The game introduces the players to an older and wiser Kratos who left the Olympus and Greece and seems to lived a peacefull life in Scandanevia in the realm of Midguard. Needles to say The Greek mythology part is in the past while we(the players and fans of the series)
slowly move towards the Norse mythology (Thor,Odin Loki etc). Withing the first cutscene the players get to know how Kratos new wife has passed away and that her final request was for him to travel to the highest peak within the 9 realms and releas her ashes. Kratos wishes
to honor her last request and tells his son Atreus to show him his skills by going for a hunt.(Very similar to the first announcment back in 2016). This acts as the tutorial level for the players. After their hunt Kratos
warns Atreous that he is not ready yet for an adventure with him as he clearly thinks and reacts based on motions. However an unexpected visit from an immortal person changes Kratos mind and him and Atreous embark on their
journey earlier than expected. Through the Journey we get to visit new breathtaking locations and meet new interesting characters with their own unique stories to add to the overall experience. Two of them are the dwarves
whose story is that they used to be the best blacksmiths however they decided to take their own paths. The more the player proceeds the more the dwarves develop and also they act as the bblacksmith for Kratos to upgrade gear. Freya who is known as the witch of the forest
is a godess whokeeps on helping them on their adventure and also has a secret story with the Norse gods. Another interesting character is Mimir who is the Norse god of Knowledge and wisdom. Theres plenty of others as well but
then i ll be diving in spoiler territory and thus i wont proceed further.
One of the best things about the story, is the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. The two of them work perfectly together very similar to the Playstation 3/4 master piece The Last of Us. From the oppening scene and through out the game the players see the
strugles of kratos trying to approach his son but he does not know how to as ghosts of his past still hunt him. In the same way, Atreus seems to be afraid of his "dad" as he is being very rude to him by shutting him down plenty of times. Their relationship goes up and down
and it really keeps the rythm going. Moreover, Kratos never revealed his past to his son (we do not know about his wife) and there's plenty of times where things would ve been better if only Kratos talked to him. Santa Monica also did a fantastic job with the character
of Atreus. he is a little boy, being scared of the world and feeling lost and abandoned now that his mom passed and left him with a man who only knows of rage. He constantly tries to impress him but most of the times gets a cold response back. Things change the more they
spent time together and from the moment kratos decides to talk about his past and his godlike status. This changes the frightened Atreus and make him into an arrogant fool who dissrespects everyone who aid them on their adventure. All this development is slowly building and makes
the game far more realistic and enjoyable.
Last but not least the Norse gods themselves do not appreciate the fact that an outsider chose their lands as his base. With that in mind they wish to get directly involve with Kratos leaving alot of things "open" for a sequel to strike down with a lightning. Furthermore, the end
of the game also reveals alot of mysteries revolving the Norse gods, Atreus himself and the mystery around Kratos dead wife. Lastly the game proceeds to expand it's lore through plenty of Mimir tales. To ellaborate, Mimir loves to share his knowledge with his two new friends and thus every
time the player is having a boat trip or changes realms through the bridge Mimir, will share a story of the past or present. If the player gets off the boat while Mimir is sharing his tale, he'll say We will pick this Up another time
and when the player travels through any of the two means
Mimir will say Where was I??... Oh yes!! ...
OR either Atreus or even Kratos will ask Mimir to continue his tale by quoting him or asking him to proceed after a certain part. Mimir will NOT skip a tale, given the fact that he already began his narration of it.
During the Playstation 2 era, god of war began as a legend of zelda clone where the player moves in areas, slay enemies and obtain new weapons. With each instalment Kratos and his franchise became its own iconic series packed with action, brutallity and amazing storytelling ultilizing the Greek Gods.
The new game changed the formula to a more standard formula that can be found in many recent games. This was a changed that was first received badly but aged relatively well. God of War (2018) is a semi-oppened world as the players venture around the kingdoms of Midguard. The players always get the
control of Kratos but during battles they can command Atreus in order to shoot his arrows or other teckniques. While outside of combat the players can walk around, interact with the environment, solve puzzles and spent time on boat trips with the Atreus. There's plenty of Npc and collectables that
can have the player explore but more on these later.
Around the worlds there's plenty of enemy encounters that will try to prevent Kratos and Atreus from reaching their goal.Usually in Combat Kratos had plenty of weapons to used againts enemies, however in this game Kratos is only in Possession of the Leviathan Axe. The axe is a very powerfull weapon forged
by the best blacksmith of Midguard. With the axe Kratos can use quick swift strikes and slow heavy blows in order to take down the enemies. These attacks can also combo with each other in order to add further depth to it's combat. Moreover, when Kratos levels up he can Upgrade the Axe to deal more damage but
also to gain more abilities that shoot projectiles, cause massive AoE attacks and expansion to it's combos. Furthermore, another massive use of the axe is to throw it towards enemies who will freeze temporarily and slowly lose life. In doing so Kratos can choose to "throw hands with them" or call the Leviathan
back similar to how Thor calls his hammer back. The punches also come with a heavy and quick attacks. Eventually Kratos obtain his iconic weapon, the Chaos Blades. Unlike the Leviathan which is an "ice" weapon, the blades are leanning into the element of fire. These blades are used for longer attacks and
apply a burn status. Once again there are light and heavy attacks which are allowed to combo. The chaos blades cannot be thrown but they can pull enemies closer to Kratos for him to punish. The game offers a different unique skill board for those who wish to have the blades as their main weapon of choice.
The fourth weapon that Kratos can use in combat is his shield. The Guardian Shield as it called, is a retractable shield located inside a gauntlet on Kratos' arm. It can not only used to parry and block enemy attacks but can also be used offensively in combination with the Blades of Chaos and Kratos' fists.
Similar to the axe and blades, it has its own skill tree and can be upgraded. Kratos can unlock various skills with his shield such as counter attack counter step and others.
When fighting enemies, the game will pop quick command for the player to react and get a cinematic brutal kill on the enemies. During these, the player gets invinsible frames meanning they enemy attack will miss Kratos. Additionaly Kratos has a rage system which when filled, the player can tap into Kratos berserk
status which allow him to increase his attack speed, his damage and overall buff him. The last attack the players can do during battle is to use Atreus. Atreus will always be in combat with his dad unless the story takes him elsewhere, and he is a back support shooting arrows to help his dad. Atreus has many two
different type of arrows and certain special attacks. They re on cooldown and they automatically recharge. Additionally Atreus and Kratos also have their own unique skills to combo in order to defeat their opponents. Eg. Kratos will drop to his knees for Atreus to use him in order to jump and shoot arrows etc.
In combat, when an enemy falls they ocasionally drop items, some of these are for weapon upgrades, others are to heal Kratos and so on.
The maps are wonderfully design filled with amazing details and identity the defines each area and each kingdom and the game is filled with plenty of collectables and post game content for the player to continue playing. You venture around either on a boat or by using the Byfroast. A bridge that combines the kingdoms. Using any of them allows the players to hear stories from either Kratos or Mimir who will share their knowledge. Each map has plenty of collectables and hidden chests that offer mainly trophies. The hidden chests require the player to find a certain way to approach it in order to interact. Some of them require the player to use their weapons in order to proceed. for example certain thorn wont grant access to Kratos unless he burns them with the blades which he wont have at that point and the player will have to come back afterwards. The chests have armor pieces, rare crafting items, health and rage expansions etc. Moreover there is a total of 15 favor AKA side quests given to Kratos by interacting with NPCs.There are 45 Artefacts that need to be found, 7 chambers, 11 shrines, 13 purple language chest 38 mystic Gateways, 16 shops, 39 Lore Markers, 51 Odin spirirts raven. These are mainly items that the player will come across and will have to collect. on the other hand there are 8 Valkyries who act as a boss fight who upon defeated will unlock the ultimate boss fight with the Valkyrie Queen. In addition there are 3 dragons that were captured and Kratos will have to free them. Around the dragons who will attack with Aoe attacks, the heroes will have to attack the enemies who captured the dragons and find the binding seal that is keeping the dragons prisoned. Finaly there are 18 realm tear encounters and 12 treasure maps. For the realms Kratos interacts with the gate and fight whoever comes from the gate (not every gate has encounters) and for the treasure the players goes to the location fight whoever is there and claims the award.
Overall God of War 2018 is game that re established God of War as one of Sony's most "powerfull Ips". The game has breathtaking visuals and a spectacular story which captivates the player throughout the game. The new characters and the entire Norse kingdom is done well as the game manage to established the main cast, the main side characters (Good and Bad) and hype the upcomming characters who re bound to come in future installments. The combat of the game is less hack and slash and its more strategic with deep game mechanicks. The post game content is enough to keep someone playing the game for a long time even when they re done with the main plot. The game was a massive hit who claimed plenty of awards and praise in a year where there were plenty of good games such as Marvel's Spiderman, Red dead Redemption 2, Assassin creed Oddysey and Monster hunter world. The game is said to have a sequel called The God of War ragnarok which is set to be released in 2022 for the playstation 5.
This is a video showcasing and reviewing the Game