A father and his son carrying out their wife/mother’s last wishes through the rough nordic landscape all pack into a stunning 20+ hour continuous landscape. God of War(2018) is the latest installment in a series of the same name has, in the past, been centered around Greek mythology. This is a game that has been made by Sony Santa Monica and directed by Cory Barlog, the same team that made God of War II(2007) and has worked the rest of the original God of War trilogy. With the high hopes and hype that this game has amassed the bar has been set high for this experience and anything less than a home run will be seen as a dud.

This playstation exclusive takes a new spin on the original revenge plot of it predecessors, instead of going after the Greek gods that have betrayed him he is going after a far bigger challenge, his son, or better said raising his son, he is a character that has barely any experience with parenting and less with harsh and unwelcoming Midgard, Alfheim or any of the other 7 norse realms. Like Kratos this new God of War takes a plunge into what seems like unknown territory not only for itself by for its fan base as well. Compared to the other God of War games the Norse mythology spin is refreshing since we had already had 3 older games that were set in Greece and the story had already ended. And the new family driven version of Kratos is the emotional piece that was duly needed in this genre and series. Definitely this version is just as good or better, the Greek and Norse mythology are equally good but the real difference is in what motivates Kratos, in the original trilogy it is the death of his family but in this instalment it is his wife’s last wishes and protecting his son, Atreus. Although the ideas are similar the approaches are so extremely different. I personally real prefer the second one since it is much more emotional you explore a new side of Kratos.

Adding to the killer story the visuals are on  new level graphically, it portrays Midgard, its mountains, lakes and forest extremely well. A map just as big as other open world titles such as Assassins Creed Origins or GTA V but in another type of more diverse setting. Compared to other games that are hailed as beautiful like Uncharted 4 or Assassin’s Creed Origins, on a technical level it kind of beats them but by a hair since they are all beautiful and complete, but God of War is all one continuous scene with no cuts, fades or load screens so it is just as beautiful but goes further than the other titles. Most games nowadays are extremely beautiful but the way that God of War(2018) does it cinematography is so impressive that basically nothing can actually be considered on the same technical level.

As for how the player interacts with this beautiful world that this action-adventure masterpiece. It is no longer a mindless hack and slash were you kill whatever is in you path but it has evolved into what some may even consider a RPG. There is a minimalistic hud where you can only see the essentials like health, rage meter, cooldowns and a compass. The controls are smooth and after the first 30 seconds of fighting then they become intuitive. You can also upgrade and customize Kratos to better fit your play style be it in favour of raw physical attack or a more magic based approach. It has a different approach to the information that is displayed, older God of War titles would give you more useless information with huge graphics that subtract from the incredible world that the studio has brought to life. Meanwhile the controls are much better than the ones in similar games such as the older Assassins Creeds or older God of War where it is just an endless nightmare of button mashing. It has amazing gameplay and that is one of its biggest advantages, it is deep to where you are always learning new tricks and abilities but no so easy that a experienced gamer would get underwhelmed.

As stated before it is not a full blown RPG as it has a different approach to the way that you do stuff. This is a semilinear experience since you can approach it in different ways and orders but nevertheless the ending will always be the same. But going back is encouraged to gain access to new areas you couldn’t before or to get your hand on new materials that you need for an upgrade. Compared to other similar titles like Uncharted 4 you have a bit more replay value since you can go back and do sidequests or any other type missions, labours or challenges that were not done the first time. I personally don’t see any replay value since you finish the story and you basically don’t have any incentive other than doing it on a harder difficulty and getting an achievement for it but I generally never replay games as I find it boring but someone that really enjoys playing many times will probably find a new way to play like immersive mode or the hardest difficulty. But this really is not a bad trait since the 20 plus hour main story is great and you can get double that with all the side quests, extra challenges and exploring you can do.

So with no real negatives this game blows everything out of the water. With great graphics, gameplay and a Oscar worthy story it is a no brainer to give this game a 5/5. It is the new industry standard and most other games around pale in comparison to this years masterpiece, God of War.