One of the hardest things to do when creating a sequel to award-winning media is to give a justification on why you continued the story. Sony Santa Monica finds themselves in that exact position with the release of God of War: Ragnarök. What they were able to pull off was a good sequel with fantastic story moments, character performances, and great visuals that was bogged down with lackluster side content and pacing issues for the main story. Ragnarök on its own is a good game but buckles under pressure with the looming shadow of the God of War reboot from 2018.
Trying to keep it as spoiler free as I can, Ragnarök takes place a few years after the end of God of War (2018). Kratos has been training Atreus more after learning of his identity in the Giants prophecy as Loki, who is supposed to play a huge part in the aforementioned Ragnarök. What is happening to the world when the game opens up is called Fimbulwinter, which is Ragnarok’s precursor and changes each of the realms in different ways, like Midgard being in a constant blizzard. Atreus immediately shows that he has grown up, with great callbacks to the hunting scene from the start of the first game. The game does not take its time to get started, pretty much picking up from the “secret” ending that ended 2018 with Thor visiting Kratos’ home and the introduction of Odin. What happens after that is a jaunt through multiple realms, looking to free the Norse God of War Tyr, trying to avoid former friends turned adversaries, and a boy trying to prove to his father that he can be trusted while learning more about himself.
While I think the overall story of Ragnarök is well done, it is obvious from the beginning that the story is not as tightly told as its predecessor. There were multiple times during story missions that I felt time drag, like I had been on this quest for too long, which is something I never felt from the first game. By the time I finished the game I had clocked about 33 hours, and that is with me skipping a lot of the fetch style quests and really mainlining the story for the last 5-6 hours. One of the examples of a section that was paced out way to long was going to Alfheim with Tyr, by the time I was done with that section I put off side quests in that area because I felt I had overstayed my welcome.
What makes the pacing issues easier to swallow are the fantastic character performances that this game puts at front and center. This game continues the previous games commitment to the one shot (there are no cuts between cutscenes and gameplay) though there are still the obvious hiding spots for the loading screens with the characters sliding through the rock entrance ways as the prime example. I cannot give enough praise to the voice actors of this game enough, with Christopher Judge (Kratos) being the shining star. The performance he gives, from the low growl when discussing frustrating plans at Sindri’s dinner table, to the panic that he is able to portray when he gets worried about what decisions Atreus is making while trying to find himself. You are able to feel his growth and change throughout the game. Christopher Judge has completely made Kratos his own, to the point that I don’t think anyone else can ever voice the character.
The rest of the voice cast performances are equally as good. Sunny Suljic playing Atreus does a memorable job showing how much he has grown in the years between games, going from small child to a teenager who likes to talk back. You really hear the struggle in his voice between wanting to follow his father and wanting to learn more about his destiny. Angrboda (Laya DeLeon Hayes) provides great contrast to Atreus on his journey. Her interactions with Atreus provide his character more unique and different types of conversations then the ones he has with the adult characters. I would also be remiss to not point out both Thor (Ryan Hurst) and Odin (Richard Schiff) and how fantastic their portrayals of the classic Norse gods are. They were able to make these two characters that already have popular likenesses because of Marvel completely their own. Alongside the amazing voice performances, the motion capture paired together with it makes this one of the best acted games I have ever played. I also need to mention the performances of Brok (Robert Craighead) and Sindri (Adam J. Harrington), who return as your trusty blacksmiths. They're relationship has more of a deeper focus this time around and the game is much better for it, and provides one of the best and shocking moments in a video game this year. It really felt like Sony Santa Monica put the effort to bolster the supporting cast and that effort is prevalent most in the blacksmithing brothers.
While the character performances improved from the first game, I cannot say the same thing about Ragnarök’s gameplay. One of my favorite things about the 2018 reboot was how different the combat felt from the original trilogy, it felt methodical and deliberate not just pressing buttons to make combos happen. The framework of that is still here but something felt off about it early on and continued through most of the game. Some of it has to do with the onboarding through the beginning parts of the game, it throws a lot at you between skill trees for each weapon, rage abilities, shield parrying but I feel does not give you a good starting foundation to build up understanding the systems.
While God of War (2018) has a similar XP and RPG system, Ragnarök feels like it added just a bit too much and it has thrown off the simple balance that the first game perfected. This game is also hurt by lack of enemy variety, especially in the early stages. Fighting the same enemies just with elemental swaps over and over again while using the same moves because I have found a strategy that works. The game does not incentivize you to step out of the box to try new things, just gives off the feeling of being stuck in an uninteresting loop. In the second half of the game, you get introduced to a new gameplay mechanic that I do think breathes new life into the combat, but does not change the root of the problems I have with how the gameplay functions.
Overall, I still enjoyed my time playing God of War: Ragnarök and think it is a good game that if you are lucky enough to own a PlayStation 5 should be at the top of your list to play. None of the complaints I have are enough to ruin what has been an incredible jaunt through Norse mythology with a character who went from one of the worst protagonists in video games to one of the best. The journey that Kratos and Atreus go on this game both physically and spiritually is a high point for storytelling in the industry. Throw in all of the amazing performances by the large supporting cast, and you have one of the best acted games to be made. It is just hard to make a sequel to one of the best games to come out during a console generation, and Ragnarök just misses the mark enough in other areas to not have me clamoring to go back to it now that the main journey is over. It is a good sequel that could have been a great sequel, but one that should still be played.
