God of War is one of the most enduring franchises from back in the PS2 days. It hasn’t been too long since God of War Ragnarok’s release, and yet Sony seems to have gone back to the drawing board. There are a ton of titles in the works, including new ones as well as remasters/remakes of old ones, so that it is playable by today’s standards. One of the bigger surprises during Sony’s State of Play was a new platformer in the God of War universe, which is a prequel to the entire franchise. The bigger surprise was its quick release following the announcement, which meant a lot of people could play and enjoy just after the release. We were surprised by the announcement, but even more surprised by the game itself.
God of Wars Sons of Sparta is a 2D Metroidvania developed by Mega Cat Studios in association with Santa Monica Studios and published by Sony Interactive. The game was officially released on the PlayStation on February 12, 2026.
A Stranger Before the Legend
God of War: Sons of Sparta seeks to tell the story of Kratos in his childhood, when he was still training to be a Spartan with his brother Deimos. The game seems to be a recollection of Greek Trilogy Kratos’ memories as he tells his story to his daughter Calliope. Beyond that, it’s basically another of Kratos’ everyday adventures in the wild – slaying unholy beasts and pretty much anything that dares challenge the might of Sparta. In fact, the scale of enemies in this game is quite tame, unlike the titles in the past where Kratos was like Goku in Olympus (please don’t slay me, God of War fandom).
God of War: Sons of Sparta has one wild secret – it does have coop! But one’s question might be – how do we get access to it? The main menu does not have anything that allows other players to join in – does it involve unlocking any achievements or reaching a certain progression point in the game? Turns out, the answer’s yes! You’d have to beat the game a single time in order to unlock that. That was a real dope way to get some additional hours into the game, which otherwise is quite short for a story-based game.
A Bold Mechanical Detour
Going from a 3D action role-playing (or for the OGs, 3D hack and slash) to a 2D metroidvania is a huge change for such an established game franchise. This is a bold move by Sony, as this is a bold new spin-off within an otherwise congested franchise, but it also tries to take on the more popular metroidvanias like Ori and the Blind Forest and Hollow Knight. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really seem like the direction was a really bold pivot at all. The gameplay seems otherwise bland for a metroidvania and more like a spiritual successor to GoW: Betrayal. The game’s quite tame for a metroidvania, and it doesn’t do enough to stand out as a platformer. Despite the game not being the title I was looking forward to, I am happy with Sony making moves into uncharted territory.
The only difference between God of War: Sons of Sparta and other metroidvanias is in the design aspect. The game presents peak main character syndrome, giving too much utility to Kratos to fend off attacks and strike back at the same time from the very beginning of the game. In comparison, in Hollow Knight, it definitely needs some time to get used to fighting creeps – a few hits here and there, and you’re dead. The game plays more like a traditional platformer, with some freedom in the locations one can go to. Gradually, as more tools enter Kratos’ arsenal, he can unlock access to areas previously locked to him, unlocking a greater portion of the map.
The storytelling progresses through interactions of Kratos with other characters, mostly with Deimos. After that, it’s basically up to Kratos to find his way through a variety of areas till he reaches his objective. On the way, Kratos does face some strong mobs (who mostly pose as mini-bosses) like centaurs and minotaurs before proceeding into the next “safe” area. Bosses do appear at certain points, too. Most bosses have very limited attack patterns and allow a generous amount of time to react. It’s difficult to like a game when boss fights do not feel rewarding enough. Even the character interactions, which are supposed to progress the story, feel really forced (I can’t find myself believing a stoic guy like Kratos can actually crack jokes about women and romance, and maybe it’s not just me).
I think the best part of an otherwise “mid” game would definitely have to be the puzzles. At several points in the game, Kratos cannot move forward until he has unlocked a tool or special weapon that aids him. The Bust of Lysurgus and the Slingshot of Apollo are two of the most important tools that help unlock most of the early areas, before moving on to bigger and better things. Some puzzles require traversal between levels to figure something out and come back to progress further, something which actually struck a chord in an otherwise discordant melody. The puzzles do take some time to figure out, so I’d have to give the developers some credit for thinking this through.
Visually Arresting, Tonally Strange
God of War: Sons of Sparta features some of the most dated graphics I have seen in a 2D Action-Platformer for some time. I’d still go and play Ori, and the Blind Forest, or Blasphemous, rather than this – the simple reason being their design actually has some inspiration behind it. The game looks like it crawled out of 2006, and is asking for a position on the dais almost 20 years after. Even the basic game design aspects have been toned way down – enemies feel almost too generic and easy to take on. I’d definitely have to give some points for level design – but if a group of interns at Stardock can put together Lightweight Ninja over a matter of a few months, then it’s difficult to say that level design really “stands out”.
The music composition actually feels decent enough for you to sink into. The only problem is that it highlights the issues with the design even more, as there’s no inherent reason for someone to “lock in” for this. With that being said, the game’s voice acting felt really out of tone for me – only older Kratos and Calliope’s voices are somewhat close to what I expected out of a God of War title. I hope this mess is redeemed in the God of War Trilogy Remake, which is going to be an important title if Sony wants to keep their God of War prestige intact (we’ve seen companies go down into the rabbit hole and fail to get out of it *cough* Ubisoft *cough*)
Real Talk
God of War: Sons of Sparta is a bold move by Sony to diversify its offering within the God of War IP and bring in more fans (especially casual fans), but it fails to meet the quality bar most modern games are measured against. Santa Monica Studios was present merely in an “overseer” capacity for this game, so that does make me believe that the God of War remakes will have some juice in them. Overall, the game feels uninspiring, lazy, and quite dated for a title released in 2026.
FINAL SCORE: 60/100
