God of War Ragnarök (PS5) Spoiler Free Review

PlayStation’s most reflective, mature, and contemplative journey

In 2018, God of War was re-introduced to the world. While there was a lot of skepticism going into it, Santa Monica Studio presented us with an entirely different Kratos than what we were used to, not an over-the-top rage-filled beast, but a more somber, retreated man coming to terms with the loss of his wife while trying to teach his son to survive in a harsh world. The majority of gamers came away impressed. This new look for Kratos was immediately compelling, and through his touching journey, I fell in love with the relationship that formed between him and his son Atreus. That's not to say God of War wasn't without its faults. Particularly the enemy variety became repetitive. Side quests were fun but didn't add much to the story or lore, serving as more of a secondary reason to explore its larger-than-usual world. Despite criticisms and nitpicks, I stand by the fact that God of War (2018) was terrific. God of War Ragnarök has a ton of expectations to meet as a major sequel but how does this chapter of Kratos’ journey compare with the added power of the PS5?

Corey Barlog has stated in interviews that Ragnarök will be the last God of War game set in Norse mythology, giving the game even more weight and setting the stage. If you want to go in with a clean slate, not knowing anything, I will just say this: Ragnarök is a masterpiece and you would be doing yourself a disservice by skipping it.

For those concerned with spoilers, I will have two content breaks in this review to reduce spoilers. After this first break, I will be diving into gameplay. Some may want to stay clear of even this section because it is difficult to talk about some gameplay elements without some story spoilers. After the second break, I will go into the story. While skipping significant spoilers, there are sure to be light spoilers. Again, do yourself a favor and play Ragnarök. It's worth your time and money.

With that housekeeping out of the way, let’s get into the fantastic gameplay of Ragnarök…

Regarding gameplay in God of War Ragnarök, much of what was good in the previous game is even better here. The Leviathan Ax still feels amazing, with added satisfaction thanks to the haptics on the DualSense controller making the weapon carry extra weight as you feel it slam into Kratos's hand upon recalling it. The Chaos Blades also feel somehow better, lighter than the axe, used more for crowd control, but able to deal serious damage. Atreus’ arrow attack feels good to use as well.

Gameplay spoilers ahead!

Okay, if you are still here, you might be asking what's different in Ragnarök? The answer is simple: there is a ton of gameplay changes. While throughout the game we get abilities for the Leviathan Ax and the Chaos Blades akin to what we had in the previous journey, what's primarily different is the new weapon, the Draupnir Spear, a quicker weapon that does significantly less damage but gives Kratos a decent ranged attack and is even faster than the Chaos Blades.

In God Of War Ragnarök, Kratos teams up with more than just Atreus; Brok and Sindri join him at specific points as companions. The reason for this is a massive change for this entry, we don't play as Kratos for the entire journey. We finally get to control Atreus directly. He plays wildly differently than his father as a faster and not as hard-hitting character. Having to rely mostly on his bow and his special arrows, one to stun enemies and one to strengthen the elemental effects of partners, which range from Sindri to a talking sword. Not to mention Atreus, being half god, half giant, comes with his own version of Rage. I won't spoil it here, but every time I activated it, I had a grin ear to ear, and it makes some of the later fights and story beats where it comes up an absolute blast to experience.

Returning from the previous game is the skill tree which feels similar skill-wise but how they control the game flow is different. Skills can be maxed out and prestige, adding more effects such as reduced damage while using said skill or adding more damage. This updated skill system really allows further customization for how one approaches each battle. Atreus has his own additional skill tree and accessory slots but it would have been nice if he had more thorough armor set options like Kratos. Armors are back but this time I found that each set looked more remarkable and distinct from the other.

We can also level up Kratos’ Rage mode abilities and Atreus’ special abilities using experience points. It makes for this interesting balance of trying to decide exactly what you want to build out, but by the end, I was swimming in extra experience, so there’s nothing to worry about missing out on one section over another.

One of my favorite changes in Ragnarök, and a good segway into story stuff, is that the side quests have actual weight to them. In the previous game, sidequests were more of a way to fill out the open sections without adding much to the characters or overall narrative. This is, of course, not including the Valkyries which pushed the original’s combat systems to the extreme. Thankfully, there are a lot of side quests in Ragnarök and there’s an entire area the size of a new realm that I stumbled upon accidentally with expansive breaths of new side quests.

Every single side quest serves a purpose, fleshing out new characters (of which there are several new faces to meet) or adding further depth to the returning cast in deeply satisfying ways.

So, I really want to get into the story here but that's a little difficult to do without spoilers. I won't be going into anything significant, but I will undoubtedly spoil some minor stuff here and there. So again, this is your last chance if you want to go into God of War Ragnarök completely blind. 

Story spoilers ahead!

Let's address the elephant in the room. In the previous game, we left Kratos and Atreus finding out that Atreus is actually Loki. The pair found a mural where Kratos dies during Ragnarök, but only Kratos sees this dire detail, Atreus has no idea what is to come. 

This is the main through line in Ragnarök. Kratos knows his fate, trying to prepare Atreus without letting him know. We get thrust right into the action from the get-go. A somber-looking Kratos stares into a fire during Thimblewinter at the start screen, and from there, the devs do it again with the single-shot camera. This celebrated framing also applies to moments when we switch back and forth between Kratos and Atreus, letting us experience both sides of the story smoothly. Seriously, the camera work and how scenes play out during these switches are excellent. 

What really works for the story is Atreus. When he is off on his own, it is almost a more lighthearted adventure in contrast to Kratos’ tale, who is, well… Kratos. How the legendary god slayer is handled in Ragnarök is properly considered and respectful. The amount of care given to his past is awe-inspiring, as the pain in Kratos' eyes visually reveals how tortured he is by his past. The lengths he goes to make sure Atreus won't follow his mistakes is a story that, as a father, I can relate to. 

Kratos has also grown a lot as a person. We know this from the events of 2018’s God of War, but here it just hits differently. There is this tremendous inner battle happening in Kratos. War is coming for Asgard. Does he fall back into his old ways, or does he trust Atreus' judgment who is searching for a less violent solution? It's interesting to see how their deep relationship pushes them to different boundaries. I thought we would never see them separate. They both lie to try and save each other, combating each other as emotions rise but at the same time there is evident, real paternal love here, and it's beautiful. During some of the more cinematic battles, there were moments when they worked together, and I was literally jumping out of my seat and cheering. I don’t remember the last time that happened in a game. 

It's tough to talk about ninety-five percent of this story without including giant spoilers, but I’ll try to further convey how exciting these events are without revealing too much.

We know Kratos will fight Thor based on the final moments of the previous adventure. This clash is a great battle to rival the brawl with Balder at the beginning of the first game. We also know that the father-son duo will try to stop Ragnarök. Both go on emotional journies both together and alone. When they are alone, they become so reflective of each other, and you can see that Atreus is on the edge of defining his own destiny while Kratos is still struggling to be a good father, pushing himself to do whatever he can to save Atreus no matter the cost to himself. 

I cried six times during my thirty-seven hours of playtime.

Multiple moments had me jumping up or sitting on the edge of my seat with the amount of tension during many of the cutscenes. As I rolled the credits, I couldn't wait to jump back into the world of Ragnarök.

God of War Ragnarök is the best way to end the PlayStation 4 generation and truly begin the PlayStation 5 generation. It is the most mature, respectful, and reflective story told in games this generation.

There is something here for everyone, and surprisingly it all works. God of War Ragnarök is a game that will be discussed for years, if not decades. I'm excited to see where the series takes us next, but also it leaves these characters in a perfect place with enough levity to be left alone for a long time. In short, God of War Ragnarök is the game of this generation. This year is filled with games you should play, but Ragnarök is the game you NEED to play.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

VISUALS - 10/10

SOUND - 10/10

CONTROLS - 10/10

REPLAY VALUE - 10/10

OVERALL - 10/10

A digital copy of God Of War Ragnarök was provided for review purposes. Screenshots were captured using native PS5 features. God of War Ragnarök is launching on November 9th for both PS5 and PS4.