God of War Ragnarök (PS5)

I just finished playing God of War Ragnarök, and it has truly exceeded all my expectations! This game is nothing short of a masterpiece and an essential experience for any gamer.Stunning Graphics:From the moment I started the game, I was blown away by the graphics. The detail in the environments is incredible, and the character animations are smooth and lifelike. The vibrant colors and breathtaking landscapes of Norse mythology create an immersive world that feels alive. Every realm is beautifully crafted, making exploration a joy.Engaging Storyline:The story picks up where the previous game left off, diving deeper into the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. The writing is superb, with well-developed characters and emotional depth. The themes of fatherhood, sacrifice, and destiny are explored beautifully, and I found myself genuinely invested in their journey. The plot twists kept me on the edge of my seat!Gameplay & Combat:The combat system is refined and exhilarating. The addition of new abilities and weapons adds layers to the combat mechanics, making battles both strategic and satisfying. The variety of enemies keeps encounters fresh and challenging. I especially love the ability to switch between Kratos and Atreus during gameplay, allowing for dynamic combat experiences.Puzzles & Exploration:The puzzles are clever and integrate seamlessly into the gameplay. They range from simple to complex, providing a nice balance that keeps you engaged. The exploration elements are rich, with plenty of collectibles and side quests that add to the lore of the world and enhance the overall experience.Soundtrack & Voice Acting:The soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful and complements the emotional weight of the story perfectly. The voice acting is top-notch, with the cast delivering powerful performances that bring the characters to life. The combination of music and sound design enhances the atmosphere, making each moment memorable.Overall:God of War Ragnarök is an extraordinary gaming experience that sets a new standard for action-adventure games. It combines stunning visuals, a gripping narrative, and engaging gameplay in a way that few games can. I cannot recommend it highly enough—it’s a must-play for anyone who owns a PS5!

I really enjoyed God of War Ragnarok and the combat is excellent, in the harder difficulties it forces you to use everything at your disposal and effectively too. Characters are written very well, the fact you see Kratos develop his more understanding, merciful and compassionate side is beautiful to see when in the past he’s been mainly a vessel for pure rage and destruction. The bond with Atreus feels very genuinely crafted, alot of scenes hit hard playing as a father yourself.I give the game 5/5 because of how much I enjoyed it I feel like I cannot give less, it is a very good game and most of the set pieces are masterfully executed, but if I was being very critical I would. Why, because too much of the games mechanics just feel outdated and boring. I am playing as the God of War, can someone please explain why I’m forced to crawl painstakingly slow through crevice after crevice and climb countless cliffs. At least in games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted they try to make these segments somewhat engaging and it makes more sense to be doing them in the context of you’re a human explorer but I’m KRATOS and the movement just feels so sluggish. I completely understand what they were going for with this and the original God of War 2018, but I think they focused too much on making the experience feel weighty and somewhat realistic rather than remembering first and foremost this a video game and the focus should be pure fun. The puzzles are also lame, why even include them at all when whichever NPC you’re playing alongside blurts out the answer if you don’t instantly complete it. The constant annoying chatter from your companions made me want to quit and boot up Elden Ring, I feel like my intelligence was being constantly insulted.These gripes are not exclusive to this game, I think it’s just the way most Western first party developers have veered too heavily towards and I feel like people need to start following devs like Insomniac Games more, all of their games are insanely fun to play and perfectly encapsulate what the focus of video games should be, pure enjoyment first and foremost. I know not all games can be the same but even when you look at a lot of Japanese games (Metal Gear Solid, Yakuza) that are very custscene and set piece heavy, it balances out because the gameplay is so fun and fast paced. I really hope these outdated game mechanics stay in the last generation because from what we have seen already with pure next gen games, the potential for innovative creative and exciting games is endless, we don’t want to spend time having our hands held and wasting time climbing, that’s just not fun and devs need to start doing better.Ultimately Ragnarok is a very good game but ironically serves as a reminder that new generation games need to take bold steps in a new direction.

I have just finished the whole game and wow, what a ride I've been on for the last few days. I completely lost myself in the story, I couldn't stop myself playing. The story is extremely well written, the graphics are fantastic and will definitely ruin the next few games I had my eyes on, as the attention to detail, textures and animations will be hard to top from what the next big releases on my list have previewed so far.The story has been a roller coaster of emotions and I'm glad that we also get the chance to play as other players than Kratos at times to experience a whole different timeline/side of the story. I laughed, I cried, I shouted at my TV when I got killed in a boss fight, i was shocked at some twists and turns. Everything I could ask of a game and so much more.If you, too, found Atreus incredibly annoying in the first part, there will be times where you wanna kill him and will roll your eyes, but by far not to that extent and I even took a liking to him in general (apart from some things he said and did), the character development is apparent - not only in Atreus, but also in Kratos in particular. I do hope for another part or at least a long DLC, there's some questions and loose ends that need explaining!!10/10, would recommend (if you couldn't tell).