God of War - OpenCritic/Metacritic 95 - Sony Santa Monica announces GoW PS5 details

[the eponymous bollock]

What, spoilery about that?

[Tafdolphin]

It's probably me being overly sensitive but for people with a passing knowledge of Norse mythology the appearance of several figures would be a nice surprise if unknown.

[HSH28]

I'm almost at the end of the story I think, as much as I'm enjoying it, I still can't quite believe the amount of different crafting materials in the game.

38 so far for me plus Hacksilver. That's different types of stuff to craft and level different types of stuff with. Its insane.

[the eponymous bollock]

It’s not like you ever have to pay attention to it. Though several occasions I’ve done a task to open a chest and had no idea at what the pickup inside was

[Tafdolphin]

The crafting is muddled to be sure. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I wasn't allowed to upgrade the bow as I had a shitload of Soft Svartlheim Steel (of course, you need Solid Svartlheim steel which the unbearably small menu text muddled even further). It's nothing too egregious though.

[BOR]

I’m not sure if anybody is aware of this. You can change the text size in the option to make them a little bigger.

[Tafdolphin]

I’m not sure if anybody is aware of this. You can change the text size in the option to make them a little bigger.

Is that the "Menu oversize" (or something?) option? I whacked it up to maximum and it didn't seem to do anything at all.

[Met]

Just watching the credits now. Not really happy with how the whole Brok and Sindri thing is resolved, and felt the pacing in parts was a bit haphazard, but overall a very good game.

Looking forward to where they go next as it's clearly set up as a God of War game where you're killing your way up to Odin, but everything seems pretty satisfactory right now beyond just people wanting people dead. And I'd hope they stay away from turning this back into Vengeance: The Game.

[the eponymous bollock]

I think Baldur might be my favourite character in this. His arc is excellent even if his antagonism with Kratos doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The design based around Jeremy Davies is absolutely brilliant too, love it.

[BOR]

I’m not sure if anybody is aware of this. You can change the text size in the option to make them a little bigger.

Is that the "Menu oversize" (or something?) option? I whacked it up to maximum and it didn't seem to do anything at all.

It does increase the size, but it's not that much to be honest.

I've returned to the Mountain after you rescued Light Elves to home.

[HSH28]

Looking forward to where they go next as it's clearly set up as a God of War game where you're killing your way up to Odin, but everything seems pretty satisfactory right now beyond just people wanting people dead. And I'd hope they stay away from turning this back into Vengeance: The Game.

Bit of a spoiler there, might want to change that.

I agree though, there's a couple of places they can go with the next one. Not sure the same setup sustains itself for a trilogy though.

Wonder how long it'll take them to turn a sequel around, also wonder if its God of War 2 (again) or they'll give it a subtitle.

[Met]

Yeah, you're right. I should spoiler that you're going to fight gods in God of War. Just like how people spoiler that you're going to jump over pits in Mario.

[NickSCFC]

[Tafdolphin]

Yeah, you're right. I should spoiler that you're going to fight gods in God of War. Just like how people spoiler that you're going to jump over pits in Mario.

Salty.

He's right though. By mentioning specific gods you're confirming something that doesn't happen in this game. Also, it's really not hard to blank out a few names.

[HaruKazuhira]

This is an experience best going in as blind as possible. Tho simple mentioning names might not have that much big of a bearing, it still creates expectations for those who might be still early on. I'm not as picky as most, but it still would be nice to be a little considerate for those that are. Just saying >,>

[7256930752]

I'm almost at the end of the story I think, as much as I'm enjoying it, I still can't quite believe the amount of different crafting materials in the game.

38 so far for me plus Hacksilver. That's different types of stuff to craft and level different types of stuff with. Its insane.

I agree with you but I was listening to a podcast on the way into work who confirmed it's mostly used for endgame stuff.

It's a bit of a shame the upgrading isn't more rewarding as hunting out all the secret chests is great fun.

[HaruKazuhira]

The combat shines so well when you're up against tougher foes. Good lord, it's like a drug. Dying just makes me want to rush back in for another go. Excluding the super high level enemies because getting one shot isn't fun lol.

[7256930752]

The combat shines so well when you're up against tougher foes. Good lord, it's like a drug. Dying just makes me want to rush back in for another go. Excluding the super high level enemies because getting one shot isn't fun lol.

I haven't find that at all, some of the windows for parrying are ridiculous.

[HaruKazuhira]

I have a talisman that increases the window for Parrying. But even still, once you fight enough of one type of enemy you can start to read the tells.

[the eponymous bollock]

And done. I’ve tried to keep it spoiler light but there may be a bit depending on your sensitivity to it.

The way that ending worked out was kind of weird. I’d sensed it coming up but I really shouldn’t have stopped after the Baldur fight because it really breaks the flow and makes the credits a bit of an anticlimax when in its actually rather well done when seen as a whole.

Overall I really bloody enjoyed. The combat, particularly the axe is the real star of the show. I won’t go over what I’ve already said but it just feels so good, it’s a brilliant piece of design. The relationships and characters in the game are absolutely top tier too. The central one really shining of course, particularly in the latter third where Atreus starts to go off the rails, which feels like the emotional conclusion of their relationship. Every other character is really strong, from the design to the performances to their links to actual Norse mythology, it’s done with so much love and care. I adored the size of the world serpent, the arc of Freya, Memir was a brilliant companion and Baldur was just strawberry floating boss.

It wasn’t all fantastic though and I had a couple of big issues with the game which at its conclusion continue to have me confused about the breadth and size of the acclaim this has garnered. While the world design of Midgard is solid (if a little samey) the realms just aren’t very interesting. Alfheim which is given the most attention I just found pretty ordinary, and they get worse from there with the last one just being a real drag to spend time in. The way both Niflheim and Musphelheim are just challenge rooms is really disappointing, even if some of the letters challenges are fantastic. The other gripe is the story, the whole reason for antagonism between you and anyone else just felt really weak and I think I would have enjoyed it more if that was given more focus as opposed to walk to scatter your wife’s ashes. Obviously that’s not the story they were trying to tell but whenever it bled into it through the Baldur stuff is when I was most interested.

Overall though, bloody brilliant, first introduction to God of War and early contender for GOTY

9/10