Kratos and Atreus explore many areas within their world, Midgard. God of War released worldwide on Friday, April 20. Caelin Bragg, Dom Brown
Caelin Bragg
Lantern Staff
While the gameplay feels like a drag during some portions, it’s worth it for God of War’s story of a son’s coming of age and a father learning how to be one.
Unveiled at the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo, God of War, released Friday, April 20, is the fourth main installment in the God of War franchise and a reboot of the series after eight years since the last main series title in 2010.
The game follows the series protagonist, Kratos, and his newly revealed son, Atreus, on a quest to reach the highest point in the realms to spread the ashes of Kratos’ wife and Atreus’ mother, Faye.
God of War features behind the back, action combat as its main driving force. Unlike the previous games, which had a more zoomed out camera and focused more on taking down hordes of enemies with the Blades of Chaos, the reboot tries to make each enemy its own unique challenge and has a new weapon for Kratos, the Leviathan Axe.
I say unique very loosely, because the number of reused enemies makes fighting quickly turn repetitive, especially with the bosses. One boss specifically is reused throughout the entire game, and it gets really boring by the fourth time they’re faced.
That’s how a lot of the game’s combat feels in general. They do make an effort to change up combat significantly halfway in the game through a very emotional scene that called back to the originals, but then they quickly go back to the cookie cutter boss and make the player realize it’s actually not a significant change.
For me though, the combat wasn’t the reason I kept playing. The story and world are what kept me throughout the entire journey. Unlike the stereotypical big budget game world that has only the color brown, God of War features worlds of every kind of environment. One moment the player will be in an icy tundra and the next they’ll be in a colorful forest. I never found myself bored with the surroundings.
The characters, regardless of how few there are, who inhabit the world are also a treat. Every scene featuring Brok and Sindri, the dwarves who act as the shopkeepers in the game, were some of the best in the game as they were the much needed comedy relief throughout the game.
God of War is about the journey, and the destination is secondary. The ending to the game was pretty anticlimactic compared to the rest of the game, and I felt a little disappointed at first, but that’s not what this game was about. It’s about Kratos and Atreus and their slow acceptance of each other’s ways and learning how to work with one another as father and son. Their interactions throughout the game felt completely genuine, and I never found myself feeling disconnected from their journey. Kratos slowly entering his role as a mentor was also some of the best directing I’ve seen in video games.
God of War sets up a sequel during its ending, and I’m excited to see where the developers will take this rebooted story of Kratos and Atreus. I hope they will attempt to make combat more interesting, but I can’t see that stopping me from continuing this story.
