God of War: Ragnarök 2022 Video Game Trailer

“God of War Ragnarok” is a safe sequel, at least in its opening hours. While the 2018 reboot changed the series' formula, the 2022 game is all about taking that formula as far as possible, within the confines of remaining playable on PlayStation 4. That means that, again, for the first few hours, “Ragnarok” feels a lot like a PlayStation 4 game that has been ported to PlayStation 5. It clearly doesn't take full advantage of Sony's current high-end technology.

A PlayStation embargo means I can't talk about the rest of the game, which got more interesting pretty quickly, but that's about all I can write; you'll have to wait until the review embargoes are lifted in a few weeks. In the meantime, you can expect "God of War Ragnarok" to feel like an immediate follow-up to 2018's critically acclaimed blockbuster, with little departure from what that game achieved in combat, level design, and pacing. It's like the next season of a nail-biting prestige show, except we've waited four years to pick up the threads of its story.

“Ragnarok” plays the same as its predecessor: long tracking shots, lots of walking and talking, and solving environmental puzzles, punctuated by arenas full of baddies to smash.

Director: Eric Williams
Writer: Cory Barlog
Stars: Ryan Hurst, Daniel Kountz, Danielle Bisutti

The long-awaited sequel to God of War, God of War Ragnarok, launches on November 9, and if you're hesitant to buy the game, maybe this first impressions review can help you decide.

For the sake of transparency, this article will only cover the first 4-6 hours of the game, so a lot can change and be added by the time the full review comes out. That said, if you were a fan of the previous God of War game, you'll find that many of the things you enjoyed about the title return in this one. Clearly, the Santa Monica studio has decided to stick with its GOTY-winning formula and try to improve on it.

And depending on who you are, that might be enough to give you a satisfying experience. It has been for me so far. God of War Ragnarok retains many of its best parts: the gorgeous environments, fluid combat system, father-son banter, and intriguing grand narrative. But the first moments in the game already show some notable changes: more precise accessibility settings, new visual cues for adventures and combat, a very different menu UI, new ways to traverse, and more.

It also feels like a game made for PlayStation 4 first. PlayStation 5 features a solid-state drive that many hoped would be the end of loading screen "skins," essentially game elements that are hidden when the console is loading. assets for the next part of the game. In "God of War", this often came in the form of going through cracks in walls.

In the first few hours, Kratos and his son Atreus slip through various cracks in various walls in virtually every location in the game. The first loading screen in disguise occurs less than half an hour later. While Sony first revealed "Ragnarok" as a PS5 title, spending an hour with the game makes it clear that it was designed for PlayStation 4 first.

While an avalanche of games has been pushed back to 2022, there are still a few titans left. And the matchup everyone wants to see is whether God of War can return with Ragnarok to take on Elden Ring for the GOTY crown, along with some darker candidates in the wings.

The last God of War was not only my Game of the Year in 2018, but I would consider it my Game of the Generation in many ways, a powerful, funny and moving epic that transformed the series in a way that I don't think anyone could have predicted. . Now, Ragnarok has come to try and make lightning strike twice.

Today marks the lifting of the veil on the "first impressions" embargo, where those of us with review copies can share our thoughts up to a certain point in the story, dodging spoilers but documenting our first impressions. The content we're covering here today is maybe the first 4-5 hours, depending on how much you explore, and I went through every inch of the first two maps, Midguard and Svartalfheim, the latter of which is the new swamp. dwarven kingdom riddled with deep mines.

Baldur's death in the latest game has ushered in a winter of legendary proportions that seems to affect different realms in different ways. In the sequel here, instead of Kratos leading Atreus, he is leading us, and he has created his own quest to discover the meaning of his true identity, find lost gods, and hopefully prevent Ragnarok, the war that It will end all wars.

Watch God of War: Ragnarök 2022 Video Game Trailer