Norse mythology comes alive

God of War Ragnarök was released on November 9, 2022. The game is loosely based on Norse Mythology. It follows the previous God of War, which ended with the antagonist Baldur getting killed by Kratos in an attempt to save Freya. Then this ends with Freya declaring her revenge on him, as she said she would give her life for him, and was outraged that he took this chance away from her.

I will include lots of spoilers, so beware! This is a long game so I have a lot to say about every aspect of it!

I really enjoy and appreciate how this story incorporates more of Kratos’s son Atreus’s story. This boy tagged along during the first game and Kratos taught him many things, the main one is “close your heart.” Kratos, as the God of War, taught his son that you must not indulge in people’s suffering. This slowly changes throughout the story

Storyline Summarized:

The start of Ragnarök

Years later, Artreus and Kratos are living a fairly normal life (besides Freya’s keenness on revenge), until Odin and Thor come to propose a deal of mutual peace. As long as Kratos does not interfere with his plans, Odin promises that he won’t interfere with theirs. Kratos declines this offer, and then Odin separates Atreus and Kratos. Thor and Kratos fight, where the fight ends with Kratos badly wounded and Thor leaving him to die. His friends Brock and Sindri, however, assist him.

After some time, he returns home to the house, worried about Atreus to learn that he is okay, but has been researching the prophecy. Odin had invited him to Asgard.

Later on, they are given instructions to find Tyr. A man who was kidnapped and tortured by Odin. They go to the realm, and find him delirious and out of shape, very mentally not well. They take him home and think about their plan. For a long time Tyr tries to convince Artreus that maybe he is the “champion” of Jotnar, which irritates Kratos.

Then Freya realizes her hate for Odin is stronger than her feelings of revenge and decides to team up with him.

The Gods are telling us…what?

Then Atreus meets another giant, and learns that his father is going to die in the prophecy. He goes home, and then contemplates becoming a spy to stop Odin from killing his father. He eventually gives in and goes to Asgard.

At Asgard he meets another antagonist named Heimdall, who does not trust Atreus, and plans to kill him and every single one of his family. As Atreus is on his journey, he collects pieces of a mask from Odin. The all-father is using him, as Loki, in the prophecy and allowing him to collect these pieces for him.

Kratos consults the fates of Norse mythology, where he learns that he is going to die, and Artreus will serve Odin. Kratos, worried and scared, makes a plan to go after Heimdall to stop the prophecy. Then after much labor (and an incredibly epic fight filled with amazing moments), Kratos kills Heimdall and returns with the Gjallarhorn, which allows the Ragnarök to happen.

Atreus returns home to tell everyone about Odin’s mask, and that he plans on going back to Asgard to learn more information. Kratos is extremely reluctant to let him leave, because he loves him and wants him to be well, but as a father chooses to let him go.

Who is Tyr?

Atreus bonds with Odin’s son, Thor, until he collects all the pieces of the mask and Sif warns him of his betrayal. She tells him of Kratos killing Heimdall and Thor is immediately outraged, but before Thor can react, he returns home with a gadget made by Sindri.

Tyr reveals that he has a way to Asgard, and has been keeping it from them. Suspicious, because he never mentioned this before when they were trying to find Atreus, Brok confronts him as he tries to go to another room with the mask. Then, shockingly, Tyr stabs Brok, and is revealed to be Odin the entire time. He escapes and declares war on the God of War. Sindri is then angry at Atreus for Brock’s death, and ends his friendship with Atreus and the two are off on their own to grieve.

Freya and Kratos’s plan

Atreus wants to confront his mistakes instead of running away from them so they hatch a plan for the realms to fight against Asgard. Freya blows Heimdall’s horn, and it grants the realms complete access to fight against them.

Kratos fights Asgard’s forces who are trying to sever the link, and meanwhile Atreus is faced with a fuming Thrud and Thor. They are angry that he lied to him and he was a spy the whole time. But the others of Odin’s family convince them of his innocence, and that Odin was the one to blame for tearing the family apart with his selfish ways.

Odin arrives at the scene, and demands Thor to kill Atreus. Thor, conflicted, thinks about it, and his family and drops his hammer, refusing to fight. Doing this, Odin kills his own son for not obeying him, and once his family is outraged from Thor’s death, he thrusts them away from the fight.

The last fight

Kratos, Atreus and Kratos face off against the father in a tough battle. Once he is beaten for a while, Atreus gets the mask, and Odin tries to convince him to look through it. Doing so, would give him the secrets of death and the universe. Kratos doesn’t try to stop Atreus, and allows him to do what he deems fits. Before thinking about it, Atreus tears the mask in half, allowing it to get sucked into the crack in time forever. Atreus takes the soul marble from the prophecy of Loki, (given by the other giant) and sucks Odin’s soul into it. They decide what to do with the marble, and contemplate if they should kill him. But before they can decide, an angry Sindri appears and smashes his soul into pieces.

My overall thoughts:

Main character relationships

The relationships between these characters are realistic, rough, and heartbreaking. There is anger, love, regret, sympathy, and disdain. They establish real connections, between death, and despise and hatred for those who have taken from them. Every emotion is raw, real, and you can feel it in your blood as you are watching the story break out. These connections are what make the game so special.

Kratos and Atreus

The way the father and son relationship develops is my absolute favorite part of the game and got me very emotional at times. Kratos loves his son, and gets angry at times realizing that Atreus is growing up. There are times when he gets protective and states “my son”. He loves him with all his heart, so much that he was afraid of him going away. He was afraid of the prophecy, and his son’s new name “Loki”, and saw a new future that he didn’t want to believe. He saw the prophecy of Loki, and saw that he would serve Odin. This made him protective, and worried. This feeling is projected back onto the player, and you feel your worry growing and growing throughout the story as the boy is on his own. Then as Atrueus learns that his father is going to die, when he sees the prophecy, he realizes he must do everything in his power to stop it.

The way the boy grows up, and worries for his father, and journeys on his own to Asgard, is incredible. You are sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what he’s going to do, who he’s going to betray, or love. You have no idea what the boy is thinking, and it makes the game incredibly immersing.

Kratos and Freya

Kratos and Freya’s relationship changes incredibly. She goes from this heartbroken mother, who can’t think clearly other than blind rage, to someone who is willing to forgive. She understands the hard decision that Kratos was put in. Either watch his friend be killed by his own choice, or stop it. He intervened out of care and love, something that Freya couldn’t accept for a very long time. She says she will reign all hell on him until she gets her revenge, but then something changes for her. She starts to see the bigger picture between her ex-husband Odin. She realizes that her love as a mother was blocking her morals, and teams up with them to help stop Odin’s plans. She felt her hatred for her ex-husband was higher than her revenge, and more important, so she put it aside. Doing so, she started to accept that her anger was misguided; she learned to live with what happened and forgive Kratos.

Kratos and himself

He, as a father, learns the kind of person he wants to be. And what kind of role model he wants to be, and changes. He starts a story of being cold, and regretful of his past. He tells himself constantly to not think about the mess he has made, or dwell on the consequences of his actions, but throughout this slowly starts to heal. He starts to change, and realizes that what he has been teaching his son is wrong, and in the end admits it. He realizes that love is a powerful thing. It starts wars, it ends wars, it tears families and children apart. It ruins and mends many lives every day, and so he tells his son to open his heart to their suffering. He says “You feel their pain because that is who you are, and you must never sacrifice that.” This is an incredible moment between father and son, but also for himself. He sees his internal struggle, and remembers Atreus’s mother’s wish.

Side character relationships

Brok and Sindri

There are a few side relationships that are not as important to the story, but still are heartbreaking. Like Brok and Sindri’s relationship. Brok and Sindri are both dwarfs, and brothers. They create godly-like weapons, (I.e. Thor’s Hammer, Kratos’s axe,) and are friends with Kratos and his son. Kratos had already saved Brok’s life once, and so Sindri becomes extremely worried about Brok, as he only technically has certain parts of his brain in check. Then, once Brok dies, by Odin’s hands, Sindri becomes filled with grief and anguish and is certain and hell-bent on killing Odin. The pain you feel as the viewer once Brok is killed is extremely heartbreaking, as well as the funeral that everyone attends at the end. It’s such a shock to everyone, and they all become upset, which projects onto the viewer.

Thor and himself

Thor is technically a side character but his relationship with himself, his daughter, Odin, and all of Asgard is astounding to watch. His daughter and he have a rough relationship, because ever since his son died he started drinking. He serves Odin, his father, and listens to every word he says like he is a machine. The shift between his realization that his father didn’t actually care about him and was selfish, hurts the player. Towards the end, his reality shifts and understands that he is fighting for the wrong reasons. That all that his father had ever done was tore the family apart. And, then when he refuses to do what his father said, he is killed by Odin. But this death is important because it tears everyone apart. It makes his daughter, Thrúd realize what kind of monster her grandfather is, and ruins all chances of amending Asgard. Odin’s plan is ruined, by his own volition, because his family refuses to be his servants. This part is beautiful. The panic clear in Odin’s eyes, makes the player want to scream with joy. There is nothing he can do, because he turned his own family against him.

The gameplay

The gameplay is by far one of the best aspects of this game. Besides having an amazing and heart throbbing story, the gameplay is spectacular. The graphics, mechanics, consistent frame rate, and overall difficulty is enthralling. This game is extremely hard and the fighting is amazing.

Mechanics and new changes

The act of throwing the icy axe (Leviathan Axe) and having it return, or using the hot molten lava blades (Blades of Chaos) is so cool. For example the first game, you also have a rage meter which is very nice and I think fits with the character of Kratos.

I absolutely love how we get to play as a young adult, Atreus. He is growing older and is now 16, whereas before he was just a child. My family and I talked about how cool it would be to play as the boy, and then we got to! The spells, the arrows, and different mechanics are incredible. When you play as Atreus you learn how to fight like a giant. You turn into a bear, you conform and cast spells. It’s different, and it varies.

The graphics

The graphics are spectacular. Everything looks so real, and amazing. The characters, the beasts, the realms, it paints such a real and inviting environment. People that are into gore would like this game. I am a fan of gore, and I admire people who can showcase it correctly. It is very hard to get correct in games, but this game does it perfectly. Nothing clashes, this game is smooth and realistic. Everything fits with the theme of old customs and medieval times, as well as the harsh violence.

One of the greatest things to see was the World Serpent of Midgard. This was a great treasure to see. It was animated beautifully, and frightened my dog in real life! It was truly intriguing, as well as the amazing landscapes and views in this game.

The people in the game are built amazingly. The simple act of having Mirmir on Kratos’s belt, making jokes as a talking head all the time is very fun. There are so many details. For instance, having Mirmir as a head, different gadgets made by Sindri, and even the paint that Kratos puts on his face and body. There are so many side quests and things to look at; so many perfectly crafted details. There are many levels of difficulty, weapon, armor, and upgrading. The different types of chest plates and even the spear that was made to kill Heimdall was incredible.

Conclusion:

This game is a perfect sequel to the first one. It fits the storyline, it’s difficult, it’s exciting, and it keeps you hooked. From the very beginning the fight and boss scenes are incredibly fun to fight, and the cut scenes aren’t half-baked. They are very well made and induce the player a lot into the story. My whole family was sitting around the TV watching and engaging in the story of this game. We constantly cried, and laughed, and talked about how we felt about each character and for hours we watched it continuously, and almost never got bored. I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a story based game with amazing graphics, intense fights and gore, and engaging gameplay.