The Killer of the Greek Pantheon is back! This time with no actual vengeance involved.
Set easily decades, after God of War 3, this instalment brings Kratos the regions of the Nordic gods (think Thor, and Loki but minus all the Avengers-y stuff).
Kratos has aged a fair bit and he actually settled down and had a son, Atreus. Not much is known about his wife as the game starts immediately after her death and Kratos is tasked to bring her ashes to the highest peak in all the land and scatter them. But as we all know from previous titles is that no task is ever that simple.
The gameplay is fresh and definitely an upgrade for God of War as it uses an over the shoulder free camera view (ike other RPGs) as opposed to previous games which used the fixed cinematic camera. Fights are also less hack and slash and each enemy needs to be slayed with a little bit of thought by choosing the right weapons or having a strategy to get around their resistance.
Atreus also provides an interesting mechanic where he can shoot targeted enemies to distract them, leaving you with openings to deliver some damage. Overall the gameplay is a much needed change to the franchise and I can’t wait to see how it’ll pan out once the full game is out.
Story wise I won’t spoil too much, but I absolutely love how Kratos has gone all Old Man Logan and is less of a raging god killer. His relationship with his son is also great as you get to see both characters grow through their journey as Kratos learns to be a father figure and his son learns to be the son of the God of War.
Overall, from the first 2 hours of gameplay I can safely say this is a must get game in my books, its a game not only for the gamers who have played the previous titles, but with the new world, lore and downright seemingly great story and gameplay it definitely also welcomes newcomers to the franchise. So do pre-order the game for the extra bonuses before its out April 20th!