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God of War Ragnarökwas easily one of my most anticipated recent games because of how near-perfect the previous 2018 game was. 2018’sGod of Warwas action-packed, full of intriguing lore and epic boss battles, it completely revamped and upgraded Kratos as a character, and promised huge revelations in the sequel. However, the high hype levels blinded us from realizing thatRagnarökbarely does anything with all of the awesome foreshadowing that the first game set up.
Before we begin dissectingGod of War Ragnarökand all of its flaws, this is a potential spoiler warning! Without further ado, let’s see whyRagnarökis not a worthy sequel to 2018’sGod of War.
Related:Original Director Forced ‘God of War Ragnarök’ to Kick Atreus Out Before Stepping Down: “The kid’s gotta leave”
The Generic Enemy Design in God of War Ragnarök
During the first 30 minutes,God of War Ragnarökis at its most epic. You get stalked and preyed upon by a vengeful Freya; you fight your son, Atreus, in his bear form; and you barely escape death during an epic encounter with Thor. As a result, it’s just pure adrenaline rushing through your veins as you witness such grand action sequences in such a short amount of time.
That first half hour builds the player’s expectations to unmatched levels, and this is where the problem arises. As soon as you visit the dwarven realm of Svartalfheim, you are introduced to new non-boss enemies, and I just call them gooey creatures because I genuinely can’t remember what they were even named in the lore.
Afterwards, as the game progresses and you encounter more enemies throughout the accessible realms, you start to get the feeling that their only purpose of existence is to fill in the gaps between the bigger moments ofGod of War Ragnarök. It’s just more of the same wherever you go, albeit with a few variations, such as maybe the next gooey creature that you come across explodes! Aside from that, the generic variety of common enemies continues as the annoying witches, one-eyed flying weirdos, and trolls from the 2018 game make their comebacks.
Related:God of War Ragnarok Script Planned to Kill Kratos at the Hands of Thor, Would’ve Returned Only After Massive 20 Year Timeskip: “He would get pulled out of Hell by Atreus”
The Annoyingly Tiresome Puzzles
The only thing worse than the generic enemies inGod of War Ragnarökis its repetitive and tiresome puzzle design. Kratos throws his axe to freeze water, Freya creates unoptimized magical chains with her arrows, and you prompt your sidekick to complete a simple step by pressing a button. Of course, the side characters’ constant hints about what Kratos should be doing further break the immersion.
“Maybe I can help, Kratos,” says Freya as she just stands there waiting for you to prompt her to use her arrows. Furthermore, the dynamics of the puzzles sometimes make absolutely no sense. For example, during a section in which Kratos and Freya are on yet another lame random quest/date (just get a room already), barrels need to be destroyed in order forGod of War Ragnarökto progress.
For some reason, Kratos is able to demolish some barrels but is completely powerless against others. The puzzles are also just present to further drag out the playtime of the game, sometimes even making you forget what the actual objective of the mission is.
Related:Despite God of War Ragnarok Being Review-Bombed, Kratos Actor Christopher Judge Wins ‘Best Performance Award’ at The Game Awards 2022
God of War Ragnarök: A Build Up That Never Pays Off
God of WarPS4’s main job was to lay the foundations of this new world and build up towards something truly grand, which it did effortlessly.God of War Ragnarökshould’ve been the anticipated payoff that was continuously foreshadowed in the last game. Unfortunately, it keeps beating around the bush and very rarely gets to the point.
Sure, there are moments of greatness sprinkled here and there, but the majority of what you do inGod of War Ragnarökbarely moves the story forward. In fact, it mostly feels like the second part of a potential trilogy because of how slowly it crawls towards the main endgame. And even when we reach those points, they feel unearned and never truly live up to the hype, not unlike the game itself.
The titular world-ending event ofGod of War Ragnarökshould’ve been one of the most epic moments in gaming history. Sadly, it keeps building up, gets distracted by meaningless filler content, tries to build up again, and repeats. It is one of the most disappointing gaming sequels I have recently played.
What did you like or not like aboutGod of War Ragnarök? Let us know in the comments!
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Osama Farooq
Senior Gaming Content Editor / Critic
Articles Published :356
Ever since Osama was gifted the glorious PS2 more than two decades back, video games have formed a major part of his life, ranging from spending hours playing through every single Dragon Ball game he could find to witnessing the gaming industry evolve into something extraordinary in modern times. Building his collection of PlayStation consoles throughout the years all the way up until PS5, he prefers single-player experiences like The Last of Us and Persona, while also letting off steam on a daily basis with casual EA Sports FC matches. But the current rise in online multiplayer shooters will never really appeal to his old-school self.
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