God of War: Ragnarok

 PlayStation 5
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8959 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,820 out of 8959
  2. Mixed: 600 out of 8959
  3. Negative: 1,539 out of 8959
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  1. SunsetNebula
    Jun 26, 2023
    4
    The game is an absolute wonder in terms of world crafting and beauty in graphics. The characters are very well done and the story is absolutely intriguing from the start. The combat is much like its predecessors but with a lot more combos and experimenting. That said however, there are glaring issues in the story which show signs of lazy writing and rushed story beats. Many plot points andThe game is an absolute wonder in terms of world crafting and beauty in graphics. The characters are very well done and the story is absolutely intriguing from the start. The combat is much like its predecessors but with a lot more combos and experimenting. That said however, there are glaring issues in the story which show signs of lazy writing and rushed story beats. Many plot points and details from the first game are never expanded upon in this game and many character motivations (mainly Freya) are quickly abandoned for story convenience. Many major threats and enemies like Odin or Thor whose immense power is alluded to in the first game, are lackluster and boring. This game's narrative simply could not live up to the hype and worldbuilding its predecessor built for it. The ending, While I won't get into too much conveys this perfectly. The time travel story element is never expanded upon is just an a**pull and the entire ending sequence boils down to a blackout, where you the player do not get to see anything. The combat is more fleshed out and gives you a lot more experimentation. That said, however, coming from the previous game's uninteresting enemies and most notably the absence of cool finishers and set pieces (think the god of war 3) God of war Ragnarok does not address these issues either. One thing I greatly wish they improved upon was exploration. Exploration is largely the same, while the levels are more fleshed out, they are empty and void of any interesting characters apart from the same souls providing fetch quests and the enemies of course. Some side bosses do have a sliver of that energy found in pre reboot God of war. Needless to say, If you did not like the combat in the previous game, there is not much for you here in God of War Ragnarok. Lastly, this game is clearly a PS4 game. Looking at exclusive PS5 games like Demons Souls or the new Final Fantasy 16, this game pales in comparison. The art direction is wonderful, cinematography and dialogue are great, but ultimately this game was a victim to what the notion it's predecessor built for it. In conclusion, God of War Ragnarok showcases impressive world crafting and graphics, but suffers from lazy writing, rushed story beats, and unexplored plot points. The lackluster enemies, disappointing ending, and unchanged exploration further detract from its overall experience. While the combat sees some improvements, it fails to reach the level of excellence set by its predecessor and other exclusive PS5 titles.… Expand
  2. Greatot
    Nov 10, 2022
    4
    Very era inappropriate writing that fails to immerse or capture the setting. Characters speak, behave and swear like the most normal, distinctly modern people, with their divinity and unique existence as gods being almost completely ignored. Immortal gods are made to deliver some of the strangest, most casual lines like walking into someone's home and saying "Nice place." or complainingVery era inappropriate writing that fails to immerse or capture the setting. Characters speak, behave and swear like the most normal, distinctly modern people, with their divinity and unique existence as gods being almost completely ignored. Immortal gods are made to deliver some of the strangest, most casual lines like walking into someone's home and saying "Nice place." or complaining about their "moms" and how typical they are. Words like yep, yeah, kinda, sorta, pretty are used just like in the modern day. This is a strong contrast versus the original trilogy, and 2018's God of War.

    Casual writing can have its place to break the tension or as comedic relief, but in Ragnarok the villains, main characters and side characters all engage in this kind of dialogue, making everything feel constantly comedic.

    The graphics are gorgeous and the combat remains as good as in the previous game, but a game this focused on dialogue and story leaves ultimately little of value when the writing fails this much.    … Expand
  3. laughingal
    Nov 17, 2022
    4
    I played 3 hours and got bored, so $20/hour.
    Dialog is banal, combat repetitive.
    Touchy-feely no workie.
    It's a B-movie on rails with underwhelming combat in the middle.
  4. WryMouth
    Nov 17, 2022
    1
    Nothing huge or new, game does not loo PS5 level, Dragging story and annoying dialog. Once you get into it feels like you already played this with a new skin. Way too many cutscenes.
  5. woaimiyabi
    Nov 10, 2022
    4
    I really liked the previous work and thought that it would bring about breakthrough progress, but I was disappointed. In the same situation as the previous work, I was very upset that the decryption and map running became more and more. It seemed that I was playing with the Assassin's Creed. It was strange that many of the materials were reused in the plot arrangement.
  6. vgmkyle
    Nov 10, 2022
    3
    God of War Ragnarok is proof that you can have the presentation of a lifetime and still completely drop the ball when it comes to gameplay. The juggling and lifeless AI really irritate me, and I find this game to be the easiest of big recent action games like this. If I was to choose between this or ER, it wouldn't be a tough call at all.
  7. MGS_1
    Nov 10, 2022
    4
    Are you kidding me! 94

    Same gameplay
    Same graphic
    Same melee
    Same level design

    I swear to real god if you've played GOW 2018, you don't need to buy Ragnarok.
  8. PandoraActorr
    Nov 11, 2022
    0
    This game is nothing but a slightly upgrade version of god of war 2018. Same old boring gameplay, boring story, nothing revolutionary at all (that might not be the worse thing but it is not the best thing either). In conclusion, good to kill some time, but that is all
  9. Dioronmybody
    Nov 10, 2022
    2
    Disappointing on the PS5, it makes no use of the strong hardware of next-gen and traveling between realms is still 20-30 seconds which is a joke when it's near instant on Horizon, GoT and TLOU.

    Even non-PS5 games make and take advantage of the hardware, Ragnarok doesn't. It also copy pastes 70% of the previous game with more enemy variet and... snow.
  10. Viaduk
    Nov 10, 2022
    0
    so poor gameplay and graphic, its like game from ubisoft where only avanposts and grinding for grinding.
  11. ClaytonCarmine
    Nov 11, 2022
    2
    I'm truly sorry for what happened to the once great God of War series, after Cory Barlog took over, the series went from an epic Hack and slash game to a corrupted Souls Like that was completely lacking in Gigantism, violence, sex scenes, and cool boss battles.

    I’m generally silent about the plot, yesho was written by a child from elementary school, and now they are trying to sell us DLC    I'm truly sorry for what happened to the once great God of War series, after Cory Barlog took over, the series went from an epic Hack and slash game to a corrupted Souls Like that was completely lacking in Gigantism, violence, sex scenes, and cool boss battles.

    I’m generally silent about the plot, yesho was written by a child from elementary school, and now they are trying to sell us DLC for $ 70, I think this is arrogance and disrespect for users. I hope the second reboot of this series will go better than from 2018, and the series will live for more than 1.5 parts    … Expand
  12. kecele6625sd
    Nov 10, 2022
    0
    Overrated sadly

    - underwhelming first 7 hours
    - bad lvl design with invinciblle walls
    - boring platforming and slow walking
    - reused old realms and enemies
  13. Pasta88
    Nov 11, 2022
    0
    Didn't live up to my expectations personally, really hoped the game would be much better than this
  14. jugadorhardcore
    Nov 11, 2022
    0
    Is boring and also is almost the same game than GoW 2018. Atreus still an awful character. IT is definitely not a next gen game. You can realize that is a game for ps4
  15. OnlyOneHere
    Dec 11, 2022
    0
    This game is complete garbage. It's about the same as the last. This game was in development for over 4 years with no games released during that timeframe. There is no excuse for copy and pasted animations. It's almost as if this game was planned DLC, but the developers turned it into a full game for more money. Why does this cost more than the PS4 version? This game still uses too manyThis game is complete garbage. It's about the same as the last. This game was in development for over 4 years with no games released during that timeframe. There is no excuse for copy and pasted animations. It's almost as if this game was planned DLC, but the developers turned it into a full game for more money. Why does this cost more than the PS4 version? This game still uses too many masked loading screens. $70 and it doesn't utilize the strength of the PS5.

    The levels are boring and repetitive. It's as if the developers randomly added enemies into the environments and called it a day. Ubisoft Montreal can design levels better than these developers, and let me remind you that Ubisoft Montreal develop games at a faster rate. Which begs the question, why can't these developers make more frequent releases if they are just going to copy/paste and lazily design the levels? Keep in mind that this is only half of the game, meaning these lazy developers only had to do half of the work. Where is the freaking multiplayer? Sony Santa Monica are clearly too cheap and greedy to hire more developers. The physics are beyond horrible. The camera is too close. It's embarrassing that modders can give us a FOV option with ease, and these lazy developers can't even give us a simple feature. Boss fights are terrible.

    For goodness sake, why won't these developers let me skip the cutscenes in their games? Enough already. I don't want to watch a stupid movie about Norse mythology. I just want to punch monsters. It just goes to show how out of touch these developers are. I don't know anyone that cares about Norse mythology, aside bookworms. Some of us just want to go straight to the gameplay. Besides, the only people that I hear talk about stories in video games are millennials that love classic rock. I'm pretty sure the rest of us want to play the game, not watch a movie. I had the game crash on me and I was forced to watch the same boring cutscene again. This is why it's important to let us skip cutscenes. Even Naughty Dog lets me skip cutscenes. It's one thing to write a trash story, but forcing me to watch it is pathetic. I paid $70 so I should be able to skip whenever I want.

    There is no multiplayer. So once you beat the story, there is literally not a reason to play this game again. Charging $70 for a game with no replay value is a cash grab. And the greedy developers had the audacity to not include the disc in the Jotnar edition, in a pathetic attempt at scamming players to buy the game twice. I know Sony is stingy with multiplayer, but not stingy enough to give me at least co-op. When I complained about the lack of multiplayer in GoT and Returnal, those developers actually listened to my complaints. They added co-op multiplayer and endless modes. Sony Santa Monica have more money than Suckerpunch and Housemarque combined. There is literally no excuse as to why these lazy cheapskates can't give me online. I paid $70 for goodness sake, I should be entitled to online multiplayer at that outrageous price. If I don't get the multiplayer, then it will only prove that these developers are too greedy and lazy, greedier than EA. I would recommend this game until it is $10 or less or just wait until it's free on PS Plus.

    Edit: After playing Callisto Protocol, I changed my mind. I'm changing my score from a 2 to a 0. Unskippable cutscenes along with boring masked loading screens is unacceptable for $70, not to mention that the things I initially praised this game for should've been in GOW 2018 in the beginning. I am infuriated with movie games.    … Expand
  16. Viton
    Nov 11, 2022
    1
    A DLC full of BUGS. Nothing new A repetitive game full of puzzles and cinematics that cut the gaming experience. bring your popcorn
  17. megabusterx
    Jan 25, 2023
    3
    An incredibly meh game that is over praised by the Sony diehards, the hand holding is especially egregious.
  18. TonyThePony
    Feb 3, 2023
    0
    More of the same to be honest. Looks fantastic but the devs must think people who play this are really dumb as everything is signposted beyond belief, so much so that it ruins what could have been a fun game.
  19. barkingbat
    Jan 23, 2023
    2
    A sequel to the masterpiece released on 2018 this game improves on combat and graphics. However the soulless pathetic dribble of unending dialogue and slow walking with a story that belongs in a present day Disney remake ensures that most people should avoid this stain on an amazing series. Do not buy Do not rent Do not play. One of the most worthless tiresome experiences I've ever had.
  20. Superpagal
    Jan 30, 2023
    4
    God of war, ragnarok. I just finished the game but I won't spoil it for you. Let me just begin with this, the title closer to last of us or uncharted without guns than older God of war titles. Too much story, too much cutscenes. Remember when Kratos used to be a crazy motherf@@cker filled with rage killing titans God's, heroes. That's over. Now it's a duo of a sentimental father and sonGod of war, ragnarok. I just finished the game but I won't spoil it for you. Let me just begin with this, the title closer to last of us or uncharted without guns than older God of war titles. Too much story, too much cutscenes. Remember when Kratos used to be a crazy motherf@@cker filled with rage killing titans God's, heroes. That's over. Now it's a duo of a sentimental father and son without any real purpose. They just happened to be in norse mythology when ragnarok was about to begin. Remember when kratos actually had combos, upgrades, taking godly weapons,? Well forget about it. Was eager to fight thor in a over the top crazy fight like i was ? Well you can fight a middle aged alcoholic out of shape irishman instead . After 10 hours I kept playing because I payed it and for no other reason. It saddens me that hod of war became another uncharted for broader audiences. If you liked last of us you probably like this title too. If you are a fan of combat focused games like from software title's, devil lay cry and of course older God of war titles. Then you'll be disappointed. I never expected to write a negative review for god of war. It had such potential, do beautiful graphics and very nice performance. Can't we have a game that's combat focused? Why everything had to become a generic last of us clone,??? … Expand
  21. Fenstergehtauf
    Nov 27, 2022
    3
    Too many boring, unskipable cutscenes combines with mediocre gameplay.
    I don't know why they bother including puzzles if the characters spoil the solutions within seconds of arriving at the scene.
  22. volsharr
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    I regret buying this game for a full price. It is not a game, it is an interactive movie. Boring levels, cant go anywhere, invisible walls everywhere, combat is exactly same as the previous title.
    Ok movie, bad game.
  23. SirFlankBoring
    Jan 31, 2023
    3
    Should've stayed as a hack n slash franchise. Nothing else to say except that Sony pays sites to give this a 10/10.
  24. finnianr
    Jan 21, 2023
    4
    The game was great until the Angrboda character appeared. Suddenly felt like I was watching a cutesy Disney teenage romance movie. Nothing about either the writing or character or casting was consistent with the reimagined God of War of 2018 . Angrboda was just as jarring as if she appeared in the game Ghost of Tsushima. Was Santa Monica studios raided by the diversity and inclusion policeThe game was great until the Angrboda character appeared. Suddenly felt like I was watching a cutesy Disney teenage romance movie. Nothing about either the writing or character or casting was consistent with the reimagined God of War of 2018 . Angrboda was just as jarring as if she appeared in the game Ghost of Tsushima. Was Santa Monica studios raided by the diversity and inclusion police and got a bad report so they felt the need to blackwash a Scandinavian story. Think I will go back to playing Ghostwire Tokyo, which at least had some cultural consistency. But then the GOW franchise as a whole has a problem deciding what it wants to be. In a way the paint employed by Angrboda is symbolic of what happens when you randomly apply different colors. You don't get art, just an aimless mess. It's a pity to see a great game vision ruined by some external influence.… Expand
  25. Ntfwprophet
    Dec 11, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Although it is fairly cutscene heavy, the game starts out in the right direction almost immediately uniting you with both friends of old, and foe alike. The combat feels almost identical, however they decided to take away all the moves you learned in the last one only to have you earn them all over again, minus the few that they removed from the game which I honestly felt was a mistake. I honestly feel like the combat was better in the first one, but the transition moves are a nice addition and so are the blue circle parries. They give the combat a bit more of a personality. All the while they attempted to make an upgraded system for gear this time around but it still feels incomplete as they don't give you enough good materials for you to be able to level all your gear up. So what happens is you level the gear you like playing with and that takes away from the ability to level up others that are further behind to the point where there's just no point to change gear and try a different style. essentially you'll always have one or two pieces of gear that are better than the rest and it just doesn't feel rewarding enough to want to go back to try another. Lastly, the game forces you to use Atreus for large portions of the game and they're just so annoying that I couldn't help but turn the game off every time I'd get to one, and it would take me days before I would want to play it again. Even worse is when Atreus goes and meets Angrboda, you spend a solid hour or more riding a yak picking fruit. It's boring, and you literally don't learn anything new. It just goes over everything you've already learned and all of the wasted time picking fruit could easily been removed from the game and simply been a cutscene. It honestly felt like they just added them to break up the monotony and i hated every single minute of it. Thanks to Atreus I will never play through this game a 2nd time. I bought this game for God of War which is Kratos and I simply can't push through the annoying Atreus parts which essentially makes this game unplayable for me which means I wasted my money and have no choice but to rate this as such… Expand
  26. Mogmog000
    Jan 24, 2023
    0
    The conversation between parents and children is depressing and the characters are unappealing.
    The action is monotonous and unexciting.
    Puzzles are boring and there are too many of them.
  27. Jsaiyan
    Dec 15, 2022
    0
    The combat is a step up compared to 2018, especially with the third weapon you get. Plenty of dialogue between characters made me laugh. Actor performances are mostly solid, and the music is grand. Graphics are exactly the same as 2018, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
    Unfortunately, this game suffers from lackluster writing. Many moments drag on too long, while others move much too    The combat is a step up compared to 2018, especially with the third weapon you get. Plenty of dialogue between characters made me laugh. Actor performances are mostly solid, and the music is grand. Graphics are exactly the same as 2018, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
    Unfortunately, this game suffers from lackluster writing. Many moments drag on too long, while others move much too fast. 2018 had about 10 total characters present, while this one throws another 30 or so at you and doesn't give you much time to get connected to them or be invested in them. Many characters sound out of place from this world and speak with modern mannerisms that break the immersion and make you feel like you're watching a Marvel movie.
    Another big issue is the overall gameplay. The combat is great but not as great as in the Greek era. The traversal mostly has you slowly climbing up walls or crawling through tunnels as a way to hide a loading gate and have the PS4 stop processing one area and start processing the next. The puzzles are decent until your companions open their mouths and can't stop telling you exactly what to do and there is no option to turn them off. There are TONS of cutscenes in this one, and they feel more dramatic than they need to be, almost like the writers are begging you to feel the same emotion as the characters in these moments. This could have worked if the writing was tighter and more meaningful, but they decided to go with overemotional acting and sweeping music to try and make these scenes bigger than they really are. It's one of the cheapest tricks you can pull when making a movie. Maybe that's the core root of this game; it feels like an Avengers movie more than a God of War game.
    In summary, they are stepping too far away from what made God of War unique and special back in the 2000s, and instead, they are copying trends from other successful games to try and appeal to a broader audience and make more sales. You could sum up this game with single words like "vanilla", "bland", and "unoriginal."
    I don't care what happens to the franchise after this because at this point I'm done. I'm going to subscribe to PS Plus Premium so I can play the older games and reminisce how great God of War once was.
    Edit: After playing God of War 1-3 and Ascension and then trying Ragnarok again, the tone of Ragnarok is unbearable with how many characters are goofy and crack jokes. It's in stark contrast to the tone they are trying to establish in the story with violence and death, and it's disgustingly jarring.
    The story ended at 3 with Kratos killing himself to give hope to others. The Norse games are not canon.    … Expand
  28. mario999
    Apr 18, 2023
    0
    I finished the game now and need to update my review previously I gave this game 2 points, that is not possible anymore, that game is a solid 0, I have no idea how you can make a so bad game, I could over look the always same environments, copy paste from the previous game, could even look over the 5 enemies which exist in the game which are also all from the previous game, the stupidI finished the game now and need to update my review previously I gave this game 2 points, that is not possible anymore, that game is a solid 0, I have no idea how you can make a so bad game, I could over look the always same environments, copy paste from the previous game, could even look over the 5 enemies which exist in the game which are also all from the previous game, the stupid puzzles, but the story and the so annoying characters without any depth I could care less about anyone in that game, they made kratos look like a fool, then when playing his son is embarrassing you never play almost you just talk and walk, it taked me like 3-4 months to finish the game because its so boring and after 1-2 hours you just don't want to play it anymore, I needed 40 hours to finish all, from the 40 hours I guaranty that 25 hours you watch videos, which are soooo boring and you can't skip anything, each time video came I started to make something else was not able to watch that s*** anymore, this game made me so angry, then kratos now don't want to fight anymore, he is done with all, why in hell a game like god of war is like that, its just so bad, before the end of the game the videos are just ridiculous, worst game I ever played, even worst then fallout 4 and cyberpunk, avoid this game its just a pain, the paid reviews are just ridiculous, I loved the previous game for me previous game is top 3 of best games ever made, but this game here is just embarrassing and cash grab, it is really the worst game I ever played, I never thought I will say something like that about a god of war game, never again I buy a game from this studio, to the studio next time just make a bad movie and you better off, wow wow wow I just can't believe what they done to god of war franchise, please just dont ever make a game again and leave, Videos which take over 1 hour and you can't skip what is that, who cares about the stuff which are in the videos. I could go on and on but I lost already enough time with this worthless game. to anyone just don't buy this game. and I just finished the game because I always finished all god to war games and I just was not able to believe that the game will be that bad, I thought many times to quit the game.… Expand
  29. joash
    Jun 8, 2023
    0
    What did they do to God of War? The combat is like a watered-down version of the previous titles. The story and dialog are boring, which I can deal with but they decide to drag it out more and more and more. God of War is supposed to be an epic hack n slash action game where to story is just dumb fun, not this CW drama and B-tier soulborne combat
  30. DaviksGames
    Aug 26, 2023
    0
    DLC das piores jogo repetitivo desnecessário q bosta de jogo
    Deveria ter parado no 3 tava bom
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2022
4
#4 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 141 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 140 out of 141
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 141
  3. Negative: 0 out of 141
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 25, 2024
    100
    I can't help but tip my hat to the entire Santa Monica team. The deeper you delve into the game, the more you'll be drawn into the stunning story of a father and son against the backdrop of perhaps history's most horrific war. Throw in some casually endearing humour, great and fluid gameplay, and wrap it all up with an amazing audiovisual experience. [Issue#323]
  2. Softpedia
    Dec 8, 2022
    95
    Thanks to an amazing cast that’s doing an outstanding job, a compelling story told through the eyes of multiple characters, and top-notch combat, this epic and heartfelt journey strikes all the right chord. It’s impossible not to recommend God of War Ragnarok, but just in case you had any doubts, I strongly advise anyone mildly interested in gaming to play Santa Monica Studio’s latest masterpiece.
    Read full review
  3. GameSkinny
    Dec 1, 2022
    80
    It’s a satisfying conclusion to the modern God of War saga, but it’s hard to walk away and not feel like this could have been something greater.
    Read full review
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