It's a common misconception—if you're an adolescent male—to correlate maturity with "mature themes" meant for adults. Nudity, swearing, and excessive violence can feel like good markers for a "grown-up" story (just look how well it works for HBO shows), but this correlation gradually breaks down over time, especially when you expose yourself to heavy material wrapped in an innocent veneer (Inside Out, Marley & Me, etc.) Likewise, a lot of gritty, edgy media that you might've enjoyed as a teen for how "real" it was (Wanted, Wizard's First Rule, etc.) quickly loses its luster when you realize just how ugly glorified violence and gross sexual encounters can be.
2018's God of War displays a maturity that the series always lacked. Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to create material that revels in its own juvenile themes, but the austere, self-serious plot of the original God of War trilogy was hard to buy into. It wanted to be mature—the first game opens with Kratos attempting suicide—but you had to suspend your empathy for a number of ghoulish events. Over the course of three games, the series never really attempted to analyze its gnarly penchant for bloodlust, at least it any significant way beyond pleas from doomed NPCs. It was a revenge story for revenge's sake, and while that's fine, PS4's quasi-reboot God of War is a massive step up that I never knew I wanted.
When the title was first revealed at Sony's 2016 E3 press conference, I was hesitant. First impressions told me it was a step in the wrong direction: an over the shoulder cam, slow walking segments, no blades of chaos, and your... son is along for the ride? It was a bold shake-up from what fans might expect, but it didn't really feel like God of War—at least from the footage I watched. Fast forward to when I played it several months after its release and it... still doesn't feel quite like God of War... but that's okay! What's important is that it feels good.
Well, maybe not at first; the game took a while—a long while—to get into. There's a lot of new systems to familiarize yourself with and a completely new control scheme that obliterates old habits (RIP Square Square Triangle). Usually it doesn't take too much time for a game to click with me—even something as bizarre as Final Fantasy XV falls into place after a couple of hours—but I basically got to the end of God of War before I felt like I knew what I was doing. Your mileage may vary here, but the game's tendency to over-complicate things with its wealth of upgradeable materials, sockets, runes, and stats can be pretty off-putting, especially if you're wary of ineffectual RPG creep in modern games. I wasn't keen on the amount of random pick-ups in Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War only exacerbated that problem.
Thankfully, the length of time it takes to familiarize yourself with God of War's systems and equipment is probably the worst part about the title. Kratos's journey into Norse mythology is a beautiful, immersive, and sizable adventure that rarely gets tedious (unless you're running through Niflheim). The open world structure is a massive boon to the series, giving the player a land sprinkled with mystery without the typical Ubisoft side quests confetti everywhere. Even during obvious fetch quest segments of the main story, there's plenty of dialogue to keep the player invested. And it's largely thanks to the new heart of the series: Atreus, Kratos's son.
The father-son dynamic is a fantastic inclusion. Games are still knee-deep in their "disgruntled dad" phase, but what's special here is that Atreus doesn't get damseled early on or killed off for tragedy; he's your reluctant partner in crime the whole adventure. You start God of War with an affinity for Kratos simply due to all the time you've spent with him (murdering people), but Atreus is the one with genuine curiosity, growth, and a sympathetic ear for the world around him. The franchise's lean into mythology has always been one of its best selling points, but the premise benefits greatly if it has a character like Atreus interested in all this deep, aggrandized lore. Plus some of the smaller, gentler moments between the father and son can certainly pull at your heartstrings... assuming you find Kratos's ornery nature forgivable.
Truth be told, Kratos is probably the second worst thing about the game, but his terribleness is very purposeful. It's placed in juxtaposition to all the characters around him: paralleling the Stranger, contrasting with the Witch of the Woods, and conflicting with his son. While comparisons between Kratos and others could be made in the older games, it was largely with manipulative antagonists that the player held no sympathy for—meaning the they'd side with the Spartan even as he brutalized women. God of War turns the lens on Kratos more frequently, every terse conversation with Atreus changing him bit by bit. Also, if it wasn't apparently already, I really have a soft spot for stories that condemn the morally questionable actions of their main character.
I haven't really discussed the combat outside of "it was confusing at first", and while I don't have a lot to say about it, I appreciated most of the changes. Enemies are diverse, there's a great assortment of special abilities, and the impact of your weapons is better than its ever been. Sound effects are chunky, animations have a visceral weight, and you're guaranteed to find at least a couple attacks that you'll obsessively fit into every other combo (Executioner's Cleave babyyyy!) It does suffer from having a wealth of button combinations that are easily mixed up (good luck remembering that your son can shoot arrows), and the leveling system is a real fickle mistress—if an enemy you hate shows up with a red number next to their health bar, prepare to restart. But those issues are minor blemishes in a system that works astounding well; never did I think I'd play a satisfying character action game with an over the shoulder camera.
God of War may not have become one of my favorite franchises, but the PS4 title makes the best case for the series yet. It grants Kratos ample room to grow, both in its plot and gameplay, and gives him a much-needed conscience in the form of his lovably naive son. It presents the player with a world so fascinating and fun that I did nearly every quest I could (besides the grueling challenges in Muspelheim), long after the credits had rolled. It may take a while to get into, but God of War has evolved well beyond what it once was, arguably becoming the most robust and engrossing title on the PS4. Even with games I love I'm usually not clamoring for a sequel, but I'll happily dip my toes back into Midgar's chilly waters whenever Santa Monica Studios should decide to return.
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Title image obtained from: softpedia.com
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