I give this a thumbs down very hesitantly, if there was a middle option I would give it that.

Honestly, this isn't a bad game. But I got this game because I loved the original GoW trilogy, and this game doesn't feel like a God of War game. honestly, even by itself, it's a "meh" game. wait for a sale or get it...somewhere else..., not worth the price.

Cons:

-way too much talky talky in the beginning, way too many cutscenes and cinematics. Let me play the game. I barely care about Faye, you're just throwing this sad emotional cutscene at me at the very beginning of the game, wtf? why do i care? too many AAA games doing this these days, you think just because the graphics are super pretty and you throw in some halo sounding orchestral music or some sad piano music that you can just pad the game out with cutscenes. its a GAME, not a movie. LET ME PLAY.

- *STORY CONT.*: Story feels forced as ♥♥♥♥. Basically, Kratos is trying to just chill in the forest alone with his son, and everyone just really wants to ♥♥♥♥ with him. Yes, they *explain* a bunch of ♥♥♥♥ way later in the game, but you should not make the player wait HOURS before understanding what's going on. And if you HAVE to, at least make sure the gameplay is fun so it doesn't feel like a slog getting there!

-combat/gameplay does not feel like god of war, it feels like The Last of Us except without any stealth at all.
remember those prompts to rip out a cyclops eye after you'd weakened it, or the turning the analog stick to rip off a gorgon's head? remember mashing O to headbutt minotaurs and stick your sword in their skull? those brutal things that made god of war so unique? there's little to none of that in this game.

(combat cont.) the bigger enemies, kratos pretty much does everything on his own; you just mash RT to take away health until it dies. the first HUGE boss you fight, come on. one of the huge things about god of war is killing massive enemies in brutal, creative, *INTERACTIVE* ways. kratos almost does everything once you do the *press o over their head* prompt. that was so boring.

(combat cont.) One of the other things about GoW is getting new weapons once you killed certain bosses. of course this isnt new, megaman famously did this as well but it still felt really cool. theres none of that either. you get ONE new weapon, way later in the game, and it isnt even a new weapon, it's Kratos's most iconic weapon. wtf? you make me wait until halfway through the game to play the game as the real god of war? i have to slog through with this boring axe and some discount boxing fighting mechanics until i get his base weapon from every single other god of war game...

- RPG system is garbage in this game. I want to rip apart enemies with my BoC and press O to rip their heads off, not be going through a bunch of stats and percentages and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. What is this, World of Warcraft or something? I have to figure out what armor gives me x and y bonuses and 15%+ strength and compare it every single time to new loot I just picked up? This inventory management ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ does not belong in a GoW game.

I have more to say but not enough time right now. I will add on to this review later. tl;dr, game does not cater to GoW fans enough. if youve never played god of war and you're a younger generation of gamer, you may enjoy this game. But seriously, go play the older games. THOSE are God of War games.