like its two heroes, God of War is finally growing up.
