10 Things You Learn Replaying God of War (2018)
1. God of War's Focus Is Its Biggest Strength
From Icarus to the Tower of Babel, many mythological tales warn of the dangers of overreaching. Which makes it somewhat poetic that God of War and its sequel provide a meta example of one of mythology's most favoured themes.
God of War: Ragnarok saw the developers adding more, more, more to the formula they crafted for its predecessor - more characters, more locations, more quests - but playing through the 2018 reboot crystalizes a long-held belief into indisputable fact: God of War's tighter focus makes it the better game.
This is especially evident in each game's respective storyline. Unlike Ragnarok, in which the main characters stumble from plot point to plot point with little narrative glue holding the scenarios together, God of War never loses sight of its overarching story. Kratos and Atreus' journey to scatter the ashes of the latter's mother forms the backbone of every situation the pair find themselves in, making for a much more coherent and poignant tale than the sprawling war epic of Ragnarok.
Even more importantly (In terms of game design), God of War's smaller size is actually to its benefit. While Ragnarok's sidequests eventually descended into drudgery (as anyone who trudged through the desert area of Vanaheim can attest to), the reboot's smaller mapsize means that - Ivaldi's flipping Workshop aside - its side missions fail to wear out their welcome over the duration of the game.
Here's hoping the next game in the series heeds the lessons taught by its forebears. Because if it does, there's a strong chance 2025's GOTY awards could follow a very similar pattern to 2018's!