God of War Ragnarok

Does this game lived up to the hype.

Game no: 488
Genre: Action 
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2022

Nothing has changed. Everything is the same yet different. Years have passed since the first game and now the main characters are older and wiser. Old friends becomes enemies and there are new friends on the horizon. You start off where it left off from the first game. Everything is freezing and Ragnarok is approaching. Kratos has his motivation to avoid confrontation while Atreus wants to seek answers in stopping Ragnarok. Well that's the beginning of the game in a nutshell. If you love the first story you are going to love the second one.  

What is different from the first game is that this
time a lot of things have been streamline for the better and yet some things remain the same. The map is still confusing to understand. Upgrade points still require a lot of resources but this time you don't need to change your armor every time but you can upgrade it until the max level (provided if you have enough resources) Kratos has a new weapon. But the biggest change to this game is that now you can control Atreus in different parts of the story. The single camera view from the first game return means that you seamlessly transition into a different character without you noticing it. Kratos still controls good. His rage now can double as a healing bar. Atreus is much faster and has better long range since he has a bow. The Atreus sections are more mellow since he can only handle a certain type of enemies. Other things that change is you companion that follows you through your adventures change for each act of the story. They still control with one press of a button but now you can have a different buddy to converse with.

What I liked about this game is that the story is more epic. There are also moments of somber and seriousness. But the story didn't grip me as much as the first game. I think is because we know that this is the end. We know where the characters are going. It does manage to surprise you from time to time but overall the story is an epic adventure. Gameplay is fun and also the puzzles are also challenging to solve. I didn't mind at all Mimir talking on how to solve it because I wanted to advance the story. The thing I didn't like is probably the map. Some of the characters as well didn't have closure for me which really sucks. And the ending. As much as I love where it went I just didn't like how it ended.

Overall God of War Ragnarok lives up to what Sony Santa Monica set to do. The game is long with the main story spanning close to 20 hours. Plus the side missions which I did a couple I was looking at a good 30-40 hours of gameplay. But I wanted it too end because it was too long and I was getting to restless in wanting to know what has happen. After finishing the game I was happy that I get to experience something that I don't think I get to see again. In the end this is going to be my number 1 game of the year. A total S-Rank for me.