Father-Son Good Times in God of War

Just prior to the holiday sale I noticed that God of War was being offered up as the "weekend deal" for 50% off.  It was a very low risk proposition due to the fact that its reviews are "overwhelmingly positive" and it's one of those console staple franchises that seems to garner nothing but love.  After 49.3 hours of gameplay, I'm happy to report that the reviews and love are well warranted--it's a fabulous game.

What is it?

A singleplayer game listed on Steam with the following tags:  story-rich, action, adventure, and 3D (that one is a bit odd).  It is the PC release of the 2018 iteration of the popular PlayStation series.  You play as Kratos, a God with some rockin' combat abilities.  There's tons of fighting, but there's also a shockingly good story and world filled with all of our Norse mythology favorites (and more obscure characters too).

How long does a playthrough last?

It depends on how you choose to play--if you just play through the story probably 20+ hours.  If you decide to do side content and spend time on some of the optional realms and activities you're looking at 40+ (at least).  I did the story, re-visited a few zones to look for missing items, and messed around some in the optional realms (and also had some idle/paused time) and clocked in my full playthrough at 49.3.

Kratos--looking fierce in the Valkyrie armor.

Pros:

+ Undoubtedly, the best part of God of War is the combat/fighting.  It's got a sort of simplified fighting game style that is less about trying to remember which combination of keys does which move and more about timing based attacks.  The fighting moves feel good and learning how to flow them together into an absolute stream of destruction feels magically powerful.  There are tons of different enemies--ranging from simple, grunt type of units up to bosses who deploy a stunning array of attacks and require a tactical awareness about their specific attacks.  Luckily, there's tons of opportunities for fighting built into the story and world--you know it's good because it never gets old.

+ A large world to explore.  (I'm going to also say--it's not open world, which I view as a plus)  Each zone is filled with different tasks, collectibles, and special encounters.  Once you reach a certain point in the story you gain the ability to easily return to zones that you have previously explored--and, if you're going for total completion, you'll need to re-visit them because there are gated areas that cannot be opened until certain skills/weapons are unlocked.  One of the things that I particularly enjoyed was the fact that the world expands at different points in the story--don't be put off if you can't find something, just try to progress the story and it should become more apparent.

+ A Norse mythology inspired story and characters with a very cool aesthetic.  Temples, runes, longships, Odin and his cast of Godly figures...God of War fully embraces the known and the more obscure aspects.  Each realm has its own feel and look--it's fun visiting them all.

The story itself has tons of twists, turns, and totally unpredictable moments.  I was surprised by how good it actually was.  (*it actually won the Steam Award for "Best Story Rich Game" last year for the PC release)

+ Father-son fun times.  The story centers around Kratos and his son Atreus and focuses largely on their relationship and the complicated nature of Godhood.  Despite Kratos' harsh demeanor, there are some nice, father-son bonding type of moments that might appeal to anyone looking for a game depicting that type of relationship.  Granted, your Dad was probably not a God and carrying the baggage of one, but it's still nice to see a depiction in a game.

+ Tons of opportunities for side tasks.  Each area offers up a list of items that you have (or have not) discovered--there are collectibles (that can be sold for hacksilver), Odin's Ravens to banish, Valkyries to find and fight, chests to find, lore markers...basically, there's ton of stuff sprinkled throughout each area.  Fully completing a zone is no easy task (although--using guides will make it more straightforward).

+ Challenge zones for those who want to be challenged.  To unlock both zones you must first find the language ciphers (they are scattered through different areas of Midgard).  Musplheim offers up arena-style fighting challenges that vary in difficulty and offer up unique rewards to craft some pretty snazzy armor (and also resources that are needed to upgrade higher level armors).  Niflheim is more about grinding--it's filled with a deadly mist that will start to slowly deplete your health once a timer runs out.  The goal is to collect a special kind of resource that is scattered throughout chests in the zone in order to craft and also unlock special chests.  There are also special realm tears that require a ton of gathered resources to open and complete.  Basically, if you want to fully complete the tasks in Niflheim, you need to be prepared for quite a bit of grinding.  It resets with random enemies every time to re-start the area...and you lose your gathered resources if you die.  Both Musplheim and Niflheim are optional, but they provide an additional challenge for players who want to put their fighting skills to the test.

+ Different difficulties and New Game+ options.

+ A nifty photo mode for snapping some memorable moments during the adventures of Kratos and Atreus.

+ Ran well on my PC and had no issues.

+ The camera controls are shockingly good.  Usually I have issues with fighting style games and the camera moving into very irritating places and making things more difficult than they need to be.

+ Mouse & keyboard settings are actually good.  It also supports XBOX and PlayStation controllers if you prefer them (there's some manual aiming...something that I don't enjoy with a controller, so I decided to skip the controller play).

Cons:

- Graphics are a bit weird.  There's this sort of grainy appearance that I couldn't figure out how to get rid of.  I messed around a little with the settings and even if I put it on "high" it still had that sort of grainy look.  Overall, it looks good, but it was just something that bugged me a little bit.  I decided to just keep the settings on the default (which is "original").

- Please no more Norse mythology.  I feel like it has been done to death and that we need some fresh new mythology.  Maybe something inspired by Eastern cultures?  (I enjoyed the setting and theme in the game and this is just a general complaint)

Recommendation:

I greatly enjoyed God of War and found it to be a fabulous PC adaptation.  Even at its current full price ($49.99 on Steam), it would be well worth it.  The fighting, story, and optional activities make for a truly enjoyable experience.