I’m about 4.5 hours in now and the hype is real. This game is stunning, the scope and visuals are like nothing I’ve seen this generation thus far. In those 4.5 hours there were three huge moments that put any recent blockbuster to shame and there’s around twenty more hours of story apparently.
The comparisons to The Last of Us are on point but God of War has it beat so far. I hope it sticks the landing because this could be the Unforgiven/ Logan of the games world.
I’ll have to wait until Monday to pick this up.
HOLY SHIT.
I mean, in the 3-4 hours i’ve played so far, I’m more invested in Kratos as a character and the game’s story than in any of the other games in the series; there is one moment in which Kratos’s eyes convey more raw emotion and humanity than i’ve ever seen in a video game.
In terms of audio and graphics, the game is absolutely amazing; gameplay took almost zero effort to get used to, and the difficulty so far has been challenging but never unfair.
Seriously, this game may be the biggest leap in gameplay and design in a series since Resident Evil 4; absolutely loving every second of this.
Also, I grinned like an idiot when in the middle of the second boss fight, my norse mythology knowledge dusted off and I realized who that misterious character probably is.
The rest of the games releasing this year better step up, cause this seems like it will be one huge game to surpass.
General question: Does the story have as good a hook as the original trilogy, given the title?
What I mean is, the original game, and both sequels, did an admirable job of having an in-story justification for why this is called God of War. From everything I’ve heard about this one, it sounds like a wonderful game, but I have no idea why it’s called God of War.
Don’t need any story details, just wondering if those who are getting to play it can speak to whether the story justifies why it’s GOW and not some other IP starring Kratos, if that makes sense.
That’s a great question.
I admit that I’ve only just reached the game’s hub world, but the game does seem to be building up to something that fits with it’s title. Kratos is definitely reluctant to get back in the saddle again, but the events so far are giving him no choice.
Also this game’s pretty great. It’s the Darksiders sequel that everyone wishes THQ made, with deeper and more difficult combat and the Zelda/Metroid style of gameplay where certain side areas are gated and you’ll have to return later once you’ve unlocked the power up that allows you to access that area.
He technically is still the God of War though.
Could’ve called the game “Kratos” as well… but that naming convention makes more sense for different mediums.
I’m about seven hours in now, and I get a sense that the first big fight was hinting at something to come that’s going to be very apparent come the finale where the title will make huge sense
But yeah technically he is the God of war.
This is very similar to Marvel’s excellent mini series “Ares”, in which a retired god of war lives alone in the mortal world with his son, only for his past to catch up with him and force him to become a god of warfare once more.
It’s basically that mixed with The Last of Us in terms of what the narrative feels like.
Yeah, not a reboot, but a sequel, a thousand years later. Pretty neat.
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Was out of town, so I’m waiting for the download to complete (5 minutes). Those of you describing this as GOW meets TLOU have no idea what you’ve been doing to me for the past 2 days.
Guys, this is something special.
Ugh, I’m dying to play this. Have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.
Avoiding any spoilers of this and Infinity War in the same time frame has been tough.
The further I get into this story, the more apprehensive I get. More than once I’ve gotten the feeling that the thing I just made Kratos do is going to come back to haunt him later.
Without spoiler tags, I’m testing out the old “highlight to reveal” trick.”:
“When his son translates a boss’s final words into “you’ve just made a grave mistake”, I can’t help but feel like the game will tell me exactly why it was a mistake in a few hours.”
This game completely sucked up my weekend.
It was fucking amazing.
The narrative and writing is INCREDIBLY well done. The way the relationship between Kratos and Atreus is portrayed, and the ways it changes and grows are just superb. I’m so invested in this dad and his relationship with his son that I can’t wait to see more. Even just listening to their canoe conversations is wonderfully compelling.
The visuals are truly the definition of NEXT GEN. The game’s look just blows my mind every second I’m playing it and there have been a bunch of moments where I just have to stop and admire how GORGEOUS everything looks. The way this game has realized the Norse mythology gives it a fantastic and unique vibe. I was kind of skeptical before release about the whole “one take” nature that the game’s camera takes but damn if it doesn’t give everything a very unique feel that I haven’t seen in a game before. Everything just flows and has its own energy powering through. And it really makes for some exciting damn moments. Especially with a lot of the boss battles.
But visuals and plot and characterization can only take a game so far if it doesn’t play well. Good thing then, that this is just a BLAST to play! It truly FEELS like God of War, even with all the changes and the more intimate and visceral nature of the combat it’s definitely a God of War game. Albeit a more mature and nuanced one. At times the combat and game in general even reminds me of Dark Souls/Bloodborne (nowhere more apparent than when I took on my first Traveller) and this is FAR from a bad thing. As it takes those Soulsy aspects and marries them quite perfectly with the more arcade-y God of War feel. A match made in Valhalla. Combat manages to be challenging but never frustrating and winning a tough fight after a few tries really feels like a great accomplishment.
The Leviathan Axe is a truly fantastic weapon. My god, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of throwing that axe around and calling it back to me. The axe’s mechanics determine everything about the fights and the freedom it gives you to approach encounters really makes this feel truly unique despite the numerous influences that shaped the overall game. It’s no strange thing to be in the middle of a fight, throw your axe into one enemy and freeze them in place, beat the living fuck out of the rest with your hands and then call the axe back, killing the last two enemies with the return flight. This shit feels sooooooo fucking BAD ASS!
It’s gonna take something super special to supplant this as 2018 GOTY. Because this game itself is so damn super special. I can’t recommend it enough BOY!
Def picking this up but I want to wait until I have a little more time to dedicate. Can anyone tell me the difference between the normal PS4 and the PS4 pro version? Do you get better visuals or framerate or something? I’m going to get a PS4 pro very soon and I’m wondering if I should just wait. If there’s nothing between them, I’ll just get it the game and won’t worry about it.
The PS4 Pro version has a mode that renders the game in checkerboarded 4k at 30 fps (some people say it has drops, but I haven’t noticed any) and a performance mode that renders the game at 1080p with a variable frame rate of 40-45 fps.
on another note, fuck anyone on youtube uploading playthroughs or any other videos with spoiler titles and images.
The Pro can’t even render it at 60fps at 1080p? That bites.
I was super hyped for this, but after watching some streams, I’ve tempered that a bit. I watched plenty of old-fashioned mundane gameplay in there.