God of War (2018)

“Atreus learning to be a god, and Kratos learning to be a human".

This is a quote from "Raising Kratos", a documentary about the development of this game. The game is essentially a road trip movie, and you can expect good character arcs from both Kratos and Atreus.

For Atreus, he doesn’t know how to deal with the world, his father, or himself. The line “He’s beaten, father... not a threat.” at the end of the game demonstrates his development through the journey. Loved the moment.

As for Kratos, the conflicts between his ideal and reality were well portrayed. I haven’t played any of the previous God of War games, but it’s evident that Kratos struggles to be the person he wants to be. The anticipation for the reunion with Chaos Blade was palpable; even I felt the weight, and connection to his legacy.

In addition, you can clearly see his character growth throughout the game. At the end, he was confident enough to tell Atreus about his tragic history. And when he asked Atreus to carry his mother’s ash. I was on the verge of tears.

Then after Kratos kept calling Atreus “boy” the whole time, calling him “son” for the first time was such a beautiful moment.

The entire game’s camerawork is done in a single take, which I believe it brings the story closer to the players. I didn’t even realize it while playing; it felt completely natural and immersive.

Unfortunately, the gameplay did not impress me. To maintain the game’s flow, massive amounts of help and hints were provided to the player. However, this killed the immersion for me. A lot of the time, the guidance felt too forced to me. It was an adventure, but I was not allowed to go lost.

Overall, a fantastic game. Best narrative in a game I’ve ever seen.

If I ever have kids or pets, I’ll definitely call them boys.