The 2018 release of God of War for the PS4 was a gamble. A familiar character was placed in a new land with a constant companion in tow. The protagonist had a change in attitude, a new camera perspective, and a combat system that was more measured than frantic. The story had more depth than just running through a new set of deities. The changes were drastic, but they also paid off, resulting in a game that breathed new life into the franchise. God of War: Ragnarok appeared on the PS4 and PS5 several months afterward, and it was just as well received. After a much shorter two-year wait, PC players finally get the sequel on their own platform.

Before beginning the review proper, the elephant in the room in the form of PSN connectivity must be addressed. As with some of Sony's recent PC releases, this is a mandatory requirement for the game, so there are some regions in the world that won't be able to buy the game. Unlike some of those recent releases, there doesn't seem to be a valid reason for this requirement. One could make the argument that a game like Ghosts of Tsushima used the service's multiplayer, but this game doesn't have that feature. It has no leaderboards, and even though the game shows up in your history on the PS App, the game awards no Trophies despite having Steam Achievements. It is a feature that feels tacked on for no good reason, and those who hate having to log in for another service will either have to make peace with this or skip Sony games until they change their minds.

The story takes place sometime after the events of the last game. Baldur's death has resulted in Fimbulwinter, which acts as the herald to Ragnarok. Kratos is content with taking refuge in his home to prepare himself and a teenage Atraeus for the war to come. On the other hand, Atraeus is tired of waiting around and wants to seek the whereabouts of Tyr, who was thought to be dead long ago. After a visit by Odin and a fight with Thor, the pair decide to go find Tyr and seek to end this — one way or another.

Much like the first game, the story is appropriately epic. Just about every character you came across from the first game makes their return alongside some new characters that are equally as charming. More incidental stories appear since you get to travel through all of the realms. Kratos' relationship with Atreus is on much better terms, with Kratos easing up a bit on his gruff nature while Atreus gets more mature even though he's still a teen at heart. There's a little more levity in the game, but that also gets balanced out by some more touching scenes of loss. Overall, it's pretty good and unexpected even though we got something like this in the previous title.

If there's a knock against the story, it starts to feel unfocused toward the end. Part of it is the desire for the game to wrap up as many loose ends as possible with just about every character it can. That's a tall order for a game with a large cast size, especially if this is meant to be an epilogue to the series. The desire to finish everyone's story is nice, but it means that there are enough detours that the game can feel like it's dragging to an ending. This is especially true when compared to the previous game, which also took a few detours but still felt like a focused effort.

The gameplay is relatively unchanged from the 2018 title, which is great since that game already had a good system. You're still chopping up enemies with near-reckless abandon, and the speed with which you do so is still dictated by the weapons you yield. Your Leviathan Axe is powerful and can still act as a projectile weapon, but it is slow, while your Blades of Chaos offer hits at a quicker pace that are reminiscent of Kratos' adventures in Greece. Gore is ever-present, especially with the retained ability to pull off a variety of finishing moves, but the game doesn't feel like it revels in the blood as much as the older titles did. Aside from adding verticality since the Blades are available from the beginning, players who are familiar with the first game will easily come to grips with the system.

As for Atreus, he's improved greatly since the last title. You can still command him to fire arrows at certain enemies, but the AI has improved to the point where he can deftly attack foes on his own and also finish off some enemies rather quickly, making him feel more capable than most companions in other adventure games. The new thing this time around is the ability to take full control of Atreus during major parts of the game, and while the use of a bow and arrow opens up new combat possibilities, those who want to stick to melee attacks can still do so; the son is good enough to keep up with his father in this respect.

Just like the previous game, there's plenty of opportunity to explore thanks to the game's semi-open world approach to levels. The areas are large enough that it's worth checking out some nooks and crannies for materials to craft some better gear. Accompanying them are puzzles that involve the usual tasks, like clogging up gears at the right moment or destroying one obstacle so another can get moved out of the way. There are only a few puzzles that'll test the thinking process, but nothing should outright stump players for long periods of time.

Ragnarok gives players a few tools to solve puzzles in the name of accessibility. The most welcome option for some players will be the ability to turn off a good chunk of the hints. One of the main complaints with the game is that the characters are very fond of providing hints to solve puzzles. That would be fine if you get stuck, but these hints seem to be stated just as you reach the area in question. It feels like the designers are catering to players who want more action by just telling players what to do, so that they can get past puzzles without much friction and return to slashing and stabbing. The option to turn off these verbal hints is certainly welcome by those who want to take a break from button-mashing and give their brain a workout before returning to the carnage.

Included in this version of the game is Valhalla, DLC that was made available for PlayStation owners a year after God of War: Ragnarok had launched. Taking place sometime after the end of the main game, you take on the role of Kratos as he ventures to Valhalla because of a mysterious invitation nailed to his door, this time with Mimir as your companion. While you initially force your way into the interior of the place, it doesn't take long before you die and get mysteriously resurrected, causing you to try to fight your way through the revered lands over and over again to solve the mystery of your constant death and rebirth.

From a gameplay perspective, what you're getting is roguelike in nature, with all of the expected traits of that genre. The random level layouts and order are present, along with the ability to choose between two random items or powers once a fight has concluded. Only a few things are permanent; everything resets upon death, and even though the journey takes over six hours to finish, you'll still be tempted to go back and keep playing because each run tempts you to use a specific weapon. Most of the powers for that run will be focused on powering up only the weapon at your disposal. It's a neat twist to the genre that we'd like to see in other proper roguelikes in the future.

From a story perspective, what's in Valhalla can be considered better than the main tale. Whereas the last two games were sprawling epics, this piece of DLC has a more contained and focused storyline that's all about Kratos. The conflict that Kratos has between continuing to live a peaceful existence or deciding to become the new god of war is an intriguing one, since we have seen what Kratos has done while in power in Greece. The game does a good job of revisiting just about all of the things, both good and bad, that Kratos has done in his past life, and it's intriguing to see how the new version confronts all of those old deeds. Even with the segmented style of storytelling that comes from the game's roguelike nature, the story does not deviate, and the conclusion remains satisfying. If the series were to stop here, it's a good epilogue to Kratos' tale.

The overall presentation is excellent. Bear McCreary's soundtrack is perfect at any situation, but the game is also smart enough to know when ambient sounds are a good accompaniment. The voice acting is also perfect, with an emphasis on how well both Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic play so well off one another in dialogue. There's more levity to their conversations compared to before, but it doesn't feel out of place or like it's going overboard. The rest of the cast do a great job of portraying the Norse family of gods and deities in a way that's different from expectations but still remains fascinating. Both allies and enemies feel multidimensional, even if they aren't on-screen for very long.

Graphically, Ragnarok is gorgeous. The various realms give the game a chance to show off completely different styles to each biome, and the game can really explore a breadth of colors. The character designs are top-notch, as are their animations; the particle effects do a great job of adding more eye candy to the scenery. Like many of Sony's ports to PC, Ragnarok comes with all of the expected extras, like ultrawide support and all three forms of graphical upscaling. You'd only need them if you were running a low-end card, as the game's basis as a PS4-designed title means that running at over 60fps with a native 4K resolution isn't too difficult compared to the slate of games on the PC in the last few months. One thing that remains impressive is how the game is still able to accomplish the one continuous camera shot throughout the adventure without a hint of texture pop-in or loading screens. There are some tricks that are done to accomplish this, but it still looks awesome to see a game without visible camera cuts or big screen changes.

The PC release of God of War in 2022 was a good example of how good the Steam Deck is at running big titles. God of War: Ragnarok is no different, provided you temper some expectations. The game runs at the device's full resolution of 1280x800. The frame rate can fluctuate between 35-40fps with everything set to Low, and the game still looks quite good at this setting, even if you know that you might be missing some visual flourish. The battery life of the LCD version of the Deck has this game running at roughly 90 minutes on a full charge, but be warned that the system fan will go at full blast from time to time. The only issue that you may experience is a bit of audio crackle whenever a long string of dialogue is being played. Otherwise, the game is a very good fit for the system.

It isn't perfect, but God of War: Ragnarok remains a very good adventure game. The main story might meander for a good chunk of time, but the tale in the DLC makes up for that nicely. The action remains solid from beginning to end, and the usual additions made to the PC version and the disabling of hints almost makes up for the questionable decision to make a PSN login mandatory. If that last part isn't a deal-breaker, then you'll have a great time with Ragnarok on the PC.

Score: 8.5/10