God of War

God of War is not a game I should have enjoyed, and after spending seemingly 20+ hours playing it, reaching the credit sequence, and perhaps most importantly, planned out my trip to trade it in to get a new game, I'm not sure if I did. On the surface, there is absolutely no reason I should have even bought this game. "Cinematic" games like Naughty Dog's The Last of Us or the entire Uncharted franchise does little more than frustrate me with the lack of complex gameplay mechanics in exchange for cribbing techniques from film, to seemingly unending praise.

In addition, previous God of War games never interested me either. It was clear early on that everything this franchise was doing was surpassed by whatever Kamiya or, later on, Platinum, was working on. It felt that all the God of War franchise had going for it was stylish setpieces and button-mashing QTEs, along with Naughty Dog-style clever hiding of loading zones. Then Bayonetta came out and absolutely ate God of War's lunch, replacing clever hiding of loading zones by embracing them and giving you a chance to practice combos, along with a mechanical depth that God of War could never hope to achieve. It was apparent by the time God of War III dropped that everyone was tired of Kratos being the world's angriest man in the world, a franchise poisoned by the horseshit testosterone of the early 2000s. God of War was a flash in the pan, something from a bygone age that had long outstayed its welcome.

In a way, this newest God of War is still absolutely that; a collection of things in games I have little to no patience for. An awkward start-stop of gameplay for cinematic plot progression scenes, a narrative that may impress in the video game medium but is only above average, something you'd find in an early Marvel superhero movie, skill trees instead of player skill increasing, and a clear focus on making the game look as nice as possible. And yet, SIE Santa Monica Studio has somehow put up a game that, while I'm never going to replay it, I'm looking forward to the sequels. The story is impressive if only for telling a complete narrative with character arcs and themes despite so, so obviously being setup for future games.

Of course, that's not all there is to a video game. What makes it a game is that tactile response to the world, to that level of immersion and interaction that makes games special and different from the films that modern games seem to try so hard to be. While God of War is sorely lacking in the special kind of narrative you can only communicate through gameplay, like the moment in The Last Guardian where Trico breaks a solid, established rule to show how far the relationship between you two has developed, God of War is a masterwork of something called "game feel."

It's the difference between an iOS platformer and Mario, that really peppy, responsive, and distinctive jump the plumber has. You've probably experienced it somewhere, when you're playing a game and you notice something that, for some reason, you know just... feels good. And God of War, despite all the flaws (which I may be too negative about, it's still an above average game which means it isn't necessarily bad but is definitely lousy with imperfections), absolutely nails game feel. Even though the enemies are damage sponges, even though the controls for combat and the camera are horrifyingly awkward, even though the timing for the always-enjoyable shield parries seem to vary wildly from enemy to enemy, all those frustrations melt away in the moment simply because of how the game feels. Calling your axe back to your hand MCU Thor-style is simply one of, if not the, most satisfying thing in the game; the way you hold your hand out, that satisfying thunk when it lands, that it takes just slightly longer to come back depending on how far away it is, how it clatters against the environment on its unbroken path to your palm... it's just one part of combat that I've practically written a paragraph about, that's how good it feels. And the entire game is like this.

For me, that amazing game feel was just enough to carry me through the story. But if your taste differs from mine and you find this style of combat and exploration enjoyable, then God of War will provide hours of entertainment. Perhaps the most shocking thing about this game is how it's secretly a reboot of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. After the 5-hour tutorial, the entire world opens up into a series of sidequests, collectibles, and challenges for more rewards. And you'll need those rewards for greater challenges, in a gameplay loop that should be familiar to anyone that's played a loot-style game like Diablo. Instead of getting more skilled as a player, you'll be leveling up both your armor and weapons as well as your son's, for which you'll need a metric fuckton of currency and resources. There are two different challenge worlds, one for combat where you kill as many enemies as possible and another where you have to raid as many treasure chests as possible before you choke to death on a poisonous mist. Clearly, I haven't engaged with these worlds, but it does seem like there is considerable, in-depth, and repeatable postgame and side-game content if you so choose.

There are people out there who this game is designed for, people who will find the story impactful and not be comparing it negatively to a book, people who will find leveling up your skills and armor to be satisfying, people who will spend hours in the postgame hacking dark elves and draugr into bite-sized chunks. I definitely won't, but unlike The Last of Us, I'll understand why people like it. Also unlike The Last of Us, I'll be looking forward to where the series goes from here.