A Robot Named Fight is actually a really good game. That's the second time GB has dismissed it without really seeming to understand what kind of game it is (Dan did seem to like it, though.) Dusk is also really good. That is all.
Guys, ALL the characters in GoW 2018 are bad. It's disguised with some clever open-world writing and high production values, but these characters are all bad, two-dimensional, predictable, and embody well-worn tropes.
And don't worry, Faye wasn't fridged. She was just saved for the next two sequels, to have a dramatic re-emergence in a flashback, as a spirit, or through the magic of resurrection or prophecy. Why? Because they are required by their stakeholders to make the next ones bigger and better. AAA single-player gaming is now just the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's boring as fuck.
For all its hype about being the best showcase of VR to date, Astrobot really didn't feel like much more than a tech demo. People have said it would work as a platformer even if it wasn't in VR, and to that, I can only assume they're talking crazy. The levels are completely linear showcases for cool VR tricks, and they run out of ideas halfway through the game. Crash Bandicoot is a better platformer in the same vein, and it came out 22 years ago. Astrobot's key gimmick of looking around for robots grows thin the 40th time you crane your head around to look in the usual nooks and crannies. Biggest disappointment for me, considering the hype surrounding it.
Because it's safe to assume that the cultural critics and consumers of games who call the story in God of War "a masterpiece," have never really experienced or exposed themselves to truly great storytelling, or maybe they just don't know how to recognize it. Yes, that's a very gatekeeping statement, but I don't know how else to put it. Like you said, the story is filled with contrivances that happen merely to advance the narrative they outlined from the beginning (Atreus getting bratty, Baldur's death, Freya turning into a vengeful character), and the entire plot is little more than a series of meaningless MacGuffins with nothing substantial that ever really happens, with weak villains. Then they obfuscate Odin and Thor and the more interesting characters because they're rationing the content for a series. Which also made for some really weak boss fights in a God of War game, if we're going to talk about gameplay, of which I thought the gameplay was above average, but not amazing, story aside.
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