God of War Ragnarok

 So, my Christmas present arrived about a month early - my family collaborated to get me a PS5, bundled with a code for God of War Ragnarok. As it stands, I'm thus inundated with games to play, but I've been trying out the new game (and also checking out how Elden Ring looks on the PS5 - my biggest takeaway is that the lighting is way more impressive, which is more important than you'd think until you see the difference.)

Anyway, I played the original God of War back in 2005/2006, having heard how amazing it was, and was, frankly, a little underwhelmed. However, the Norse revamp of the series, after the original trilogy saw Kratos destroy basically the entire Greek Pantheon, was a fascinating exercise in both changing the look and feel of the game (taking the action to an over-the-shoulder 3rd person rather than a carefully-choreographed camera) and also evolving thematically.

God of War Ragnarok is certainly not once again reinventing the series - it plays very similarly to the un-numbered fourth game (meaning that the two other games in the series I own are both simply named "God of War.") However, at least so far, the game feels more assured. There was a bit of sameiness in the previous entry in terms of creature design and environments, and here, things feel a little more varied.

There are muscle-memory issues to deal with after playing Elden Ring so much (I also got the Demon's Souls remake on sale, but haven't yet played that,) and I think the tighter camera, while great for the look of the game, does sometimes make it easy to get overwhelmed by foes (Kratos turns a tad too slowly).

Once again, menacing gods are showing up at Kratos and Atreus' house, though this time the introductory fight is with Thor - who is mythologically accurate with his giant gut and red hair, and really puts you through your paces (your "victory" against him is just survival - it's not fun getting hit with Mjolnir, even if your Leviathan Axe was made by the same dwarves).

So far I've had an extended journey through Svartalfheim/Nidavelir, and I'm now doing stuff in Alfheim, which of course we saw in the previous game. In fact, I think Alfheim looks a lot better this go around - somehow the design of the dark elves we fought in the previous game felt kind of PS2-era in design, while so far, the experience in Alfheim has felt a lot more modern.

Thematically, we once again return to Kratos' efforts to be a good father to his son, who is growing more rebellious and independent. The Father/Son dynamic is naturally a rich well from which to draw thematic relevance, and how appropriate, then, that the main villain is Odin, the All-Father - played recognizably (the model is based on the actor) by Richard Schiff. Kratos wants his son to be strong, courageous, and better than he was, but he recognizes in Atreus a lot of the careless anger and inability to see the longterm consequences of his actions. Kratos is unable to play a truly sensitive nurturer, but strives toward something that can put his son on the right track.

In the midst of all of this, due to the events of the last game (and spoilers if you know your Norse myth,) the Fimbulwinter has begun. Midgard, where Kratos and Atreus make their home, is blanketed in perpetual snow, but we also see how other realms are affected in their own ways. The realms also give us the opportunity to get some visual variation - while Midgard is in its perpetual winter, Svartalfheim is a land of geothermic pools - and is suffering from frequent earthquakes (not great for a place where the dwarves often work in mines).

Indeed, we revisit a few locations from the previous game, though in general, the conditions have been changed enough to make them feel like very different environments - the temple of Tyr, which serves as a hub in the previous game to go between realms, is now frozen over. Kratos is also no longer hiding the Blades of Chaos under the floorboards of his house. They are now prominently on display, and you get access to them relatively early compared to the last game. There are some skills you can learn that encourage you to swap between the blades and the axe frequently in combat.

And the combat is fun, even if I feel a little spoiled by From Soft's approach. Once again, as you level up, you can gain additional moves, and it can be very satisfying when you get enough of a hit combo that your weapon glows with its given element and you start really carving through foes (also, as always, there are a number of brutal finishing moves you can do after you've stunned a foe, which Atreus can help you do much faster if you remember to use Square to pummel enemies with arrows.

But also, playing this I'm reminded that these have always been puzzle games with combat interstitials. NPCs will often comment on Kratos' seeming attention deficit, though Atreus will defend him by explaining that his father likes to find out-of-the-way loot (Kratos, naturally, would never bother to explain his actions).

Now that I've fully stepped into the PS5 era, I'm looking forward to all the new games (or even 2... or 3? year old games) coming out. I've got the Demon's Souls remake (never played the original) and I'm planning on seeing if I can just upgrade my digital Final Fantasy VII Remake with the "intergrade" DLC.