We noticed very quickly, that the developers of the Santa Monica Studio are fans of games like Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, Darksiders 2 and Diablo 3. You can feel, that the new God of War 2018 is massively inspired by games like that. The final product is a fantastic action game, which unfortunately not much innovative, but a game that has a great gameplay mix. This game also includes an emotional and catching story about a father and his son. We think, that fans of the previous games not only like this story. We think that fans and new players of this franchise will will like the game very much. More in the review below.

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The new part of the Playstation-Franchise does not play in the ancient Greece anymore. This time you are in the nordic climates. The game’s story starts very slowly and is very personally at the beginning. The story starts to be really great after a few hours and takes the player wild ride through the mystic world. From the stories of the previous games we know, that the hero Kratos wanted to retire. You can see, that he is much older and also has a beard. But Kratos has no time to relax after the drama in the family. Together with his son Atreus, Kratos has once again to went out on another great adventure.

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The Core of the game’s story is the relationship between Kratos and his son. This story has some space for emotional moments, drama and even humor. We find out, that Atreus is a very interesting character. He is also an addition to Krato’s skills. We love that in addition to Atreus, all in the game shown characters are important for the game’s story. Everybody has to tell us some things that are important and not useless. We noticed very quickly and can confirm, that all characters are excellent synchronized. Together with the God of War-Soundtrack, made by Bear McCreary and the great staging without a cut or loading times, we can say, that this game has such an fantastic atmosphere, we have never seen before. We could not believe it, but now we know: The new God of War is such a great story, that is exciting and surprising. Well done Santa Monica.

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Compared to the previous games, we also can confirm, that the new game’s battlesystem has changed, too. The movements are less hectic. This makes them more realistic. And there is some hints to the Dark Souls franchise. Now you have to block attacks with the new shield strategically. In addition to that you can now perform a role and us the “Lock on”-Function to foccus enemies. Useful is, that Kratos can through now his ax on enemies and call it back into his hands. If Kratos have not his ax in his hands he can still fight with his fists. Later in the game you will get a second weapon.In addition, you can tell Atreus to shoot on enemies with his bow. Because of the great animations and the quick analysis of the enemies, players will quickly have fun to fight their way through hordes of enemies.

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The 2nd level of difficulty is very challenging, but not such hard as in Dark Souls. Great is, that you can switch between the difficulty level at any time. The 4th difficulty level is available after you have played through the whole game. Great is, players that are patiently will master the battlesystem and even enemies, that are in a higher level than Kratos.

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Unfortunately, there is also another side of the coin. Even of the great battlesystem, we think, that the field of view is very small. Most of the time we have to look at the colored arrows to react as soon as possible on enemies that attacks us from behind.

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Yes, boss-fights belongs to the God of War franchise like the thunder to the flash. And the newest part includes some really big whoppers, some of them optionally. Unfortunately, the boss-fights are not so huge and impressive like in God of War 3. That also means, that players can be disappointed if they expect a action-loaded game from the minute 1.

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Now let’s talk about the game’s world, the loot and the new RPG-Elements like the skills. Is the new God of War a template for upcoming Action-RPG-Open-World-Games?

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In first hour of playing we had the feeling, that the new God of War is a game with a linear level-design. But this is not so. The Santa Monica Studio developers using here a Hub-Structure. A see in the middle of the map. From that point you are travelling by food or with the boat to the different regions. If you are not following the clearly signed way of the main story, you will find a lot of optional side-quests and loot. Some of the chest can only be open hour later after you get the right skill. This so called backtracking is not too annoying because you can open from time to time portals to have the opportunity of quick-travels. In addition, in most of the chest you can find high quality rewards like one that grows Krato’s health-bar.

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What we like is how great the developers hidden rare loot. To find such stuff you have to be very attentively. Some of the sealed door are only be open by solving puzzles. Some other doors can only be open by finding and destroying three rune stones that are hidden near to the object. You have to solve some puzzles in the main story, too, which are clever designed are great integrated into the gamedesign. We found out, that if you want to play the whole game will need more than 40 hours. There are also hidden missions and even Endgame-Areas like in GTA 5, but we do not want to spoiler too much.

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What we also like are the new RPG-Features and even the crafting system. Players can build Kratos his own armor by crafting. The are three Item-Slots for the shoulder, the bracer and belt. In addition to that, you can add a magic talisman to your amor. Great is also that you can do the same for Atreus. You can create the items by using rare ressources or by them for ingame money that can be found in the game’s world. There are in God of War 2018 different Loot-Quality-Levels like know from Diablo. The armor gives Kratos small or huge boni. Great is that you can also upgrade the main characters weapons. New is also, that there are a few talent trees for Kratos and Atreus. Each of this trees includes more than 20 skills.

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Brilliant graphics is what you can expect when Santa Monica Studios develop a game, especially if the game like God of War is a PlayStation exclusive title. From Kratos’ beard which is modelled hair by hair, sprawling, colorful vistas up to the mind-boggling details of giant creatures: God of War is visually more than an blockbuster-game and looks unbelievably great at any time. The textures are sharp, the movements looking fantastic and believable, the distance view is majestic.

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If somebody would tell us, that the next God of War will be the prime example of an Playstation exclusive title, we would not believe it. But we can be wrong, too. We defendly can recommend this game to every PS4 owner. The developers Santa Monica Studio been successful to develop a next part of a franchise, that give not many space to increase the quality. This reboot includes a fantastic story, with believable and interesting characters, wonderful scenes and bombastic graphics. Every gameplay-feature God of War seems to be where it belongs in it’s best ways. We have been so excited that we wanted to play the whole adventure at once. The mix of story, battles, puzzles and exploration is such motivating. Yes, you will say that some of the game’s features you have already seen in other games, but in God of War there are included in the highest possible quality. Like we said it before: Everybody that owns a PlayStation 4 has to have God of War, too. Fantastic job, Santa Monica Studio.

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