God of War Ragnarok PC Review: A (God)Send Off

God of War (2018) is undoubtedly my favorite (former) PlayStation 4 exclusive. It’s one of the two games I specifically bought the PS4 to play (the other being Yakuza: Remastered Collection). Santa Monica performed a risky maneuver to deviate from the tried and true formula of the earlier Gow titles and delivered a compelling narrative experience that was no slouch in the gameplay department either (read our original review here). When Ragnarok was announced, my expectations for the game were sky-high. Unable to afford a Playstation 5 at the time, I patiently waited for the day it would come out for the PC, actively distancing myself from the online discourse surrounding the game. It’s September 2024, and Sony has released God of War Ragnarok as the next premium entry in their PlayStation to PC initiative. After spending more than a week with old daddy Kratos and his offspring, I knew that my thoughts on the game would clash with what Gameffine’s old daddy Ayush had to say in his launch review.

Coming to a Close

God of War Ragnarok is Santa Monica’s conclusion to their Norse saga. Picking up several years after the end of the last game, the game sees Kratos and Atreus on a long and arduous journey to take on the gods of Asgard, Odin, and Thor. Their feud with angry mommy Freya also comes into play as the father-son duo tries to forge new alliances to survive the coming Ragnarok.

First of all, kudos to Santa Monica for not trying to stretch the Norse saga and providing a worthy closure with just one sequel. God of War Ragnarok takes everything the studio has built in the first game and runs with it. With a huge emphasis on character development over moments of grandeur, the sequel tells an emotionally charged story about family, revenge, reconciliation, coming-of-age, fate, destiny, pain, loss, and war. Ragnarok fleshes out series hero Kratos, the new characters introduced in the 2018 game, as well as new additions like Tyr. If you loved the story of the original, then the game won’t disappoint in the slightest. But is the writing better?

Ragnarok tries to tell a much more nuanced story that goes way beyond the father-son bond of the last game by having Atreus, Freya, and Tyr take up more screen time. Sometimes, this works as a detriment to the game as Kratos often takes the backseat to the grander scheme of things. He’s still a mainstay, but the narrative shifts to Atreus and his prophecy as the one who will end Ragnarok as suggested by the ending of the last game. The writing is also far lighter this time around, with the characters often making quips to lighten the mood of the impending apocalypse. Kratos’ companions even make meta remarks when he strays off the beaten path, like “Oh, he likes to explore” and “he does that a lot”, which breaks the immersion somewhat. What’s worse are the sections where you take control of Atreus. These drawn-out missions feel like padding in a game that otherwise doesn’t require it and makes subsequent playthroughs needlessly boring. But, if you set these aside, Ragnarok hits the right notes in delivering a compelling and cohesive story.

Old God, Old Tricks

God of War Ragnarok can easily be described as the 1.5 version of GoW 2018. Those who boot up the game expecting another shake-up to the formula will be disappointed, while fans of the first game who just want more of the same will be satisfied. Everything GoW 2018 did well, Ragnarok replicates while increasing the scope a bit. Movement and combat are faster, you get access to the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos from the get-go, and there are more moves, more combos, and more companions this time around.

Ragnarok works on “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula. The core gameplay loop of exploring multiple realms, getting to fight waves of enemies in closed-off arenas, and the odd puzzle-solving makes a return. Furthermore, the presence of the later-added Valhalla mode makes sure that you’re getting the most bang for buck. The surprisingly narrative-driven Roguelite mode is a throwback to the “Hulk smash” days of Kratos that is surely to evoke the mindless the older games provided. Ragnarok surely treads the traveled path when it comes to gameplay but everything is polished to a shine that there’s not much to complain about here.

Jetpack Delivers

Now we come to the main attraction — the PC port. While not developed by Nixxes, Sony’s golden bois of PC ports, Jetpack Interactive has done a great job. Despite being the port of a cross-platform game, Jetpack has managed to squeeze out impressive performance from the title that runs great on a variety of PC specs. The studio was quick to patch in support for cards with less than 4 Gigs of VRAM and even fixed the broken Nvdia Frame Generation with haste. I did experience visual glitches while using Frame Gen with DLAA but I seem to be alone in that regard. There is room for improvement though, as features like Depth of Field and Vignette cannot be turned off at the moment. It also sucks that Sony’s decision to double down on PSN integration is making the game inaccessible to many gamers across the globe. Despite these issues, Ragnarok is a great PC port that scales nicely with low-end hardware (including PC handhelds).

Real Talk

God of War Ragnarok is a good sequel to a great game. While it doesn’t hit the same highs as its predecessor, when it gets going, it flies. The excellent PC port by Jetpack Interactive makes sure that you’ll be experiencing the best Ragnarok has to offer. This has been one hell of a ride and I hope to see where the winds take Kratos next.

FINAL RATING: 85/100