Variety reports that a live-action God of War television series has been greenlit by Amazon and will focus on adapting God of War (2018) and presumably God of War Ragnarök as well. While the announcement is an exciting one for fans, many are disappointed that they are skipping the entirety of the Greek era.
Like most video game adaptations, God of War may end up disappointing fans if it doesn't get the details right, but regardless of what happens, the source material will remain a fantastic source of entertainment with a solid legacy - even if there are some harsh realities when replaying a few of the games.
The Puzzles Are Terrible
The puzzles in God of War games have never been a strong suit, and they aren't in God of War (2018) either. While the puzzles aren't quite as insufferable in Ragnarök, players returning to God of War (2018) will quickly be reminded how genuinely bad the puzzles in the games are.
Some of them are intelligently crafted, however, they come off as more annoying and tedious rather than making the player feel challenged in any good way. They're definitely the franchise's worst features and something that needs to be scrapped, or at least refined, in future games.
Alfheim Is A Nightmare
Some of the realms that Kratos and Atreus travel through are easier to traverse than others. However, Alfheim has gained a pretty poor reputation. While many fans loved the first experience of God of War, they might reflect that the game wasn't overall as great as they remembered when they travel through Alfheim once again.
The realm is essentially a combination of everything bad about the game with repetitive enemies and bosses, terrible puzzles, and a boring story. Thankfully it isn't as bad when players go there in Ragnarök.
The Enemies And Bosses Are Too Repetitive
When blazing through the story for the first time it can be easier to not notice how repetitive many of the enemies and bosses are in the game. However, the overall variety of them is surprisingly thin, and it makes replayability for the game hard.
It also makes bonus content like Surtr's Gauntlet far less enjoyable because it feels like the player is repeating the same battles over and over again. This is a shame because Surtr's Gauntlet is the best side content that the game has to offer.
Lack Of Weapon Variety
Some of the best weapons in God of War have come from Ragnarök as the developers did a fantastic job of adding a nice variety. One of the biggest mistakes in God of War (2018) is a lack of variety and how Kratos himself is stuck with only the Leviathan Axe for most of the game.
While this doesn't seem bad at first - the axe is a lot of fun to experiment with - the game takes far too long to give Kratos back his Blades of Chaos and so it makes most of the combat in the game fee dry. While narratively it was a good move, gameplay-wise it wasn't, and they would have benefited better by adding a third weapon in the game that Kratos could obtain midway through the game.
The Post-Game Content Is Dry
New Game Plus was a great update that added more replayability to God of War, and it was an essential feature given the lack of post-game content there is in God of War. There is still quite a bit to do in the game, however, most of it is dry and boring.
This feels less obvious on the first playthrough and hunting down the valkyries can be a lot of fun, even if it is incredibly difficult. Though these challenges are nothing compared to the Berserker boss battles in GoW Ragnarök.
The Side Quests Have Boring Stories
A remedy to side quests in God of War Ragnarök was providing the player with far more and giving them some incredible stories that often connected to the main characters. When players are first playing God of War (2018), they'll likely explore several of the islands and complete a few quests.
On a replay, they may realize just how dry the stories of these quests really are and how there isn't much incentive to complete them except for completionists who want to obtain all the trophies in the game.
The Story Feels Unnecessarily Long
Despite God of War (2018) being a relatively short game the story felt unnecessarily long and isn't quite as good as players remember. This is one of the harshest realizations on a replay as players see how boring Atreus's character arc is and how underwhelming of a character Baldur is.
While Baldur is still one of the best God of War villains, he falls flat simply due to the fact that he's the final antagonist of the game. He would've served far better in a more minor role for the beginning of a single game combined with Ragnarök.
The Pace Makes The Game Feel Longer
On the first playthrough, God of War is a great experience that allows players to totally immerse themselves in the story and world that Kratos is traveling in. However, upon replay, it may become more obvious that many features were added to the game to simply make it feel longer.
The pace itself feels incredibly slow with Kratos' movement being significantly slower than in previous games. The game is also full of so many cutscenes that make the game feel more like a movie rather than a game.
Atreus Is The Worst
Gameplay-wise it's nice to not have to worry about the safety of a companion and Atreus doesn't have a health bar. However, often times he feels far more like an extra filler rather than a useful addition to the gameplay.
When it comes to the story, he's incredibly annoying and just a frustration for the gamers and Kratos. Atreus goes through a lot of character growth in Ragnarök and has become one of the best characters in the God of War franchise, so players returning to the original game might find it difficult to accept just how bad and annoying of a character Atreus originally was.
The Game Feels Incomplete
One of the biggest issues with God of War (2018) is how small the game feels and how players are left underwhelmed when they reach the end of the game. The story dragged on and yet the overall length wasn't too long and players couldn't even access all the Nine Realms.
There is very little to actually explore, and it won't take most players long to achieve 100% completion. This makes 2018 look even sadder with Ragnarök which improves upon everything that 2018 did, and it makes gamers wonder why these were ever two separate games.