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. RevolverCasemir
    Nov 16, 2022
    7
    What a disappointment. This can't be the industries "best" aaa game right now.

    The gameplay did not evolve and it is still super restrictive. You have to do everything exactly the way the game wants your to or else you don't move forward. Example you have a special skill that lets you shoot a fireball, you have a puzzle that requires you to light up a candle from a distance. My first    What a disappointment. This can't be the industries "best" aaa game right now.

    The gameplay did not evolve and it is still super restrictive. You have to do everything exactly the way the game wants your to or else you don't move forward. Example you have a special skill that lets you shoot a fireball, you have a puzzle that requires you to light up a candle from a distance. My first thought was ok i have this new fire ball skill maybe i can just shoot the fire ball to light it up, nope doesnt even effect the candle even with a direct hit, instead you need to use the magic arrows to light a path around wall and you have to perform a specific chain bomb skill to complete the puzzle. This type of gameplay is so outdated and frustrating.

    The story is unsatisfying. The start of it is great but it gets worse the more you play, with all the forced female empowerment moments, all the cringy new characters that you don't care about getting so much screen time and development. Kratos gets completely neutered in this story, its not enough that he doesn't want to fight anymore but now he takes order from the worst character in this series (Freya) with her stupid motivations. Odin and Thor were great but we didn't get enough from them, Odin's motivations were fantastic and i actually was rooting for him to succeed because i wanted to know the answers to his questions but no we get a ton a build up and they seemingly drop the most interesting part of the story. Kratos and Atreus carry the game with their performances but that can only get you so far, by the end i didn't care anymore because everything else was just so frustrating.

    Dear Sony, lets retire the Uncharted/Naughty Dog formula. Its been 10 years of these walky talky movie games, where you NPC's never ever shut the hell up!! Move on!! find a new formula for the next generation. Im so done with this ****    … Expand
  2. ReginaldChaney
    Nov 14, 2022
    6
    I do not understand why people are saying this is goty material.

    Let's start with the gameplay. It is the exact same as the first God of War. There isn't much there in terms of gameplay evolution, this could be fine if the story was better however it is not as well written as the previous. I personally believe this is due to the dumbing down of the overall design. The puzzles in    I do not understand why people are saying this is goty material.

    Let's start with the gameplay.

    It is the exact same as the first God of War. There isn't much there in terms of gameplay evolution, this could be fine if the story was better however it is not as well written as the previous. I personally believe this is due to the dumbing down of the overall design.

    The puzzles in the gameplay frankly are a zero out of ten. Not because of the puzzles themself most are easy enough but due to the NPCS literally being on a 25 second timer to flat out tell you exactly how to do the puzzle. The designers don't even give you a single minute to try and figure it out before whatever NPC you are with explaining what to do and then rushing you along once you finish the puzzle. It is incredibly infuriating and is very telling of who this game was designed for.

    To put it simply the target audience of this game, is not serious gamers. It is people who do not like video games, or people who really just wanted to watch a movie. The NPCS rush you along through puzzles, long stretched out moments of just walking and dialogue, basic gameplay with no major evolutions. The highest difficulty feels like what the normal difficulty would be on a game made 12 years ago.

    This game is designed for the lowest common denominator and frankly it's insulting to be treated like an idiot by the game itself, but that is one of the dead giveaways to who it is designed for.

    The Sony formula is getting stale and the people who find this design appealing are dwindling. It has become an echo chamber of Sony fan boys while genuine criticism gets swished away as petty hate. This game doesn't even deserve to be nominated for GOTY yet alone win it.

    But GOTY awards need money and I'm sure Sony is willing to pay.

    Mid experience, mid, gameplay, atrociously annoying nps. Worth 15 dollars on sale.    … Expand
  3. farbenblind
    Nov 16, 2022
    5
    It just doesn’t deliver. All the samey samey things are going on. No improvements at all. I’m deeply disappointed for a 4 years development situation. The game feels like they want me to feel like I am a three year old person. But I am not. I am **** 43 years old and playing a god of war game. A bit frustrated where this is going to. How does this game got so many good reviews?
  4. cpfantastic63
    Nov 10, 2022
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Disappointing. You don't even feel like you are fighting with gods anymore. Where in the Norse Myth Odin was like a murican politician with short beard? They made a joke out of Thor too. We before fought Poseidon, Hades, Ares and Zeus and they all felt like a GOD. Here in the last boss fight, it's like you are fighting with mini boss from a random anime game. The writing, dialogues and the characrers are mediocre and it has paced awfully.

    You only get one new weapon the entire game which is very disappointing. The game is joky and it has lost its serious tone. 50% of the game is with Atreus and it's very meh. Is this even God of War? They have ruined the franchise. Also when we talk about Dragons, Nidhogg is the first thing that comes to mind. This dragon is so powerful that Kratos needs to activate his whole power to be able to killing it. The design and the fight itself is very weak and washed.

    The old greek God of War trilogy is remained the best and i don't need to see another God of War anymore after this disappointing Ragnarok.    … Expand
  5. wrongpassword
    Nov 10, 2022
    6
    Nice graphics but I can't see any of the Norse gods as godly. Boss fights were underwhelming and the mobs were generic. It felt like they relied on fan baiting with bad designs and contradicting as many of the Norse legends as possible to boost a by the numbers movie game.
  6. ali_3410
    Nov 17, 2022
    6
    it's not the game I was expecting, I thought the game would be bigger in every way. This game is supposed to be the biggest triple AAA on PS5, but the game has nothing spectacular, the game doesn't make you feel the same experience as GoW 2018. While the combat is good, the story is too linear and very meh, the final boss battle is disappointing.
  7. NimbusXV
    Nov 17, 2022
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Not bad, but this has already been seen too much already. They recycle areas, animations and enemies and NPCs can be annoying when solving the puzzles that one finds. Playing with the brat Atreus is disgusting. Combat improves a little from the last game, but not enough for it to be top notch.… Expand
  8. Popacr77hdhdei
    Nov 13, 2022
    7
    I'm not going to spoil anything but this game is just a shadow of God of war 2018 , the first one was brilliant the second one is boring and annoying
  9. Near
    Jan 8, 2023
    7
    The game is between a 7 and 8.

    It is exactly what I was expecting: they took the original and expanded the world and the enemies. But it doesn't provide the awe of the first one. COMBAT - From a combat-side, it's actually quite bad. I recommend playing on a low difficulty as the combat is unfair and poorly designed in multiple occasions. Fighting wave after wave of monster sometimes    The game is between a 7 and 8.

    It is exactly what I was expecting: they took the original and expanded the world and the enemies. But it doesn't provide the awe of the first one.

    COMBAT - From a combat-side, it's actually quite bad. I recommend playing on a low difficulty as the combat is unfair and poorly designed in multiple occasions. Fighting wave after wave of monster sometimes is boring, runic attacks are horrible, positioning is irrelevant as enemies will slide towards you while attacking, in general it's very much not rewarding to master, it's probably worst than the first game.

    STORY - It's worst than the first game as it expands tremendously moving away from the laser focus of the original. Characters like Mimir and Freya and Kratos himself are actually very much humanized taking away from them the aura of legends they used to have. Freya in particular is written very bad in my opinion, and everyone tolerating her **** actually pisses me off. The main villain of the story, however, is very well made (and acted). The finale was very satisfying in my opinion, despite laking that "larger than life" feel that I would expect from a God Of War.    … Expand
  10. CliffMaine
    Dec 9, 2022
    5
    Mediocre and overated , still good , just not as good as everyone makes it out to be .
  11. Darkprince1751
    Jan 30, 2023
    6
    The game was fun, but all they did was copy and paste the levels from the previous game and add snow. Same move sets, same kill animations. Is this what they spent 4 years developing? That's some lazy level design. Kratos always feels underpowered, the new weapon that you get is really not that interesting. I only used it when I had to, and as has been mentioned before, the dialog. TheThe game was fun, but all they did was copy and paste the levels from the previous game and add snow. Same move sets, same kill animations. Is this what they spent 4 years developing? That's some lazy level design. Kratos always feels underpowered, the new weapon that you get is really not that interesting. I only used it when I had to, and as has been mentioned before, the dialog. The stupid irritating dialog. whoever thought it was a good idea to make Norse gods speak like the Sopranos should never write for another game. My biggest gripe is that there isn't anything to do after you beat the game. There's no NG+. You have to wait until spring 2023. This practice of releasing NG+ months after the original release is lazy and has to stop.… Expand
  12. Folks07
    Dec 20, 2022
    6
    I`m a huge fan of the God of War series and i get why they made the last one more for everyone, but, i didn´t expect they would cripple it like that.
    Graphics are amazing, gameplay is good, production is good, but everything else, is very very bad.
    Map designs are bad, back then, everyone hated games for doing this, remember Final Fantasy 13? Got smashed for it, now it seems to be ok for    I`m a huge fan of the God of War series and i get why they made the last one more for everyone, but, i didn´t expect they would cripple it like that.
    Graphics are amazing, gameplay is good, production is good, but everything else, is very very bad.
    Map designs are bad, back then, everyone hated games for doing this, remember Final Fantasy 13? Got smashed for it, now it seems to be ok for some reason.
    Only 3 weapons, enemies are reused and the variety is again very small, barely any big boss fights again which everyone loved from the old games.
    And the cherry on the cake, the characters and dialogues.
    I mean....wtf??? I dislike every single character in this game, except maybe Mimir. Everyone is touching everyone with velvet gloves, apologizing constantly for everything and everyone is a loser in some way. It feels like a big therapy group and everyone is making sure not to trigger the others, a pathetic showcase of gods, giants and badasses!
    They even treat the player like a little kid with the constent comments they make.
    It makes me so sad, that it seems to be so easy these days to make "a masterpiece", but this, this is NOT a masterpiece, at all!    … Expand
  13. PlanetCrusher
    Jan 9, 2023
    5
    Technically very impressive, but also quite boring.

    The game takes you to some really neat looking areas and then has you walk, canoe, or otherwise travel around them, while characters just vomit exposition at you. It's like one long cutscene after another, except you're technically playing because you're controlling the walking/traversal. The main combat can be fun, but there's    Technically very impressive, but also quite boring.

    The game takes you to some really neat looking areas and then has you walk, canoe, or otherwise travel around them, while characters just vomit exposition at you.

    It's like one long cutscene after another, except you're technically playing because you're controlling the walking/traversal.

    The main combat can be fun, but there's not enough of it.

    The boss fights can be quite enjoyable, but there aren't all that many of them, compared to how much time you spend with the boring parts I mentioned.

    I had high hopes for this, but found I spent the majority of the time bored.    … Expand
  14. ThunderJacob95
    Nov 21, 2022
    7
    A disappointment from the first, minimal improvements too much clutter (effects, runes, resources etc). Insane amount of handholding an linearity. Feels more like a Ubisoft game than a Sony game…
    And worse writing with some cringeworthy dialogues in some place and fantastic writing in some other places.
    The combat feels dated etc. Also piss poor PS 5 and dual sense implementation. The last    A disappointment from the first, minimal improvements too much clutter (effects, runes, resources etc). Insane amount of handholding an linearity. Feels more like a Ubisoft game than a Sony game…
    And worse writing with some cringeworthy dialogues in some place and fantastic writing in some other places.
    The combat feels dated etc. Also piss poor PS 5 and dual sense implementation.
    The last 1/4 get a lot better, but still has problems in terms of some awful bosses (Svipdagr the Cold and the Sisters of Illska etc).
    Also there is a insane amount of clutter and junk in the armor/ upgrade system worse than a Ubisoft game. The lvl system must one of the worse in any moder game too date. Overall a disappointment and definitely no masterpiece.    … Expand
  15. SoFarSoGood--
    Dec 12, 2022
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Massive disappointment and a watered down follow up to the 2018 classic. Back in 2018 Kratos was still powerful and you always had the feeling his angry powerful self was still there, he is just trying his best to hide it. Fast forward to Ragnarok and Kratos is completely neutered...needs help finishing fights against powerful foes and doesn't even want to fight to begin with. Midway through he also wants to give up and go home. He needs other characters to make decisions for him in fear of upsetting them if he made them himself.

    I honestly don't even know why Kratos is part of this game in the first place...the entire game you run around with Atreus and Freya's objectives in mind. They could easily have left Kratos out of the game and the story would not have changed. Expect tons of talking about feelings...even mid war as you storm down on Asgard, the supposed highlight of the game, Kratos finds time to preach to Atreus he needs to be himself and care about others. To tell him to be better for the 20th time...I mean seriously.

    What happened to the serious, god conquering hero we grew to love up until now? Furthermore, cool lines like "don't be sorry, be better" in the 2018 classic is repeated so much and watered down I ended up hating the line and not ever wanting to hear it again. In the last mission alone the phrase "be better" must've been repeated 25 times. This game is your typical new age no accountability, political corrected, everyone has their reasons so nobody is really bad nonsense. To top it all off, Atreus does more damage to enemies swinging his bow than Kratos does with a magical axe, magical spear and the blades of chaos...WTF!!

    Kratos has been reduced to a grunt to do the heavy lifting and do others dirty work but this game was just about Freya's redemption and Atreus' story. Kratos has 0 story in this game except for trying to be a sensitive father. The best part of the game was when Atreus left at the end so I can only play as Kratos. The production value is great, soundtrack boring and twists predictable. Graphics are really good and the world's are fantastic.

    However, they tried making God of War an emotional relatable game and characters...something it never was. When Brok died I couldn't care less because we never had an emotional connection with him. It is incomparable to a moment such as Vesemir dying in Witcher 3...a character you actually cared about. The dwarves are also way too involved and I can't help but think this game was fan service to be cool with its over the top humor, most which is not funny, playing as Atreus and Kratos caring waaaaay too much. It is worth a play, but don't expect to be wowed by the over the top action and epic don't care attitude of a powerful god of war Kratos like the first games.    … Expand
  16. Janlul
    Jan 1, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What a disappointment

    After 4 years of development we got reused animations rehashed levels copy paste combat same crappy camera.

    The story sucks big time here after all the buildup that is the excellent God of War 2018 there is nothing like that it in this game.

    Atreus is still an annoying b*tch even worse you have to play as him multiple times which ruïnes the pacing

    Enemy design is still bland no big enemies to fight like in the old games, bosses feel samey and boring you never have to change tactics.

    And when you finally reach the final level (Asgard) it is over in like 15 minutes of fighting the same enemies you have been fighting for the past 20 hours and fight Thor who you don't even get to kill (gets killed in the cutscene) and then fight odin who dies in like 5 minutes and the credits.

    This game is an unfinished mess    … Expand
  17. Poisoop
    Jan 8, 2023
    6
    Good game, but story is incredibly dissapointing. It's not an epic adventure in any way, it's just a chore list the characters have to complete. Ending is completely rushed, and there is no sense of spectacle. All the bosses in this game are just lazy arena fights with almost no spectacle at all. I play these games for the story and the awesome battles, there is one cool boss and its theGood game, but story is incredibly dissapointing. It's not an epic adventure in any way, it's just a chore list the characters have to complete. Ending is completely rushed, and there is no sense of spectacle. All the bosses in this game are just lazy arena fights with almost no spectacle at all. I play these games for the story and the awesome battles, there is one cool boss and its the first. This is the biggest waste of potential I've ever seen. It actually makes me sad that this is the story they put out for God of War Ragnarok. The story has some good and heartwarming moments, but it just feels so lazy and rushed for me. The developers will never have another chance at making a game about these characters in the ragnarok setting. Don't get me wrong its a good game, but lower your expectations for the story. The gameplay is also the exact same as the last game, you even have to unlock the same abilities again! People have tried to give an explanation for this, but it is still monkeybrain game design. But yes the combat is the exact same with like one minor addition, in fact I actually feel like the combat doesn't hit as hard as the previous game. I actually feel like everyone giving this game a 10/10 or calling it a masterpiece are borderline delusional and just consume **** without thinking about it.… Expand
  18. keshudioo
    Jan 7, 2023
    6
    pros:
    - okay story, twists
    - okay characters
    - good music

    cons:
    - only slightly changed mechanics, feels like the same game as GOW 2018
    - forced sentimental moments
    - puzzles are spoiled by the NPCs
    - invisible walls, fake open world
    - ps4 game with ps4 graphics, zero use of dual sense, no next gen vibe
    - boring, repetitive enemies, grinding
  19. ArcturioS
    Dec 27, 2022
    5
    Constantly the same snot that Sony has been serving as a "game" for years. Unfortunately, it's more of an overpriced movie. Full of anticipation I started God of War Ragnarök and was allowed to play about 10 minutes in the first hour of play. That means I was allowed to make a difference to Kratos and trigger some Quick Time Events. This has nothing to do with GAming but watching a movie.Constantly the same snot that Sony has been serving as a "game" for years. Unfortunately, it's more of an overpriced movie. Full of anticipation I started God of War Ragnarök and was allowed to play about 10 minutes in the first hour of play. That means I was allowed to make a difference to Kratos and trigger some Quick Time Events. This has nothing to do with GAming but watching a movie.

    The graphics are very good for Playstation 5 conditions and look very detailed at first. Unfortunately, however, it is only decoration. The graphics do not hide the emptiness of the game world and the lack of depth. From time to time you see some birds and abandoned fruit stands and the like. Many objects are really just decoration. They cannot even be destroyed and have been used again and again in the manner of copy past.

    Also, the game doesn't offer much of a game. The levels are tube-like. The game offers little urge to discover. On the contrary: It leads you completely through the game world. If you really do not know how to get ahead, your companion will immediately comment on what to do. Sony doesn't trust its gamers to face even the slightest challenge. And these situations hardly occur, because almost everything that is relevant in the game world has been highlighted in color or flashes.

    From time to time you get into a kind of pseudo open world in the game world. Don't be fooled. There are small sections that you then leave, collect your collectibles and complete boring side quests that offer no appeal.

    The combat system is solid and basically the same as its predecessor. The enemy variants are unfortunately very banal and are rather low. This reinforces the feeling that you are constantly experiencing the same thing in God of War Ragnarök. Run a few meters, some enemies pop up, you knock them down, collect the same loot over and over again, level skills that are rather trivial and improve your equipment. The only thing that carries the game is the Story.

    The story here is still the best thing about the game. One would like to know what Kratos, Artreus and his mother are all about. Unfortunately, Sony is exaggerating here again. Yes, violence is part of God of War but in some situations you think Kratos the macho just wants to prove to another macho how great he can be. Some story plots in the game are probably only there to satisfy children's fantasies of a bully.

    It's bitter what happened to the Sony Playstation under Jim Ryan aka Lie Cry.

    After Horizon Forbidden West had already disappointed me immensely and the game felt like a DLC or ADD ON. God of War Ragnarök makes the same mistake. Sony has been making the mistake here for years. One can only hope that those responsible at Sony will finally step down and that Sony will finally allow MORE DIVERSITY and INNOVATION in their games. Here you can only praise Microsoft and Nintendo. Whether new game series, new gameplay mechanics or simply more variety of genres.    … Expand
  20. ssj4rit
    Jan 29, 2023
    7
    Pros:
    + Good combat
    + Interesting hub worlds

    Cons:
    - Story falls apart in second half
    - I want to play the game, not watch cutscenes for 90% of a quest and then play for the remaining 10%
    - Lack of fists combat (my favorite skill tree in GoW 2018)
  21. cybermonkey
    Dec 17, 2022
    6
    Combat is ok but not great, exploration is mostly boring, too many mindless tasks (opening chests/ repetitive puzzles and the NPCs just tell you the solution within 30 seconds anyway), story is paced very badly. This game is at its best when you're fighting massive bosses. It should have leaned more into that than boring sandbox exploration. Some of the best boss fights are hampered by theCombat is ok but not great, exploration is mostly boring, too many mindless tasks (opening chests/ repetitive puzzles and the NPCs just tell you the solution within 30 seconds anyway), story is paced very badly. This game is at its best when you're fighting massive bosses. It should have leaned more into that than boring sandbox exploration. Some of the best boss fights are hampered by the camera's very narrow field of view.
    Feel like I've played this kind of game 100 times before. Nothing new or unique, but to be expected from a AAA exclusive, I suppose.    … Expand
  22. Mcdaidde
    May 6, 2023
    6
    Visually. This game is a 10. Incredibly middling otherwise. There was a period mid game where atreus and a new character ride a yak around a marsh. It felt like the game was straight up wasting my time. Boring story, boring characters, not enough kratos. It felt like an average marvel movie script, right down to the villain and surrounding npcs. I miss old god of war, but this game is soVisually. This game is a 10. Incredibly middling otherwise. There was a period mid game where atreus and a new character ride a yak around a marsh. It felt like the game was straight up wasting my time. Boring story, boring characters, not enough kratos. It felt like an average marvel movie script, right down to the villain and surrounding npcs. I miss old god of war, but this game is so cucked in its "story telling" that we'll never get a game like the original series again.… Expand
  23. RolandOG
    Nov 25, 2022
    6
    Unpopular opinion maybe, but I think it’s a little boring. They reused too many assets from the first game. There is too much of the same look and feel. Somehow, the axe combat isn’t as satisfying, which was one of the best things about it. There is WAY too much Atreus, who is now playable. It seems like a way to sell more copies by targeting a younger generation. Grab the old God of WarUnpopular opinion maybe, but I think it’s a little boring. They reused too many assets from the first game. There is too much of the same look and feel. Somehow, the axe combat isn’t as satisfying, which was one of the best things about it. There is WAY too much Atreus, who is now playable. It seems like a way to sell more copies by targeting a younger generation. Grab the old God of War fans and the kids, more $$$$. The graphics are not actually that great, unless you’re on a PS4 and seeing it pushed to its max potential. For a next gen game, it’s pretty dated, despite reviews saying it’s a technical marvel. All that said, it’s mostly executed just as well as the first game. If you never played it, play that first.… Expand
  24. AigleAveugle
    Mar 11, 2023
    6
    Fun but very inferior to the first one. They should have deleted all side quests and exploring and just give the linear story as a DLC for the first game.

    Soundtrack is meh compared to the first one. The story and visuals are great. I wanted to master every combat tactics in the first one, in this one I wanted to avoid all fights cause they were overwhelming and redundant. Maybe im    Fun but very inferior to the first one. They should have deleted all side quests and exploring and just give the linear story as a DLC for the first game.

    Soundtrack is meh compared to the first one. The story and visuals are great. I wanted to master every combat tactics in the first one, in this one I wanted to avoid all fights cause they were overwhelming and redundant. Maybe im getting older but lot of it felt botched. I mean almost every enemy explode when they die, they all have missile attack and unbreakable move and it felt poor, very poor compared to the first game. I also didn't care about the godzillion runes or useless items. The menu screen is really ugly and side-quests, lore and exploring too rigid. I played the first one twice and this one I will skip chests, some side-quests, didn't care about reading stuff and will not play it again. Not looking forward to the next entry in the series unless they evolve it to a more mature and rpg oriented experience.    … Expand
  25. ThatPSXBGamer
    Jul 29, 2023
    7
    God of War Ragnarok is a good game, but like GoW 2018 is NOT a perfect game and is unfortunately criminally overrated. As much as that fact angers Sony blowhards and paid critics, God of War Ragnarok is a decent game with both strengths and weaknesses. As a first party Sony exclusive, the graphics are fantastic on PS5, with both graphics and performance modes looking great. The writingGod of War Ragnarok is a good game, but like GoW 2018 is NOT a perfect game and is unfortunately criminally overrated. As much as that fact angers Sony blowhards and paid critics, God of War Ragnarok is a decent game with both strengths and weaknesses. As a first party Sony exclusive, the graphics are fantastic on PS5, with both graphics and performance modes looking great. The writing also sees improvement from the first game, with witty dialogue getting a chuckle from me every now and then. However, just as the first game, the puzzles are monotonous and repetitive with very little variety beyond "freeze the water" or "throw the axe" . As far as the combat goes, nothing has changed since the first game. The combat is just as convoluted, with far too many forgettable skills, runes, etc. The locked camera is still asinine and is incredibly aggravating when I'm trying to pick up a health-stone and I have to fight the camera to let me pick it up. There is also incredibly inconsistent difficulty, why are the regular enemies able to deliver boss level attacks that take half my health? It gets to the point where I've died more to an enemy hoard than to the actual bosses, especially since there can be 3-4 enemies attacking you at once. The bosses have improved from the first game, with more variety, however, who needs bosses when one regular enemy can kill you in two hits. The story has improved since the first game, with a special attention to the characters, however, most of the Atreus sections feel like filler, especially the berry picking mission. This game feels like it's been stretched thin to fill an arbitrary 30 hour campaign length. Overall, God of War Ragnarok is a good game, but nowhere near the heights of a 10/10 game that paid game critics and Sony blowhards would say it is.… Expand
  26. CapitanQwark
    Jul 9, 2023
    6
    I have to say that the game is good, but nothing more. I prefer the first PS4 god of war. This one feels outdated. Its difficult settings are outbalanced and Kratos feels useless. Nonetheless, playing as Loki/Atreus is awesome. For that reason, the game is 6/10 and not 5/10.
    The story is not what it should be. It focused on personal problems of the characters and the Ragnarok is decided    I have to say that the game is good, but nothing more. I prefer the first PS4 god of war. This one feels outdated. Its difficult settings are outbalanced and Kratos feels useless. Nonetheless, playing as Loki/Atreus is awesome. For that reason, the game is 6/10 and not 5/10.
    The story is not what it should be. It focused on personal problems of the characters and the Ragnarok is decided at the end on the worst way possible ever imagined.    … Expand
  27. R999
    Dec 30, 2022
    6
    Not great, not bad, maybe good, but rather mediocre. A major dissapointment for me cause i was expecting much more. After 4 years since the last game this one feels almost the same.

    Graphics - 8/10 (im not sure if it got better since 2018, but it looks fine) Gameplay - 6/10 (feels better than in 2018 but it is still an action with 3rd person shooter camera...) Plot - 2/10 (its just    Not great, not bad, maybe good, but rather mediocre. A major dissapointment for me cause i was expecting much more. After 4 years since the last game this one feels almost the same.

    Graphics - 8/10 (im not sure if it got better since 2018, but it looks fine)
    Gameplay - 6/10 (feels better than in 2018 but it is still an action with 3rd person shooter camera...)
    Plot - 2/10 (its just bad, so many stupid things are going on and the ragnarok itself feells like a joke)
    Narrative - 5/10 (dialogues sounds cheep, like it was written by copywriter fot 1$ per 5000 symbols, almost every conversation feels unfinished or excessive)
    Game design - 3/10 (outdated and time consuming - climb, walk, crawl, squeeze through etc...such a waste of time)    … Expand
  28. Mclean514
    Dec 30, 2022
    7
    Some fun but dissapointing for a God of War game. Story isnt great and seems like a waste of excellent source material. Until the end of the game there isn't a real reason why Kratos and Atreus hate Odin other than the NPCs stating he's "bad". In my opinion there is more reason to hate Freya (because she is actively trying to kill them).I can't remember Kratos ever running away from aSome fun but dissapointing for a God of War game. Story isnt great and seems like a waste of excellent source material. Until the end of the game there isn't a real reason why Kratos and Atreus hate Odin other than the NPCs stating he's "bad". In my opinion there is more reason to hate Freya (because she is actively trying to kill them).I can't remember Kratos ever running away from a fight, or at least not finishing one. I guess this is the character arc (vengeance isn't the answer) they're going for but it isn't good. Kratos is more "the anti god of war" in this game.The missions you play as Atreus are boring as hell. Atreus plays as a more powerful character than Kratos which doesn't make sense. If the creators don't like Kratos and want to focus on Freya or Atreus why not just create a new game without diluting the God of War? There are some good missions and battles which make it worth playing, but this is not a "game of the year " by any stretch of the imagination.… Expand
  29. Codafett
    Jan 12, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. To summarize my thoughts, the story of Ragnarok was an objective step down from 2018. Which in hindsight was a step down from the original games. I kinda knew this was coming because 2018 wasn't about the Norse gods, not really. It was about Kratos and Atreus bonding with Baldur and all that drama being a roadblock to Jotunheim. Ragnarok was already in a bad spot because it removed the personal aspects of the story and went for this crappy Endgame style war and team up thing. Marvel-tier writing is all over the game and I can't emphasize enough how much I think the MCU has **** up modern entertainment. Constant quips and jokes undercutting moments that are supposed to be serious.

    I think what I consider the biggest red flag is how much contempt the writers seem to have for Kratos as a character. It's ironic they made him a grumpy, boring sad dad when the writing in Rag was clearly more suited to the high energy warrior he used to be. I wonder how much of that is Anthony Burch trying to feminize our ashen boi which he literally admitted to wanting to do on Twitter. I've found myself reguarly going back to GOW 2 and 3 because, shockingly, Kratos was a much funner character when he was a man on a mission. All this **** about him being deep now is pure history revision because Kratos was always a **** deep character. The plot of 3 is literally him hiding his extreme pain behind his god killing vengeance.

    Atreus is annoying and most of the dialogue with him and Kratos is the exact same conversation over and over. "We should start Ragnarok" "No we shouldn't" again and again. I actually did like Odin, but he was underwhelming just like the rest of Asgard, which is literally a bunch of shacks for some reason. Did anyone else feel like the design for Asgard doesn't fit the established aesthetic of giant golden temples and ****

    Finally, I'm already seeing this cope that if the game was broken into 2 it would've been better. But here's the thing: Ragnarok is like 36 hours and only 6 of those are good. If they couldn't fill out half the game's runtime with good content then what the **** makes you think a third game would've magically fixed everything? It's like Game of Thrones, sure we can insist that more time, and longer seasons would've made it a better ending but the exact same events would've still come to pass and people would still be pissed.    … Expand
  30. Dustysi
    Jan 20, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I give it a 5 because the combat was fun for awhile but became dry and repetitive. Story was lame compared to old god of war. You only get 3 weapons and never get to use thors hammer. Gods where not hard bosses . I felt like i was playing a movie . Good games are few and far between these days .… Expand
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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.
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  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.
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