{"id":37,"date":"2024-04-29T11:09:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T11:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/mountaindevil\/?p=37"},"modified":"2024-06-17T11:51:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T11:51:07","slug":"god-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/?p=37","title":{"rendered":"God of War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another game whose reputation preceded it. This was the hype darling of the PS4 and due to being dirt cheap on the online store was one of the first PS5 games I played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t have that much of a personal relationship with Kratos before this game. I had played God of War – Chains of Olympus on the PSP (notable for the minigame where you bed several ladies offscreen in a rhythm game, shoutout to the late 2000s). To be honest I had gotten stuck on the final boss then and the game didn’t resonate with me. I only came back to Kratos in this next gen format as everyone seems to say it is a clean break and I had a shiny new PS5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can report though, the people, in this case, are pretty much on the money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combat was a highlight of this game (as you would expect from the series). The Leviathan axe is weighty, adaptable and has brutally satisfying finishing moves. When you get the classic Blades of Chaos later in the game (swords on the ends of chains that Kratos swings around), they feel intriguingly different, but didn’t change up the combat formula too much to me. It has the right blend of relying on your own actual skill development as well as progression tree for abilities and new gear to improve stats. End game gets a bit repetitive, especially with optional bosses and as you run out of new enemy types. Amazingly though, the combat was dynamic and fluid enough that Caitlin could stomach to watch it and I think she even enjoyed my relentless evisceration of draugr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Norse setting felt unique and engaging and was something I hadn’t experienced since Age of Mythology (shoutout to the early 2000s). It’s all a bit off-center and feels pragmatically gritty with gods and their hubris\/cruelty being an excellent central theme. Boss design here is captivating, building off this solid Norse base. There are a good number of beasts and gods to do unspeakable things to as we all know we want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story centres around Kratos’ relationship with his son. It is done really well. Initially you think Kratos needs to chill and open up, then you think the kid is being a little shit and needs to learn his place, then you’re worried you’ve failed him. It really does feel like this 200lb axe with a man attached at the end is a father trying to do the right thing in a crumbling world determined to not let him live in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The locations felt grounded. I like a game where there are no levels and you traverse the world, but it still feels like there are distinct places with character. Now I think about it, that is basically every game I have played recently. GoW definitely had a lot of cold environs, but with enough distinction between them. The windswept crags felt different from the lake hub, but all felt cold. The mini-worlds like the one for the elves (which are actually more like weird bug men which is a refreshing take) break it up just enough to avoid you getting too bored. The world in general encourages you to explore, backtrack and uncover side quests in what sometime feels clinical like a mathematically optimised fun factory. But, this factory still makes fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music was generally fine, definitely competent, but nothing that will really resonate years later. The main bit I remember is how the deep chanting appeared whenever Kratos was getting ready to lose his shit. Really amped you up and made you want to crack skulls. I think this song captures it the most: https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/6ZMwwuUOx8kefl32gWOjtY?si=8WdSnkZ-TwCHFrUYZFR1-g&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3AieuV7WztobSMYG86Hdez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rating: 5\/7 skulls split open from tip to toe. There is a sequel too, haven’t played that yet. I want a break before I go in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Your son hurt this boar, who is apparently a God, but also only really a boar so doesn’t speak or anything, but he is still pretty cute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
This is not a God. It’s the serpent that will eat the world at the end of time. We’re not quite there (yet). He’s pretty chill though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Father-son bonding at its finest. The game has some very cinematic moments and knows how to construct a landscape. These sections are from a non-controlled camera and more like in-game cutscenes but happen pretty seamlessly so work well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you\u2019d let me kill you?<\/p>\n

If it meant you would live\u2026 yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews_games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaindevil.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}