God Of War Ragnarok PC Review

Put aside your Marvel notion of Thor and Odin and step into the gritty darkness of Norse mythology… then fight Thor! No seriously… you get to fight Thor!

My last experience with God Of War I think was a demo version of one of the earlier games on… I don’t even remember which Playstation. I remember enjoying it but never got around to really joining the series. When the opportunity to have a look at God of War Ragnarok on PC came up… I was keen to see what the series looked like now and to really dig into the lore and I’m glad I did!

So a couple of quick notes before we get into the main details. God of War Ragnarok does require you have a Playstation account and will ask you to either log in or set one up when you first start. This might be a little annoying but unlike other games that have a separate login style setup… that first linking the game to your playstation account is about all you will have to do… subsequent loadings are seamless. The other note is about the audio… I found that my desktop sound had to be turned up quite a bit (far more than any other game or app) and I did have to fiddle with the voice settings a bit. The game does give you a number of options to adjust your volume and audio playback including options to enhance the clarity of the voice which is great. It should also be noted that on headphones I had no issue… so it may be an issue with my desktop sound setup (yes it is an antiquated DTT2200 but it still generally does the job).

So… you get to fight Thor! You can have a quick catch up before diving into the new game (which is a nice option for those of us who haven’t been keeping up)… once you do start though you will soon find yourself having a chat with Odin and Thor about your intentions and what they suggest you should do (or not do as the case may be)… then you end up having a fight with Thor, Mjolnir included. It’s not a fight to the death but you get the very strong sense that it was a much needed letting off of steam for Thor (and possibly a good shaking of the rust for Kratos).

That’s kind of the gist of the game in a quick sense… you make your way through different worlds, fighting all manner of enemies from small bugs to dark elves all the way up to Norse Gods. Perhaps the most important thing is that it all feels quite “normal”… that being quite a relevant term here, I mean you are a Spartan warrior with a talking head for company (and sage advice) and a son with a sense of adventure. The combat is fun and the merciful options range from story mode (which isn’t simply hit and they die) to what is likely best left to players trying to forge their own myths and legends.

The story itself is fantastic! For anyone who loves mythology it’s a pure joy to be able to play amongst the characters of legend, even if you aren’t particularly into mythology… the characters are larger than life and the drama between them is compelling on many levels. It really does feel like playing a movie at times with stunning visuals (some excellent “camera” moves) and brilliant voice acting. A favourite line early on comes when Atreus asks his father, Kratos if he is angry, Kratos responds “no” to which Atreus replies “tell your voice that”.

This is everything I wanted God of War to be and more… I never got the feeling this was “simply a Playstation port” it felt very comfortable to play and the story is every bit as engrossing as I was hoping it would be.

Final Thoughts:

With all the video game movies being made these days (some good some bad)… it is not surprising that God Of War is joining their ranks. The best thing is whether the movie is a success or not… you can play God Of War Ragnarok and feel like you are playing a movie right now! If you’ve enjoyed the previous games or want to see what it’s all about… grab a copy. It’s a brilliant game on many levels and there’s plenty of lore to get caught up in. Now if you’ll excuse me… I believe I have a rematch with a certain God of Lightning!