Hello my dear steemians, after a long break taken by my person we are now back with the review of a game that I just loved, the flagship of SONY, of course I speak of GOD OF WAR. The amount of hours that I have dedicated does not seem like a normal medium, it hooks in as you watch the first minutes of cinematic, that changed Kratos, older, bearded and trying to leave his past behind with the help of his son. Well, let's start!
As is well known by its fans, the saga developed 6 games on previous platforms (Ps2 and PSP), but, the adventures of Kratos became a bit repetitive as no significant changes were experienced in history or gameplay. The base of the game was never a little altered, until his last installment in Ps3 "God of War Ascencion" remained a violent and very bloody hack and slash. At that moment a cycle was closed and the developers began to work on something else for the NextGen deliveries, achieving what we have today, the new work of art by Sony and Santa Monica.
The game basically represents what it means to be a God in the God of War saga: travel, combats with mythical characters (Valkyries, Trolls, Gods and more), exercise power, discover stories, increase power and also about being a man (despite to be a God).
The power, fatherhood, masculinity and even the feelings of Kratos are intertwined and Kratos' desire to protect his son becomes evident and strong in the face of all the dangers that beset them during this adventure.
Therefore, the story of the god of war has become more intimate and personal, Kratos is no longer that beast full of fury, now, fulfills a role of father quite complicated.
History reveals that the main reason why father and son are immersed in the world of Nordic mythology is because they must scatter the ashes of Atreus' mother in the land of the giants, since it was one of her last wishes. The focus is directly aimed at the father and the son, Kratos deals with the preoccupation to be able to be a good father for the boy after the death of his mother, while, Atreus tries to discover what is the history of his father.
Clearly the game is not just about sad scenes and family connections. From the beginning of the story we entered a snowy scenario, a somewhat dark forest, trying to hunt down a deer. From this moment they begin to play with mythological monsters such as Draugrs and Trolls. This delivery makes the players create a relationship of affinity with Atreus since this is an active participant and an essential part of the battles throughout the game.
It is well known to us fans that in previous titles, we had a difficult path, but finally linear. In this game a structure is used that gives a sense of open world, but, generally it keeps us in a direct way. Once reached a certain point we can explore large open spaces (The Lake of the Nine) that offer a lot of optional area to explore. The fact of exploring all these areas allows us to complete secondary missions that help us improve our characters and thus facilitate the main path.
Among the most important scenarios we can highlight "The Lake of the Nine" where we have our encounters with Jörmundgander "The Serpent of the World", the branches of Ginnungagap, the darkest of Helheim, among others.
It is impossible to avoid the urge to explore when you are playing, it is always exciting to find something new. In the previous installments we had themes of more reduced scenarios to temples and things like that, but in this installment we have forests, caves, lakes, mountains, destroyed cities, among others. The colors are very vivid and overflow with emotion, giving the feeling that there is always something new to do. In my opinion, my favorite was the Freya forest.
From its beginnings Kratos was an antihero, great warrior with bestial attacks of wrath. And for this reason, the deliveries were perfect for the Hack and Slash we were used to. But now, our antihero is aware of his years, gray hair and weaknesses. The swords of exile are replaced by an ax that comes and goes "Leviathan" and our character does not jump, swim (as always) and is more aware of his actions.
While history is a very important part of the game, and our character has changed a bit, the essence of the game is still fierce and bloody combat, you spend more time in combat than doing anything else, the fight is attractive, entertaining and varied, even if you find the same enemy repeatedly, this can be stronger, with different attacks, movements, etc.
The new fighting style greatly influences what is the redefinition of the franchise in certain aspects. In my opinion, the location of the camera, so close to Kratos' back, that all things look like a 1Vs1 to death. The approach so close makes the whole experience feel very intimate.
While our protagonist battles in hand-to-hand combat, Atreus retreats a bit and eliminates enemies with his bow, in addition to doing direct physical damage, it also generates magical damage, crowd control, among other effects.
The presence of Atreus in this installment is much more active than any other artificial intelligence seen by me so far (in video games). He is benefited by being almost invulnerable, which does not make him a burden for Kratos in the fights. But, sometimes some enemies will go for him, which will require the intervention of his father.
It has changed a lot the way enemies attack, there are not so many on stage, I think there can be ten, linking combos becomes very important and it is impossible to achieve those combos of up to 100 strokes, no longer it is possible, in addition now it is more important to be aware of the indicator that marks if an attack comes from behind or if there is an enemy off camera.
Make the switch between the "Swords of Chaos" and "Swords of Excilium" was almost impossible to achieve effectively, but you know what, Santa Monica did it. Leviathan is sublime, she is magnificent, beautiful, powerful and all the good that can be said of a weapon. The feeling of power when holding it is indescribable, it is a weapon with a brutal melee power and for long distances it is as powerful as it is entertaining as we can throw it and make it come back to us with a movement, which can result in very entertaining combos Even if you fail you can pick up the ax and hit the enemy in the recoil.
The ax has many improvements available which gives us advantages such as explosive blows, mark a multitude of enemies, power by linked blows, among others
The swords of chaos come back to us as a weapon option at a certain critical point in history in which we face enemies that are invulnerable to Leviathan's ice abilities. For our protagonist, the fact of returning to carry these powerful swords represents reencounter with his buried past. The style of game with these swords is something similar to that of the previous deliveries, knowing in advance that the combats are no longer equal.
The swords also have the possibility of being improved to obtain new combos, abilities and force.
Our main enemy throughout the main story is Baldur, second son of Odin, procreated with Freya (for the purposes of the game), since the beginning of the game this character attacks us for no apparent reason, but, as it is unraveled the story we realize that really if there is a goal, the gods want our son Atreus (even though I passed the game, I still do not know why they want it, but, I have a theory that I will expose later in another post ).
Baldur is an invulnerable character, immortal and incapable to feel pain due to a spell that his mother did when he was younger and why he hates her and wants to kill her. During the game we are besieged by Baldur on four occasions, the final fight being one of these, the fights against this god are extremely dynamic due to the speed with which he moves and attacks, they are really entertaining and pose a great challenge in the higher difficulties, as I can tell you that the great weakness of Baldur is the mistletoe.
It's a game that I feel almost in love with, I love it, I'm playing it for the second time in the highest difficulty and I have not really tired for a second, it's worth it. The images, the soundtrack, the combats and the story are really wonderful. I think all lovers of the genre should be able to enjoy this great game, it deserves it. I would like to add that the "hidden" ending we have when we return to our home left and will leave more than one with his mouth wide open.