I heard someone once describe this as the first Quadruple A game. That's pretty much how I feel about it. I played this when it first launched on PS4 in 2018 and I've been meaning to play it through again. With it coming to PC I was stoked because I definitely have the machine to handle it and I've been dying to hear Kratos say "Boy" again.

Journeying through Midgard with Kratos and Atreus, watching them deepen their relationship while learning about the denizens of the realm is the main crux of the game. The whole new setting for the God of War series feels really great. The impressive thing is that while the older God of Wars have you plowing through Greek gods left and right, in this one you hardly see the Norse ones except for maybe a couple instances. You learn about them through interacting with the world and they get built up very well so when you actually see one it's a really big deal. The addition of Midir (head) is really huge with him spouting off backstory all while you're exploring to make you really immersed in the world.

The combat is really where it shines though. Every swing of the Leviathan Axe feels so satisfying when it connects. Then later when you get a certain other weapon the combat reaches new heights. I've been playing through on Give Me God of War difficulty and it pulls no punches. There are certain things I could do without, such as the Revenants. They are the horrible witch type enemies that aren't so bad on their own, but when you have to fight more than 2 at the same time rage ensues. Also there are so many different armors that you can use, but you usually end up skipping certain sets because either another is obviously much better or the materials are just too hard to get with your current loadout. So you end up having to beef up and then when you finally are able to make the new armor it really just isn't that much better for you. Though this is on the hardest difficulty so I can see how it may not be tuned to be that balanced. Most of the time if you get caught lacking on GMGOW you are going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. Going back through some of the actual boss fights feel pretty lame in comparison to the rest of the game. This is usually when there is a dragon involved. The Valkyrie fights however while tough are real satisfying to finish up and tear those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wings off. I have died many a time with them having a few hits left causing me to exclaim loudly and slam the arm of my chair, but that feel when you finish them. It's a good feel.

I've managed to keep the game at ultra quality and keep it above 60fps most of the time. The only place that it struggles is the Lake of Nine hub area. I think that's probably because of the big ass World Serpent. I've become kind of obsessed with keeping games above 60fps and if I don't pull it of it gets really distracting and ruins my experience with it. Thankfully this game seems to have been well ported.

In the end when it comes to God of War (2018), I gotta say it has to be in my top 10 of all time. I thought I might not end up going all the way through it again when it came out, but it pulled me in just like it did before. And it kicked my ass, still is. If you think your computer can handle it you gotta play the video game.