God of War: Ragnarök

 

God of War (2018) is one of my favourite games of all time, so needless to say, I was extremely excited for this game. I had been counting down the days since April of this year, and drove to Walmart immediately after school on release day to buy a physical copy for myself. I muted every keyword, phrase, and character name I could think of on of my socials and strapped in for the 25 hours (spanning over ~4 days) that this game took me to complete. 

Going into it, I was a mixture of terrified and excited. On one hand, I love everything the God of War franchise has to offer, and I was so beyond happy to see all my favourite characters and venture the nine realms again--along with the added exploration of Asgard and the introduction of Odin, Thor and Angrboda. On the other hand, I was afraid that this game wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I read 2 spoiler free reviews before playing, both very different, so I was prepared to view it with a clear point of view. 

And I LOVED it. 

God of War: Ragnarök is everything I had expected out of this franchise. It was action packed, stressful, beautiful, and emotional, all wrapped up into a package created with a palpable of passion and love from the developers. 

❥ Kratos’s character arc is by far my favourite aspect of this game, there is nothing else that comes close. His relationship with Atreus has been historically rocky--A son who feels so deeply and a father who has learned to not feel at all. Kratos’s realization that feeling deeply does not make you weak, and that his son is different than he is, was the most influential and emotional moment in the whole game to me, the love that Kratos feels for his son blossomed in front of the players eyes. 

“You feel their pain because that is who you are” ..... “I was wrong. Open your heart. Open your heart to their suffering. That is your mother’s wish... and mine as well.” 

​Another influential moment in Kratos and Atreus’s relationship is the promise they made to each other. They realized that when they are separated, they are the worst version of themselves. Kratos feels inclined to revert back to his old ways of violence and god butchering, while Atreus becomes overconfident and careless. With this realization, they vow that whenever they are apart, they will listen for each other’s voices in their head to guide them in the right direction. They are undoubtably the better half of one another, and relying on each other in such a deeply connected way really strengthened their bond as father and son. 

“Lets make a promise. I’ll listen for your voice in my head when you’re not there. To guide me. And you do the same.”

❥ The character roster introduced in this game was phenomenal. We had characters like Odin, Thor, Heimdall, Angrboda, Freyr, Thrúd, Sif, Týr, Lúnda, and Skjöldr--as well as animals like Fenrir, Sköll and Hati. 

Odin was everything a villain should be. It was so unsettling to hear stories of his disgusting actions (Torturing Týr, tricking Freya into an abusive marriage, sending his grandsons to die as a distraction--as well as doing the same to the refugee Midgardians during Ragnarök, wiping out the Jötnar from the nine realms including their home of Jötunheim, enslaving the dwarves to create death machines to prepare for Ragnarök.... you get the point) only to see him portray himself as a innocent soul only seeking knowledge for the benefit of everyone. He portrayed himself this way in order to use Atreus, but I found myself slowly feeling disbelief that he could’ve ever committed any of those actions. That feeling lasted mere minutes, but it was certainly a wake up call when I realized that his tactics were in fact, working. This was broken by how he spoke to Atreus about his father, as well as how he treated Thor. Killing Brok and Thor made me want to end him about 1000 times over, I understood everyone elses experiences with Odin and I hope that was intentional. Heimdall was also a great antagonist. I was uncertain if killing him would seal Kratos’s fate, but it was too satisfying to fret about too hard. 

Thor, Sif and Thrúd were also extremely welcome additions to this game. Sif and Thrúd brought out the morality in Thor which was lovely to see, and I ended up really enjoying Thor’s company once he had the courage to face the fact that his father doesn’t care about anyone but himself. That courage got him killed, but it was an honourable death as he stood up for himself and his family, and I hope he secured a place in Valhalla. 

Angrboda was so sweet and a great addition as both her own character and someone close in age for Atreus to form a bond with. Im glad she chose to paint her own story. Freyr was a nice little comedic relief addition, especially in contrast to his sister. I really enjoyed him. And of course, the biggest betrayal to my heart, Týr. I loved Týr’s character in the first section of the game so much. He provided a much needed contrast to the group, being a former God of War turned gentle giant. The reveal that Odin didn’t just impersonate him to get the mask, but was doing it the ENTIRE TIME was such an unexpected plot twist that had me holding my hand over my mouth while I teared up. 

I feel obligated to add, since this is a review, that the visuals and soundtrack unsurprisingly did not disappoint. Beautiful. Getting Hozier for a song on the soundtrack was absolutely one of the best creative decisions. 

✖ I only had one major complaint with this game, and that was the frustrating amount of hand holding in puzzles and boss fights. I get all my satisfaction through trial and error with puzzles, so it was undoubtably frustrating when I’d look around to assess the situation and have Atreus or Mimir tell me what to do before I was even able to fully undertand the goal. When your puzzles use the same mechanics (recognizable blue emblems can be broken or frozen by the Leviathan Axe, while Hel’s bramble can be burnt with the Blades of Chaos) but you still assume the player has no idea, it really felt like the puzzles were designed with only new players to the franchise in mind. That isn’t inherently a bad thing, but allow me to TURN HINTS OFF IN ACCESSIBILITY SETTINGS!

✖ A smaller complaint, but something I think I should still bring up, was the amount of glitches I experienced. I had to reload the game maybe 4 or 5 times, once to a manual save from 2 hours prior, just because the mission I was doing wouldn’t trigger. I bought and played the game before the period of general public feedback and patches, so I can’t make too big of a deal out of it. 

The same went for boss fights. All boss fights have essentially the same premise using the same mechanics--Hit enemy’s weak spot, memorize attack patterns, build up the stun bar and get your heavy attacks in while they’re stunned. That is the uniform for every single boss fight in the franchise, yet you get “Aim for _____!” or “It’s stunned! Hit it now!” yelled at you still in the sequel, so much so that all you can do is reply “I KNOW!” loudly at the screen. 

✶ This could’ve been included within Kratos’s character arc blurb, but I wanted to talk about the ending separately. The whole ending was a testament to Kratos and Atreus’s monumental growth throughout the story. 

Angrboda reveals a final Jötnar shrine to Atreus and Kratos, depicting Faye destroying the shrine of Loki. This act changes both Atreus and Kratos, solidifying Faye’s sincere belief in them. She was willing to turn her back on her people and destroy her son’s shrine, just because she knew that they were strong enough to write their own fates. This is an immeasurable act of trust on Faye’s behalf, which showcases clearly that she did not chose Kratos because he is the God of War. She chose him because she recognized his pain, and believed wholeheartedly that he was capable of change.  

Not without sticking to the aforementioned promise, Atreus leaves with Angrboda to pursue his duties to the Jötnar, not as Atreus but as Loki. 

“Loki will go. Atreus... Atreus remains.” As Kratos shakily lays his hand over his heart.

Kratos encourages this self discovery on Atreus’s behalf, and has an emotional goodbye with his son. Kratos shuts the final shrine, only to swiftly open it again. The prophecy inside has changed, depicting Kratos on a golden pedestal with worshippers extending prayers and offerings at his feet. Watching Kratos crumble in this moment was one of the more emotional scenes for me, if not the most. Odin had brought up a point earlier in the game regarding godhood. He stated that Kratos knew nothing of godhood, because he had never felt what it was like to be worshipped. He had never done anything positive, anything worth worshipping. He carries this guilt with him daily and it weighs him down (literally, with the Blades of Chaos). Seeing himself depicted on his path was something he could have never imagined. Faye was right, we are not our pasts. Fate is not written in stone, but a guideline for you to manipulate. Kratos was finally given that sense of closure; his violent past does not define him, his efforts to leave his past behind, and his unconditional love for his son and late wife do.