"I know you're a god. Not of this realm, but there's no mistaking it."
--The Witch of the Woods, God of War
"There are no good gods, boy. I thought I taught you that."
--Kratos, God of War
Abandoning the linear progression through rooms with their own fixed camera angles, the combo-based combat style of the classic games, and the very setting of Greek mythology, the 2018 God of War reboot makes very bold choices that successfully bring the franchise to an open world RPG style and to Norse mythology. It was already hinted that Kratos survived the apocalyptic consequences of his rampage at the end of God of War III, and his attempts to live in isolation with what is left of a new family are thwarted when an Asgardian representative bent on violent confrontation comes to his door. Using this as part of its springboard, the introduction title of the Norse subseries very effectively expands the depth of characterization that was always present in the franchise. The way that the parent-child relationship of Kratos and his son Atreus is integrated into everything from cutscenes to the very gameplay itself, building up across the entire story, is a unique accomplishment in itself. Of particular note is how Kratos, irrationally believing all gods must be alike in part because of his own deep egoism in Greece, struggles with first hiding his power from his son and then convincing him to not act cruelly once he is told.
Production Values
From the woods around Kratos' new home to enemies like the Draugr to icons from Norse mythology, such as the World Serpent Jormungandr, the God of War reboot is a masterful visual accomplishment. Much of the game is spent in Midgard out of all the Nine Realms, but this land, with its massive lake, mines, forest, and snowy regions, is presented with very high quality graphics. Whether because of mandatory story objectives or for the sake of optional side quests, other realms become available, including the icy afterlife realm of Helheim and the volcanic landscape of Muspelheim (where fire is supposed to have originated). The aesthetic for all of them is wonderfully executed with graphical clarity and generally smooth animations. Upon resuming from sleep mode, the game might run very poorly for a handful of moments, but this does not reflect its usual performance. With the voice acting, though, there is no flaw.
In fact, far more humor is here from new characters than the otherwise very dark series has ever seen. This does not smother the very somber tone that the core narrative possesses. Beyond mere words, the expressions and gestures of the characters also convey a great deal about them. The face of Kratos, especially the sadness in his eyes, and the conflict reflected each time he holds out his hand to touch Atreus but pulls away before his son can see, for instance, express his burdened affections wonderfully. Adding to the high production values, Bear McCreary's excellent music continues the series tradition of reflecting the narrative intensity while changing the sound to fit Scandinavia rather than Greece.
Gameplay
Beyond the new controllable camera, the main and side quest system, and travel by boat, the novel aspects of the gameplay include Leviathan axe, which replaces the Blades of Chaos until the latter are unlocked for the player to use at will. The axe can be swung or hurled and then recalled, as with Thor's Mjolnir, and it can be left on certain enemies to lock them in place with its frost effects. The throwing mechanic is required to solve some optional puzzles like striking three runes beyond melee reach in order to open chests. You might even have to do creative things like embed the Leviathan behind a runic bell, walk away to the second rune, and then recall the axe to ring the former, leaving you enough time to hit all three. The Blades of Chaos (as aforementioned) and Spartan Rage do still return with a new presentation.
The open world map system, unfortunately, is not as smoothly implemented as many other changes. It rarely is helpful for anything other than showing where Kratos is with regard to a very broad area, having little assistance to offer in actually getting from one precise part of a realm to another except for showing a single dotted line to indicate a general pathway. Even so, there are more dimensions for Kratos to travel to using the World Tree at the heart of the Nine Realms, with mystic gates linking individual places in the same realm. Each has a Valkyrie (or more than one) imprisoned by Odin that can be fought and killed to free them from their corporeal forms. Moreso than a dragon and the at-first unkillable god Baldur, many of the Valkyries are the toughest enemies in the entire game.
Aiding with Valkyrie fights and other parts of the game, the RPG elements of God of War mean you not just upgrade equipment like the Leviathan axe, but also can choose from different clothing options that have their own varying bonuses for vitality, defense, runic attack power, and so on. Items can be leveled up using specific materials found in the environment or from secondary quests. In turn, they also increase the chances of succeeding in other side quests, such as the combat trials of Muspelheim or exploration for key objects through the toxic fog of Niflheim. Areas can also be revisited to gain more experience points to fully upgrade all weapons and all light and heavy runic (magic) attacks.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
The second wife of Kratos, Faye, has just died, and Kratos and their son Atreus set out to fulfill her wish to spread her ashes from the highest point in the Nine Realms once an aggressive Aesir (one of the Asgardian pseudo-deities), who turns out to be Baldur, visits their home on Odin's command. The journey draws the attention of Thor's sons, and the pair also becomes entangled with a witch who has an identity beyond what she lets on. Kratos hesitates to share his own past and identity with Atreus, who admires his strength and yet initially does not seem to suspect him of being a god like the ones hunting them.
Intellectual Content
There are many layers to the irrationality of Kratos, only some of which specifically pertain to his son. "Do not assume," Kratos says when Atreus seemingly makes assumptions about the nature of a war in the elf realm Alfheim, but he openly assumes that all human spirits are self-serving liars, which is especially ironic given that he is a ruthlessly egoistic person except when it comes to protecting his son. In fact, he goes so far as to discourage helping anyone, biologically alive or not, if there is no personal material benefit. "Trust your eyes and instincts," Kratos tells Atreus. Intuition nevertheless proves only that intuition exists, and even then, a genuine non-rationalist does not know logical axioms or their own existence, so they are just passively believing things because they are subjectively appealing or arbitrarily persuasive. "We do what we please, boy" he says when hunting the deer, only to oppose this stance when Atreus, hearing he is a god, starts acting on impulsive, selfish, fluctuating whims.
At first, Atreus celebrates his alleged pseudo-divine nature, asking playfully if he can transform into an animal. He still quickly comes to scorn the mortal being his mother was, despite embarking on an arduous trek for the sake of her wish, and speaking harshly to a dwarven ally simply to flaunt his new sense of power. Atreus says that it feels good to be strong, to which Kratos says, "I know." Kratos has killed most of the "gods" from ancient Greece--not true gods or goddesses because none of them are uncaused causes as created beings with physical bodies--and led to the deaths of many humans when the natural forces controlled by the gods like Helios or Hera became highly dangerous. He desperately hope his son will not be like him and mishandle his power so extraordinarily. For all his shock or concerns before and after at children attacking their parents, though, Atreus fires an arrow into Kratos when his father was only trying to save him (attacking one's parents is a capital offense according to Exodus 21:15, not that Kratos has not done the same thing), somewhat mirroring Kratos' own aggression towards his father. Atreus starts saying that truth is more important than kindness to defend himself, and this could only be correct, since kindness being more important than truth would be true and thus truth would still be more central. However, he only says this out of his own egoism, disregarding the truth that it does not follow from him having the power to enact one's whims that they are morally good or permissible. The boy also says that gods can do whatever they want, but he objects to the Aesir doing as they please--an utter hypocrite like many people when it comes down to it.
Kratos is a hypocrite in more than the already-mentioned ways as well, calling all gods hopelessly evil despite trying to do "better" in raising his son (whatever he means by this in his arbitrary moral philosophy). There is no small irony in him assuming they are all like him and in trying to care for a child with a part "divine" standing that he despises. Hoping to restrain the emotionalistic acts of his son, Kratos urges him to kill in defense and not as an indulgence (more for pragmatic reasons, it would seem, than moral ones), yet he almost kills in this way at the end before he saves Freya from being choked by her son. However, he encounters someone whose rage and pain leads her to desire even worse things than Kratos ever committed in any of the games. Having been so emotionally attached to her child that she would rather die at his hands than be protected from him (a spell prevented her from harming anyone), she says she will rain down "every violation" on Kratos, which is obviously irrationalistic and wildly unjust if morality exists. "Every" cruelty or violation would involve things like all forms of sexual assault, eternal torture, and so on, so she is an absolute insect of a philosophical thicker to ever believe such things are just (at least with eternal torture, whether it is in Helheim or some other afterlife, this is logically impossible due to the inherent disproportionality) or to believe otherwise, whether or not she had rational grounds for doing so, and then promise to act otherwise. The God of War franchise is full of fools who do not deserve to live, and Freya and Kratos herself are among them, yet each character is used to exemplify the potential intensity of parental devotion to a child.
Conclusion
Released to the world eight years after the game it is a direct sequel to, God of War is a modern masterpiece of storytelling and reinvention. The approach to the parent-child relationship, as well as the the exploration of power, hypocrisy, and paganism, are incredibly well-executed. Regarding the former, the final boss fight alone has Kratos and Atreus assisting each other at the player's input in a splendid display of coordination that only develops well into the plot. The more bizarre ramifications of how the franchise treats its separate geographic regions within Midgard--so far, Greece and Scandinavia respectively--are addressed very scantily, given how the death of the Olympians decimated Greece and yet not even the sun dimming has any consequence for the land of the reboot. Either such things are mere constructs or illusory projections of the gods, and thus they can be contained to each broad location, or Greece and Scandinavia really are in different dimensions. Metaphysical issues like this aside, the game is deep in its philosophical themes, gorgeous in its visual clarity, and evolved yet reminiscent in its combat.
Content:
1. Violence: As much as Kratos is more reluctant to engage in combat, everything from fists to his axe blade and more are used to viciously attack enemies, which draws blood.
2. Profanity: Words like "bastard," "bitch," "damnit," and "fucking" are used by the dwarven characters.
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