By Kelsey Cameron
First published August 24 2017, Edited 2023
God of War developed by Santa Monica Studios belongs to a series that follows the divine journeys of Kratos, a former Spartan warrior turned Greek god of war. Kratos became the god of war after defeating Ares at the whim of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. Although it is not essential to understand the backstory, I found it does make the experience a bit richer and unlocks some of Kratos' motivations. I recommend watching this IGN video for the recap.
This God of War game starts in Midgard, an earthly realm in Norse mythology. The story begins in a beautiful environment where Kratos approaches a tree marked with a vibrant golden hand print. Kratos rips it out of the ground, taking it to a boat with a small child who he refers to as "boy". Everything about Kratos exudes strength and power; his appearance, his voice, his expressions and the way he moves. As a player, even you are a bit intimidated. After a boat ride, Kratos takes the tree and places it on a "burial" site while the boy, named Atreus, lights candles around a body wrapped up in cloth. Kratos collects the body laying it on the tree and sets it alight. This emotional opening scene shows the cremation of Kratos' wife and Atreus' mother Faye.
We are introduced to Kratos here in is darkest moment of grief which sets the emotionally charged tone for the game. This opening scene sets the gaming objective: to honour Faye's dying wish and scatter her ashes from the tallest peak in all the realms.
The combination of its visually outstanding environments, filmic techniques, intense characters and emotionally captivating content demands the players respect and attention. The visceral feeling of loss of a wife or mother allows the players to empathise and share in the characters' multifaceted grief.
At its heart, God of War is about a disjointed father and son who grow to understand each other and build a strong relationship. At first, Kratos is irritable and quick to anger. He is constantly displeased with Atreus being a dependable and naïve child and has no problem exclaiming his harsh critiques. There are moments when Kratos goes to comfort the boy but stops and as a result, Atreus is always trying to gain approval. However, feeling emotionally abandoned, Atreus grows to resent Kratos.
As the journey progresses and many divine secrets are revealed, the two do grow to understand each others point of view; Kratos softens and Atreus begins to understand why his father thought being "tough" was what was best. While Atreus needed Kratos' guidance when realising his godly status, Kratos ultimately needed Atreus to learn kindness and forgiveness, a lesson reinforced through the Norse god of war/justice: Týr.
What makes the game so outstanding is the player's place in it all. In the beginning, we see Kratos through Atreus' perspective. I remember feeling his actions or words were really harsh and felt a bit like a told off child, perhaps how Atreus might have felt.
As the game progressed, Atreus would make comments on the player's actions like "why are you going there?", "this looks like the place" and, although minor, those small acknowledgments of the player's presence enhanced the immediacy between the player and characters'.
Additionally, when Atreus becomes a bit moody, I found myself getting a bit offended by his snarky attitude, perhaps how Kratos might have felt.
So regardless of who you were, the connection, perspective, and insights the player had on these characters was extremely close. And that made the experience all the more richer.
Gameplay & Story
Traditionally in a game like this, gameplay is the prevalent characteristic and often the reason for play. The story typically occurs as cut scenes in order to contextualise the action but it doesn't necessarily play a huge part and for a while it was a big problem for games, especially those with more linear structures.
This game is hugely exciting for story-oriented gamers because the story plays just as much of a role as gameplay. Yes – gameplay is what makes a game a game, there is no denying that but I believe it is possible to use story to enhance the gameplay and achieve heightened levels of gaming experiences – and God of War is an example of this.
The story and gaming elements are intertwined throughout play so that the player's actions become a part of Kratos and Atreus' unfolding journey.
I do think there could have been improvements in the quieter moments of play. Like the ability to optionally interact with Atreus when the two are travelling together. These optional dialogue triggers would have increased the player-to-character relationships because it could reinforce the building of Kratos and Atreus' relationship through the player's actions - even the seemingly mundane ones. Interact with Atreus towards the start, and Kratos is cold and critical, perhaps making the player feel guilty for wanting to see what the optional interaction would do. But towards the end Kratos could open up more, and hearing their conversations and being a part of triggering them could have been a relatively simple but really effective storytelling method.
What's great about optional conversations is that a) they are optional and don't need to be engaged and b) they overlay story content while other gaming objectives are being completed. So instead of halting play, they enhance it which keeps the player immersed both in the game and story world.
In saying this, there are an large amount of gameplay elements to keep play interesting. There are the typical fighting sequences (that are kind of important when you're the god of war) with so many combat styles and weapon upgrades to choose. But there are also more complex environmental puzzles to make for more abstract challenges. I especially liked the puzzles that require the axe to do one thing, and the blades to do another because it challenges the player in different ways other than skill-based combat.
In a game that promises so much with its title, this one delivered. There was a bit over everything whether you prefer combat, environmental puzzles, story sequences, or uncovering lore and exploring the world. With such a large universe pulling from both Greek and Norse mythology, this game could have so easily been a confusing kaleidoscope of failure. But at it's core, its a story about a father and son processing their grief and trying to come out of it together.
