GOD of War Ragnarok was released - the most anticipated game of the year

This is not only an ideal sequel, but also a strong anti -war statement

On November 9, the God of War Ragnarok was published on the PS4 and PS5 - one of the most anticipated games of the year and the exclusive of the Sony PlayStation console from the Santa Monica studio. The new part of the adventures of the god of the war of Kratos and his son Atreus is already sold at a faster pace than that received many awards The God of War (2018). And in just a few days, Ragnarok has become one of the most popular PS releases on Twitch streams. At the request of Medusa, journalist Denis Mayorov tells what are the advantages of the second part of the restart and what topics she talks to the player.

What was the first game about

The original series of God of War is a story about cruelty, revenge and endless torment in the setting of Greek mythology. It started at the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and today includes as many as seven games-three main parts and four spin-offs.

God of War talks about the Spartan warrior of Kratos, who from birth was doomed to suffering. Kratos is the son of the god Zeus, and, according to the prophecy, he must destroy the Olympus. Zeus did not like such a prospect, and therefore he tried to destroy both Kratos and his whole family. But we all remember from school that Zeus is insidious, but not always so smart, and therefore he did not act directly, but weaved around the Kratos of intrigue and in the process he himself made a lot of mistakes.

Initially, Kratos was mortal and even managed to die in one of the battles. It was then that he concluded a deal with the God of the War Ares-he returned Kratos to life, handed him a chaos of the blade and filled the Spartan with inhuman forces in exchange for eternal service. But the thirst for blood, heated by Ares, was so blinded by Kratos that in one of the battles he killed his own wife and daughter, simply without recognizing them - this was a turning point for the anti -hero. The Spartan was irrevocably broken both spiritually and physically, and the priestess destroyed by him in that unfortunate battle of the settlement laid a curse on the hero, covering him with the ashes of her own family. Kratos was doomed to painful visions, in which he kills his relatives again and again. At first, he hated only Ares, and then his rage spread to all the gods of Olympus.

Actually, revenge is the main series of God of War and dedicated. At first, Kratos kills Ares and becomes the new god of war, but the visions do not retreat, and other gods continue to lock the hero. Therefore, it is accepted for the rest. In his travels, he kills everyone in his path: mortals, gods, monsters, legendary heroes like Hercules, at least the Titans themselves. Kratos dies many times, but each time returns to life and continues its bloody campaign. Not all gods are trying to get rid of Kratos, some conclude unions with him and try to use in their subcover games, but in the end, almost all Kratos allies become his enemies and die from his hands.

Throughout the seven parts, Kratos manages to find out about his origin, find and again lose his brother, the dead daughter and mother - and an excess to be inflamed by hatred for Olympus. As a result, the Spartan slowly cuts out almost the entire Greek pantheon, kills Zeus himself and actually destroys the world. Of course, he does not feel any relief, the ghosts of the past still pursue him, so Kratos sticks into himself a divine sword. The original series ends on this-but with a hint that Kratos somehow survived.

The next time we saw him already in the Restart-Control of the 2018 God of War-a settled, trying to raise his son from the wars. But the gods again do not give him rest, only this time the Scandinavian. They know who Kratos is and what he managed to do in a "past life."

What is the unique series of games God of War

In short, the players fell in love with the original God of Warz with nothing comparable epic and uncompromising cruelty. Despite the serious topics flashing in the plot, the original God of War was still not quite about him. She did not devote much time to the characters, but the suffering of Kratos and everyone who surrounds him did not exist to analyze them with a serious face, but so that the forever evil Spartan had a reason to tear his head off the next Greek deity. And he did it so stylishly, and sometimes shocking that he became one of the main symbols of PlayStation. Contrary to the "adult" ratings of all games of the series!

From the very first part of God of War, these are games with a reference setting. Usually, in order to praise the production in video games, they are compared with the cinema, but in the case of God of War this is impossible - there is simply no equally spectacular and brutal film in the remotely similar setting. Even the “ 300 Spartans ” of Zach Snyder do not keep up with God of War. The point here is both in the operator work, and the delightful orchestral music , but primarily in a scale. God of War quite calmly shows the battles with giant monsters taking place in pompous churches built on the backs of the titans - for her this is a “everyday” scene.

Well, cruelty, of course. Kratos is a crazy murder car. He will gut enemies, strangles his intestines, tears his heads, tears in half, squeezes his eyes and achieves many things worse. And he does it so quickly and confidently that each time goosebumps run on the back. He is ready to kill absolutely anyone - he has empathy only in relation to his family and native Sparta. To everything else, he does not experience any feelings at all and constantly proves it.

And God of War is always this - in videos, in battles with gods or giant mythological monsters, in skirmishes with “ordinary” enemies. The series has always been a slightly dull slasher, in which, unlike the Japanese standards of the genre like Devil May Cry , it is not so important to remember cunning combinations. You can, of course, do so, or you can just hammer in two buttons and enjoy the bloody vaccal. The “stupidity” of the games of the series has always been compensated by their brutality, with which no work in any of the mediums can compete.

Almost all GOD of WAR issues received on the Metacritic review unit a rating above 90 points out of 100 - this is a powerful result: critics and players love the series. The first part gathered several awards “Game of the Year”, and many called God of War 2 completely “Swan Song PlayStation 2”. God of War 3 also accumulated an outstanding pool of awards, including the “most anticipated game of 2010”, “Best Game for PS3” and “Best Graphics”. However, after the third part, the series stalled: the prequel of Ascension ("climbing") critics and players evaluated with restraint and the series went on vacation. The grandiose return took place in 2018 with the release of the restart-continuation under the simple name God of War-and so far it is the most successful part of the series.

God of War: Ragnarok is still not a “big addition”, but a full-fledged second part of the restart

The restart of 2018 is not dedicated to the destruction of the Scandinavian pantheon (although Kratos still buried a couple of gods), but to attempt the hero of the atrey’s son to find a common language with him. The Boy’s cry, performed by Kratos, was not in vain a meme - the Spartan repeated him so often, because he did not dare to call his son a son. All that was happening to the heroes existed precisely in order to give Kratos and Atrea general trials, having passed which they could understand each other. Therefore, in comparison with the classic parts of God of War, the game reduced in a scale and epic, but added in the depths of the script and dialogues, to some extent matured.

God of War Ragnarok continues this topic, so many players managed to brand it as “an addition stretched to the size of a new game” - they say, too few innovations. But this is a controversial question.

God of War Ragnarok passes in the same 20 hours as the first part (this is not distracted from the plot), but there are enough fillers in its plot campaign. The game loves to suck out the obstacles from the finger so that the episodes that would have enough for a short cut-scene would turn into a whole level for a couple of hours. The best example is a trip to the Alvheim at the beginning of the game: there are not many battles, there are almost no important conversations and staged scenes, but there are a hundred stupid puzzles in which you need to throw an ax so that it will decoter from special mirrors to the right place. There are a lot of such puzzles at all - and they do not benefit the game.

On the other hand, the developers still added so much new content and so swore the gameplay of the first part that in total all innovations are quite drawn to a new game - such a strong second part. The basis is still Rubilovo and Kratos, who knows how to throw himself with an ice ax and call it back (and this is still damn fun). But now, from the very beginning, he also has chaos blades, and in the middle of the game a new weapon will debut, which the gameplay is greatly changing. The pumping of the character became more flexible, and more accessible equipment, enemies and bosses also significantly increased. After Ragnarok, the first part seems a little awkward and unfinished - add -ons such an effect are usually not created - and not so beautiful! Therefore, the Ragnarok, although it came out on the old PS4 , but added noticeably as a picture - the developers were especially good at the light and color.

Yes, and atrey is now not just an optional assistant, languidly shooting the enemies with arrows from behind the frame, and a full-fledged playable character. He is weaker than Kratos, and he has less opportunities in battle, but his speed makes Dante recall from the already mentioned Devil May Cry series. And the arrows “battle” are completely hit from a machine gun - and even shoot a jump, like Max Payne, knows how. Levels for atrea are a completely different God of War, which may like part of the players even more than God of War about Kratos.

The main thing is God of War: Ragnarok raises new topics in the plot and reveals them well

The events of the first part and Ragnarok are shared for several years. Even in the original game, Kratos managed to understand what it means to be a father, and found a common language with Atreus. It would be strange to scroll through this topic again, so in Ragnarok the feelings of Kratos go to a new level - and it rushes into the hyperopek. A slightly matured Atrey wants to make a bustle, travel around the world and understand himself, and the tired Kratos plans to sleep and constantly drags his son home, cutting off the path to adventure.

Behind this behavior hides not only the desire to protect a loved one from everything bad, but also the fear of Kratos before the fact that his son grew up and will soon leave the house, leaving his father alone. This time, Spartan himself is in a wounded position, and over time, this begins to understand Atrey. The line develops both in direct dialogs between the heroes, and in the actions that they perform, and in general in all events. As in the first part, divine showdowns are just an occasion to reveal the heroes of the soul.

But there is another branch in Ragnarok - more sudden. In the previous part, Atra learned a lot about his origin (which is the spoiler!) And the idea of ​​continuing the mother’s work. He heard about the atrocities of Odin and about the uprising of the giants against him - and firmly decided that the whole father needed to be stopped, because his plans were definitely insidious. But the settled Kratos is trying to convince his son that the campaign against Odin will lead to war, and the war is not a way out. Atrey seems to agree, but he continues to bend his line. However, he cannot formulate what one is so bad - but in principle he knows nothing about his plans and cannot even guess. But a sense of justice pushes the atreus to the conflict, and Kratos loses control over the situation.

This is only a tie, and in the process all twenty times will turn over. In fact, there are no usual villains in God of War Ragnarok - instead, the authors of the game talk about the price of war and the victims that we are ready (or not) make it to prevent it. In addition, Ragnarok no less sincerely speaks of revenge, forgiveness and searching for its path. Even if you do not dig, the story clings on its own.

God of War: Ragnarok is not only battles and serious conversations, but also the study of beautiful mythical worlds

In this regard, the new game is not much different from the first part. There are still both linear locations-corridors and open levels at which you can distract from the plot, look for chests with awards and replenish simple secondary tasks. Such entertainments, of course, are deprived of cinema costume scenes and Hollywood setting from the plot campaign, but they are fascinated in their own way and sometimes relax.

Do not wait too much. The developers said that in terms of elaboration of sit-quests, they tried to surpass secondary tasks from the third “witcher”-and some critics even stated that they did it. In fact, this is not so. Side-acting became many times more meaningful and acquired more tangible stories. For example, in one of the tasks, we release a giant whale, which Mirir once captivated, and he simultaneously tells why he did it. But this is far from the level of a full -fledged chain of quests with dialogs and designed characters created specifically for the quest - this is in the Ragnarok Sitsy, with the exception of a couple of tasks, as if produced from the main story.

This is not so much a critic as just a warning against high expectations. God of War Ragnarok is better and richer overwhelming 2018. If you liked that God of War, you will like this one. Even if you hear about this series for the first time, but you like bright cinematographic adventures, then you should also try Ragnarok. Probably, you will understand little by the plot, since the events of the first part are important, and the recap of the task built into the game does not cope with the task.

God of War, like Kratos itself, has settled down - focused on history, and not torn heads, and in general it became almost “family” (there is even a funny speaking squirrel). Sales of restart of 2018, almost reaching the bar of 20 million copies, say that this is exactly such God of War are needed by people now. And Ragnarok will probably be no worse.

Denis Mayorov