We must be better - God of War Ragnarok Review
When Sony published a soft reboot of its God of War franchise in 2018, I was excited. Not only had I grown up loving this bloody, action-packed series in my high school days, but it seemed that the series (and its protagonist, Kratos) was growing up with me. Transported from the world of Greek myths that he had already decimated, the one-time God of War would now find himself in the land of Norse mythology, and with a newfound purpose in life: being a father.
I became a father in 2013, so by the time God of War launched on PlayStation 4, I already knew that I wasn’t very good at it. I adored my son, but I was also a mess—always trapped in my own head, overthinking everything, ruminating on my past mistakes and desperate to make sure my boy would only ever see a certain side of me, and of life. I didn’t want him to have to go through any of the pain I went through. Sure, I never murdered an entire pantheon while on a misguided quest for revenge, but I still felt a strong sense of connection with Kratos and his fumbling, clumsy attempts to raise his child right.
By the end of the the first chapter of the saga of Kratos and Atreus, sad dads around the world were taught a lesson in how we cannot keep our children from being hurt, how parenting is really about preparing the next generation for how they react to the inevitable pain in life, and how, in order to be a good father, it is necessary to tear down the artificial walls we put up, to be open and honest with our children about the ways in which we’ve failed and the ways in which we struggle.
It sounds boneheaded—perhaps it is boneheaded—but I feel that God of War genuinely showed me ways to improve myself as a father, and my relationship with my son has slowly but surely grown since then. So to say that I went into the long-awaited follow-up, God of War Ragnarok, with absurdly high expectations is no exaggeration. I walk away forty hours later stunned that this sequel actually managed to reach the heights I had hoped for.
God of War Ragnarok picks up several years after the events of the first game, in which Kratos and his son, Atreus, journeyed around Midgard (and a few other realms), fought and eventually killed the god Baldur, and encountered an unsettling prophecy concerning their futures and the possible destruction of the nine realms. Father and son grew much closer over the course of that journey, but with Atreus entering his moody teen years, the two find themselves often at odds over what they should do next.
In a lot of ways, the conflict between Kratos and Atreus comes down to the perspective of an old man versus the passionate adventurousness of youthfulness. Kratos believes they should stay hiding in their tiny cabin in the woods, raising wolves and hunting food; once more, he wants to protect Atreus from the (admittedly quite massive) dangers of this world. Atreus, on the other hand, craves experience; he imagines a great destiny for himself and seeks to embrace that future, with all the excitement and risk it promises.
Of course, it’d be a pretty boring and short game if Kratos got his way. Before long, the two receive a visit from two gods that propels them into a series of overlapping adventures across all of the nine realms. What’s at stake: the fate of these worlds and all the people and gods living within them, including (and especially) Katos and Atreus themselves.
Perhaps the most notable shift between the previous God of War and Ragnarok is how much it shows off the wider people of this world as they stare down the end-times. Where the last game had a relatively tiny cast of around ten named and recurring characters, Ragnarok at least triples that number, introducing tons of new faces and, amazingly, giving each of them time to shine.
Major gods like Thor and Odin are, of course, given a large spotlight, but lesser mythological figures, including plenty of mortals, get time to shine as well. And that’s on top of returning favorites such as the dwarven blacksmith siblings, Brok and Sindri, and Freya, the one-time queen of the Valkyries who now has a vendetta against Kratos and Atreus for the death of her son, Baldur.
That God of War Ragnarok is able to juggle all these threads without many of them feeling underdeveloped is quite a feat on its own. But the way in which they pull it off is especially inspired. In the previous game, Kratos was joined by Atreus for most of the scenarios, with the addition of the disembodied head of Mimir, the smartest man alive, around halfway through. In Ragnarok, a wider cast teams up with Kratos and his son, often bringing their own skills to combat or exploration as the story and gameplay demands them. Even Brok and Sindri get to jump into battle on a few occasions, pulling from a chaotic bag of tricks to aid Kratos.
In perhaps his greatest sign of growth, Ragnarok’s Kratos is a far cry from the loner war god of his days in Greece. His list of allies grows throughout the dozens of hours of this title, and it becomes increasingly clear just how much he cares for each of these characters. More than we’ve ever seen before, it feels as though the rogue god is pulling together a chosen a family, albeit one that often has to join him in bloody battles against deadly threats.
The addition of new dance partners helps keep combat fresh, though there’s no denying that Ragnarok’s core is essentially the same as the 2018 game. Kratos uses his frost-powered Leviathan Axe and his fiery Chaos Blades in fast-paced, combo-heavy fights that are tough but satisfying. I found the battles here quite a bit more challenging than the last game, even just on the “normal” difficulty setting (aka Give Me Balance). Enemies can whittle Kratos’s health bar down with just a few direct hits, and players are deeply punished for just mindlessly button mashing. Instead, you need to play defensively, rolling out of the way of unblockable attacks and parrying with your shield to open enemies up to being stunned.
In order to account for the increased difficulty and the increased length of Ragnarok without making things totally overwhelming, the game also features a much wider variety of enemies, including a lot more boss encounters. That’s not to say that boss types never repeat—there are variations you’ll run into multiple times, just like in the first game—but they tend to be broken up more in ways that help it feel like you’re not just moving from one fight against a big old troll to the next.
Battles are also broken up by extensive exploration and puzzle-solving sections, which were among my favorite parts of the game. Along with an expanded cast of characters, Ragnarok explores a wider range of lands, with all nine of the Norse mythological realms included. Kratos and Atreus head to areas that were mentioned but never actually seen in the previous God of War, such as the dwarven land of Svartalfheim and the Vanir gods’ home of Vanaheim. And these levels provide more environmental variety compared to the mostly frigid peaks and forests of the last game. The father-son duo get to spend some bonding time in tropical waters, a lush rain forest, a traditional Viking-style city, and more.
Both exploration and puzzles are gated off based on the tools currently available to Kratos, which means that each of the nine realms opens up slowly over time. When some of the main story quests in the mid- and late-game sent me back to areas I already explored, I wanted to roll my eyes, but inevitably these distractions led to opening up a new pathway or two with my expanded inventory of powers, and often those new pathways led to massive new areas full of sidequests and optional information to learn about the history of this world and its inhabitants. Those who love thoroughly exploring are going to be well-rewarded in Ragnarok.
To be honest, though, the greatest rewards in God of War Ragnarok come from just experiencing the lengthy, twisty, emotional story of the game, and I can’t say too much about that without getting into territory that would spoil the impact of it all. I’ll try to say a few things in spoiler-free broad strokes though.
Though 2018’s God of War and Ragnarok both represent serious growth in terms of storytelling maturity compared to the series's PlayStation 2-era origins, they are still, at their heart, dumb comic-book-style tales about big muscly men with superpowers punching and stabbing each other. If anything, Ragnarok is the apotheosis of that type of story; it constantly heads into new and shocking directions that I never guessed at, usually driven by exaggerated, almost soap opera-esque levels of melodrama and gravitas.
At one point around halfway through Ragnarok, one of the characters pokes fun at Kratos for constantly speaking in high-minded maxims. It’s a funny observation and got a chuckle out of me, but the truth is that basically every character in the game talks like that. Almost every sentence of the script is loaded down with meaning, both obvious and unspoken.
I grew up on heady, self-serious genre stories through fantasy and sci-fi novel and superhero comics, and I love them. But in the age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I also often get exhausted at the idea of explicitly fantasy stories as our culture’s primary method of engaging with fiction. The teenage comic book fan in me adores the fact that the Avengers have become a fixture of movie theaters and streaming TV; the English major in me grumpily wonders why we need to turn to stories that all come down to punching bad guys just to learn some life lessons.
For as cynical as I can be about this stuff, though, I can’t deny when it works on me. And in God of War Ragnarok, it works. If 2018’s God of War was about establishing a relationship between Kratos and Atreus where one just barely existed before, Ragnarok asks how you instill values in your children and how you live those values yourself. It’s about not just teaching your child how to avoid the toxic traits you grew up around and inherited, but teaching yourself as a parent to abandon those traits, or at least to work hard every day at moving past them.
“We are not our failures,” one character reminds Kratos during a moment of intense self-reflection between battles. “We are not who we were. We must be better.”
Call me a sucker, or just another shitty dad who’s trying his best to improve, but moments like that hit me hard. And God of War Ragnarok is overflowing with them. It’s a beautiful, powerful game that will be hard to top if Sony ever chooses to do another God of War. I assume they will still try at some point, but if this truly was the last we saw of Kratos, Atreus, and the many other memorable faces introduced here, I would be totally pleased.
And to my amazing son, when you read this, please know that I will keep waking up every morning and choosing to be better for you. Kratos and I don’t have much in common, but we’ll always share that.
SCORE: 5 STARS OUT OF 5
PLAY IF YOU LIKE:
• God of War. It goes without saying, but if you’ve enjoyed the God of War franchise in the past—especially if you liked the 2018 edition’s shift in setting and tone—you’ll want to pick up Ragnarok and see where it takes these characters.
• Epic blockbuster storytelling. If you don’t mind the trend towards major Hollywood movies that mix the on-screen spectacle with humor and emotion, God of War Ragnarok offers a very similar blend. Personally, I think Ragnarok does it better than almost anything in the MCU, and I say that as an MCU fan, but your mileage may vary!
• Character action games. Putting aside the dramatic story and the light RPG progression elements, God of War Ragnarok at its heart builds on the same formula of 3D character action games used in titles like Devil May Cry 5 and Bayonetta 3. If you love the flashy, skill-rewarding combat of those titles, definitely give Ragnarok a shot.
💬 What’s the video game that has been the most emotionally impactful for you, and why? Share your thoughts in the comments! I’d love to know that I’m not alone in getting misty-eyed at a game.
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