5/5 ★ – PaisanSensei's review of God of War: Ragnarök.

After 2018’s return of the franchise, Ragnarok had a tremendous task of following a technical marvel, eclipsed maybe only by its earnest narrative that explored a very different side of the God of War. And it seemed as if that story had just really sunk in for many before Ragnarok was announced to the public as being in development. After such a triumphant story, what journey would await this father and son as they braved the coming of Ragnarok? Where as the journey of the previous game was based primarily around Kratos coming to terms with being the primary caregiver to a young Atreus, this story catapults Atreus into a greater role within the central narrative. This is a story about a boy becoming a young man; a coming of age story where Atreus desperately is trying to find out who he is and more importantly, deciding who he wants to be. On the other hand, Kratos is faced with the realization that his young son has become a young man in a very dangerous and uncertain world. And as anticipated, the writing is absolutely brilliant; Kratos has to navigate his relationship with this much more complex person whom he has largely raised alone into some of their most formative years. This is another age old story - where a parent has to learn their place in their the life of their child, when they are no long a child but an adult who wants to make their own decisions. Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic are wonderful, providing tremendous nuance in their performances, worthy of the critical acclaim. And you could say that about really the entire cast - I can not wax lyrical enough about how carefully composed the roles of the actors are and they all truly deserve recognition for their efforts. There are so many different facets to this story that make every decision taken by the characters (whether major or supporting) have weight. Considering that they are facing down a fated apocalyptic event, if their struggles or actions felt trivial, it would certainly take away from the overall feeling of totality that comes with the territory of the game title. Narrative and story beats aside, why attempt to fix something that isn’t broken? GoW 2018 was not only a technical marvel (and visual feast), but also played spectacularly. Combat felt fluid and empowering, but was balanced well with the game’s difficulty and strategy pertaining to how to deal with certain enemies. And this is exactly how Ragnarok proceeds - with some streamlining and retooling of certain “perks” and abilities, there are a myriad of ways to engage enemies that can be tailor fit to your preferences, while also remaining true to the playable characters. The level designs are intriguing and make every realm feel unique and one brimming with its own distinct history. I didn’t feel like I HAD to go back and 100% the game to get my full value out of it - I willingly did it at my leisure due in part to this level of immersion. I wanted to squeeze every morsel of lore and understanding of these worlds just as I did with the previous game. And as I expected it would - it delivered. The Sony Santa Monica team had a leviathan sized task ahead of it the minute that its predecessor was released to levels of critical acclaim unseen before for the franchise. They would have to create a sequel that would provide just as much empowerment, wonder, and emotional impact as its predecessor at the very least. And to top it all off, they had to do it in the midst of a global pandemic with which the world hadn’t seen the likes of in a hundred years. How well this game succeeds in all of its aspects are a testament to the expertise of the team(s), actors, and crew(s) that made it all come together to create yet another must-play experience in the world of AAA gaming.