Has it really been nearly four years since this game came out? Sheesh, time flies. Having been released on the PlayStation 4 to unbridled praise and upgraded on the PlayStation 5 to make it look and move smoother, God of War has finally made its way back home to the PC where it was born (because that’s where all games are born). This time, it shows off the visuals through proper PC power, while touting the entertaining saga that made it epic.
Let’s get right into this beauty.
What I’m Running and how it ran
The system I reviewed this game on is an 11th generation i7 with 16GB of RAM and sporting a 3060 card inside. This was more than enough to see this game in full-blown action, which ended up being one of the more spectacular PC experiences I’ve had up to this point. God of War was a beautiful game back when it was released in 2018 on the PlayStation 4. Sony at that point had been kicking on all cylinders with their PS4 hardware and squeezed the most it could out of its regular and pro systems for this title. The year prior, they had published Horizon Zero Dawn, which was also quite gorgeous and visually enthralling. It was a time to be alive with the PS4 and gave hope that the PS5 had something better in store for us on what could be done on a console.
Fast forward three years or so, the PC version of God of War is nothing short of visual perfection, which isn’t surprising considering how it was originally released. No details were left out, the game doesn’t look aged one bit, in fact, it has been improved considerably thanks to the powerful PC hardware driving it. You’ll notice the frame rate has been upped (and unlocked), the texture details on Kratos and crew have been far more detailed than in past releases, and the smaller details, such as environment, reflections (ray tracing!), lighting (good gravy, the lighting is breathtaking) and, as silly as it sounds, breath (depending on location) have been enhanced quite a bit. There is nothing cooler than watching breath come out of Jörmungandr’s (the world serpent) nostrils to add some shiny detail to the visuals. With this release, you also get the ability to do a 21:9 ratio, which is capturing that cinematic quality that most PC gamers strive for from a game. There is also customizable control support and Dualshock/DualSense support (I found out that latter from the get-go). Anyway, the game is unrivaled visually, and otherwise, and what’s funny is that by upping the visuals, you prop up the story on believability and intensity. It all works hand in hand and amazingly well.
What floored me a little at the get-go is how ‘finished’ the game appears to be on PC, especially with the above improvements. For context, I’m a huge Horizon Zero Dawn fan. I can’t begin to express how wonderful that game was in 2017 (should have been GOTY) and how many times I have completed that game (probably around five). It had a sprawling world back in 2017 and almost an endless draw distance in its visual depth. Getting into the world of Aloy and believing the story through visuals is how you make a game mean something to the player. Visually, it was a spectacular game. Then it hit PC in August of 2020 and my opinion dipped considerably.
Out of the gate, it was a glitchy experience, and running it on a 1080Ti card wasn’t enough apparently. There were stuttering graphics, enormous slowdown when too many people were on screen at once, and general pops/glitches throughout the adventure. A few months after its release, 505 cleaned up all the glitches of the PC port and it turned out to be a wonderful game, but that initial first month was just very rough. I’m telling you this because we received God of War two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, it didn’t have a single problem and still doesn’t, even after an initial update. What you’re getting from this game is a solid experience that looks better than the most recent console version and it works better than most AAA titles heading to PC. It isn’t silly to say that this is the best version of the game on the market, which is something that should be commended. In the world of glitches out of the gate gaming, it was nice to see a finished and polished product that delivered right from the get-go. The game never crashed on me once. NOT ONCE. It’s a miracle considering the details and beauty of the port.
To recap, you get better graphics, a very stable ‘out-of-the-gate’ release, and it’s a dream come true with delivery on PC.
For those of you who never played this game
While I don’t fully comprehend why a PC person wouldn’t want to own a console in addition to their elitist machine, I get that it happens. For a person like me who has never owned a PC of this power before, I get why you wouldn’t want to go backward in terms of quality and availability. That said, if you missed out on God of War in 2018, then by golly you’re in for a treat with the PC release of this game.
Assuming you have never experienced the God of War saga before, let me do a short recap. The first four God of War games were essentially the same with regard to character delivery:
– Angry Kratos
– Yelling a lot
– Brutally killing Gods and people.
– Bosses are generally larger than life characters.
That about sums up the first four games, though the stories did drive them all (three was the angriest, but also one of the more beautiful pieces in the saga). The reasoning behind those three points is just a jaded Kratos who wants and deserves better. He hates the way Gods are and wants to take down the system from the inside out, even if that means destroying himself. If you never played those games, then you need to purchase a PlayStation 4, get the collection, and have a good time with non-stop action that would make Michael Bay blush.
The 2018 God of War took a very different approach to this character. Kratos is an older, more grizzled, and grounded God. The story starts off with the death of his wife and repairing a clearly broken relationship with his son, Atreus, who is unaware of his father’s deity status. The entire adventure is built around the idea that Kratos must come to terms with being a parent and can no longer be the Kratos that he was in the previous installments of the game. Atreus must come to terms that his mother is no longer in the picture and that he must build a relationship with his father, which he has assumed to have avoided during his 10+ years on Midgard. The journey both must take is to deliver the ashes of their fallen wife/mother to the top of a mountain in Jotunheim, the land of the giants, and scatter them as a last wish. While I would love to tell you the story is something born of an 80s film plot, it is more emotional, impactful, and dangerous than one might expect, especially when Thor/Odin get involved and are hellbent on removing Kratos from Midgard, as they feel threatened by him.
Long story short, helluva story. What’s remarkable is that the devs at Santa Monica Studio, led by Cory Barlog, took a chance with this story, and jumped away from the blueprint that made the previous four successful. I can’t tell you how risky that is to do, as companies like Activision will contest that going away from a successful plan can land you with a title that doesn’t make accountants happy. That said, the accountants at Santa Monica are very happy. The gamble with making this father/son journey happen not only panned out, but it was far more fun than the previous games because of the story. It was tragic too. Sad moments, but nonetheless an incredible journey.
If you have never experienced this game because you’re a PC owner then the story will more than likely connect with you hard. The acting and direction of the story help to sell the entire experience. The story is vital when you’re wanting to make a memorable game, which is what Santa Monica did with God of War (2018).
Mechanics based on story
The joy of a good story and off-the-beaten-path pairings is what type of mechanics come from them. Most people don’t realize that when you build a video game story, you’re building mechanics that complement the said story. It Takes Two is a good example of this, as you’re required to work as a divorcing couple to help with your struggling child, thus a two-player co-op game is born that is filled full of puzzles. Stories usually go together with mechanics. It’s a beautiful marriage. Pun intended.
God of War works the same way. It takes what the story gives it and creates new mechanics from that design. The biggest is how Kratos and his son Atreus interact during the game. Atreus isn’t simply an NPC, rather he works alongside his father and will help to take down bad guys when the player calls for it (using the X button or Square – whatever controller you prefer – and I do recommend a controller for this game). What’s remarkable about Atreus, is that he can be controlled even when the situation for Kratos turns for the worst. For example, if Kratos gets caught up in animation where an enemy jumps on his back, you can still press Atreus’ action button and get him to do damage even during mid-animation of Kratos. And yes, it still damages the enemies. That is a lot of good freedom to control a secondary character during a fight. Atreus helped more than he hindered, which is the point of his existence during action sequences. He never gets in the way of the entertainment. Anyway, you can get Atreus to double-up on damage with Kratos when fighting enemies. The pair doesn’t complicate the game, rather it simplifies the fighting and makes it more enjoyable. What’s even better is that the dialogue between Kratos and Atreus happens at random during battle, which makes it feel like they’re a team and adds to the mechanics. It’s a beautiful balance between two characters that should be a burden to each other control-wise but end up being a fantastic way of playing a game and enhancing a journey.
It’s neat to see how they work out together. It works so well.
Backend and frontend
What makes God of War (2018) shine when compared to its previous brethren is the backend system. Barlog’s team made an intricate backend that will motivate you to keep playing the game. You can unlock and upgrade armor/weapons. You can go explore the GoW world and discover pieces and parts to make new and better armor/weapons. You can find and place stones in armor and weapon to upgrade them. You can upgrade character attributes, weapon attributes, armor attributes, and max out Kratos and Atreus. The backend skills tree is wonderfully complicated in a good way and makes this far more than a simple action game. A shallower version of this system is in the previous four games, but the system in the 2018 God of War is completely spec’d out so that you will be motivated to continue playing the game, even after it is wrapped. There is a lot to do on the backend of the game, which makes it more delightfully fun.
Taking a page from Horizon Zero Dawn, once you beat this game you can go back and replay it on a New Game + mode, which allows you to keep all your current gear and character leveling. If you have never used this option before, it’s so much fun and makes the second go-around with the game a lot less stress-inducing, especially during boss fights.
If you don’t feel like starting over, the game also allows you to continue playing and exploring the world and its unseen baddies after the story is completed. There are an additional 50+ hours waiting for you after the game is complete (took me about 20-25 hours to finish this time around). This includes hunting down and defeating incredibly difficult Valkyries that are hidden around Midgard. There are also additional bosses and baddies to fight outside of the main story, as well as perfectionist goals to achieve, such as hunting down and killing all of Odin’s ravens in the game. There is a lot of content after the game and content that can only improve if you achieve it all and go back to the New Game + mode.
This game has some legs thanks to its design of it. Nothing will feel like a chore, and nothing will feel boring.
Anyway, let’s wrap this up.
Final Thoughts
God of War is still one of the most entertaining, engaging, and impactful games to come out of Santa Monica Studio. The story is meaningful and emotional, the mechanics are thoughtful and entertaining, and the presentation on the PC is simply unrivaled. This is still a treat after nearly four years.
