{"id":539920,"date":"2024-10-07T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T10:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ragequit.gr\/?p=539920"},"modified":"2024-10-07T16:50:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T14:50:49","slug":"god-of-war-ragnarok-pc-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ragequit.gr\/en\/reviews\/item\/god-of-war-ragnarok-pc-review\/","title":{"rendered":"GOD OF WAR: RAGNAROK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it's quite challenging to accurately reflect the emotions that have surfaced from an intense experience. Just like God of War<\/a> which came to the PC platform in early 2022, Ragnarok is a sequel that transcends the confines of videogames. At the time I began by describing the game as an \"experience\", sort of confessing parallels I saw in the interaction between Kratos and his son, Atreus, and myself. Besides, it is accepted that the temporal coincidence of the participant's interaction with a Work-of-art always depends on and is enriched according to the experiences they have acquired over time. The natural consequence is that we see with a \"different perspective\" during the second passage of a book\/film not because we know what will happen but because we ourselves have changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above seems like a completely out-of-place introduction, let alone for a review of God of War: Ragnarok, the sequel that's been out on PlayStation for two years now. However, Ragnarok is more of a broader study that adopts every tool available to the medium to be able to deliver its story. After much needed contemplation and having dropped the credits for a few days now, my final opinion is that the result is simply riveting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Riveting on all accounts.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What Santa Monica Studio has once again achieved is a benchmark for how to build your story, intensify all your gameplay elements through it and harness them to the fullest extent so that they are an organic part of the narrative. Having finished God of War, the player is left with a bittersweet taste and an admittedly big cliffhanger, given the Giants' prophecy of Ragnarok and Kratos' fate. Our greatest ally, Freya, has vowed to kill us despite our great bonding and the help we received throughout the course of events in the previous installment of the series. Meanwhile, for very specific reasons, GoW's fiction has placed Odin, patriarch of the gods of Asgard, in the position that our tradition wants Loki to be in. He is both the main antagonist and the driving force behind all developments in the Norse pantheon of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how we start the adventure, as we have brought the Long Winter (Fimbulwinter) that foreshadows the coming of Ragnarok. We have managed to survive several years after the events leading up to Baldur's death and Atreus is now a teenager. Kratos' relationship with Atreus has found a balance, but the latter's teenage angst is something that tests his father. This conflict between the settled adult and the adventure-hungry teenager is a lever for what the player will witness as a participant in the story. Add in a fairly expected visit from Thor, whose sons we killed in the first part, and Odin, and the mix is quite explosive. Having described just the first half hour of the total 60 hours it will take to see 100% of the main game (20 if you devote yourself exclusively to the main story), I don't want to dwell too much on describing the plot of Ragnarok because it's fitting that everyone should experience it without any suspicion. Instead, I will focus on three key elements that I think are worth mentioning: the narrative pillars (i.e. the concept), the narrative approach itself, and the technical implementation (the narrative craft) as I perceived them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The very strong - succinct - moments are not missing here either.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The main idea that Ragnarok deals with, to a greater extent than its predecessor, is loss and how you can overcome it. This pillar takes different forms and expressions depending on the hero\/antihero\/antagonist. Departing from the purely binary father-son relationship in the Kratos-Atreus characters, GoW:R studies different relationships of loss and how each tries to move forward. For instance, in the case of Kratos we see a parent trying to realize that the time is coming when Atreus will not be fully dependent on him, but will spread his own wings soon. In other cases, like Thor's, it's how he can process the loss of his sons and whether he himself is responsible for the path they followed. From this thematic pillar, other narrative threads emerge, such as how much we are victims of our own nature and whether it is determined by circumstance (perhaps winking at one of history's top RPGs<\/a>), what we ultimately do out of necessity or because we want to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Faye
Faye still acts as a compass providing guidance to Kratos at moments of need.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To do this, Ragnarok adopts a fairly brave narrative approach, the second element we're looking at. Over the course of the story's progression, there are several moments where we take exclusive control of Atreus, who acquires different and new relationships that define him, unbeknownst of course to his father. Most importantly of all, he now gains his own self-determination and agency with all the implications that entails - of which there are many. So the player will even be able to visit Asgard itself and commune with the gods there, as a fulfillment of the prophecy that existed in the game world. I have to admit that as these sections progressed, I appreciated that they were lengthy and as a result, I found them tedious as they cut off too much of the pace and content from what I thought I wanted to take in. After the actual - hidden - ending, I settled that these \"lengthy\" sections were required to give the necessary time and space for secondary characters to develop and establish the relationships necessary for plot development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the most powerful moments of the first game, the struggle of giving in or letting go is intense.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And this is where the third element of the plot comes in, which is the technical implementation on top of the narrative. It's very rare to be a spectator to a story regardless of the medium and have as much economy as there is in Ragnarok. With no silly exposition, every aspect of the world and the development of the characters' drama unfolds organically. I struggle immensely to recall another game that adopts the principle of \"Chekhov's gun<\/a>\" as absolutely as GoW:R. The succinct dialogue - soul balm, the protagonists' choice of every word, the timing of the twists and turns, the references to the previous part of the bilogy, the staggered synthesis of all these elements create an unsurpassed effect. The comparison with 2018's God of War is unfair in that the former was unprecedented, but Ragnarok manages to rise to the occasion by presenting memorable moments of a different nature. The punchline is a kick to the gut which starts completely innocently in the middle or so of the story and builds incrementally until the end when it is delivered...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
“… stroke true indeed, brother…”<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The above may read a bit excessive for an action game, but it's a testament to how high Santa Monica Studio has set the bar for storytelling. This is aided by Ragnarok's overall structure, which doesn't cut the player off from the larger context so they decide to side-track for side quests. In fact, it's the completion of the main story segments that unlocks new areas available to explore which is enriched as Kratos interacts with the secondary characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Sometimes silence has the greatest impact.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like its predecessor, the gameplay systems are organically tied together. Ragnarok again follows a rock-paper-scissors logic in its battle design, with certain enemies being vulnerable to certain weapons. Their moveset moves are classified into different categories depending on the counter or lack thereof Kratos has, while skill trees despite a respectable arsenal of skills push for quick weapon switching for maximum effectiveness. That's not to say that if we decide to adopt one style of play we're doomed. Indeed, at least in the central plot progression the game is quite forgiving, providing plenty of room for the player to experiment and possibly make mistakes. The bosses are fairly straightforward, despite having certain gimmicks, as the main goal seems to have been to see the end titles without any major obstacles. For those who want challenges, the game provides the completely optional Berserker battles (and a final hidden boss) that will put even the most experienced players to the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
After the end of the main game, ready to cross Valhalla.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I admit that at the beginning of the game I felt very rusty, not being able to respond properly during the battles and especially their pace, so I lost rather easily. Playing the Valhalla DLC now, I realize how much the game engages you and harmonizes with the rhythm by following a linear progression. For the Valhalla DLC in particular, we essentially have the entire design as seen in Hades<\/a> superimposed on God of War. Through constant battles, the next chapter of the story unfolds, further exploring the pathos of Kratos himself, who sometimes played a minor role in the main plot of Ragnarok. This roguelite approach works seamlessly and is a natural extension of the game's core design that makes the grind (as seen in GoW) much more bearable. To be specific, just before the ending we unlock an entire completely optional area that ties each element of\/quest to gaining resources to improve our equipment. The whole process is enriched with descriptions and ties in with the rest of the game (even the start itself) without making the grind (as we saw in e.g. the Nilfheim maze) a dull affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Starting the adventure away from the harsh Midgard winter.<\/mark><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I deliberately chose not to refer to the purely technical part (visual) nor to Sony's business practices. For the former, I'll let the images speak for themselves: the in-house engine gives the visuals a run for their money with the action taking place in a variety of environments (swamps, polar deserts, Scandinavian spring landscapes). The soundtrack, supervised by Bear McCreary, continues to dress every scene and balances between emotion and action where needed. On the latter point, words are superfluous... After Sony's huge blunder of forcing PSN on Helldivers 2<\/a>, which led to both an outcry from the public and the wider ditching of the game, the company seemingly folded but essentially made a PR move. The result of all these events is that Sony has made it a requirement for players to sign up for PSN, resulting in a hard region lock on all of its PC games. I do not see this as a reason to bash a real gem for this practice, but I will refer Sony's C-suite to the lessons\/lessons Epic is taking with EGS in terms of tactical consumer attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I choose to skip, therefore, the last - dodgy- part that has nothing to do directly with the pure essence of the game, since it is up to the discretion of each person to vote with their wallet. God of War: Ragnarok improved on its predecessor's formula in all areas. Even the seemingly numerous systems that the game features help to give the player a plethora of options on how to take part in this journey to the end of the world. And believe me, it's a journey you want to take and it will reward you for every minute of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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