God of War: Ragnarok is the perfect representation of the myth in a video game
Playing God of War: Ragnarok is such a unique experience that it would be reductive to classify it only as an excellent action game: here it is a question of experiencing the stories of the Norse myth firsthand. Stories that have been revisited compared to the original Edda Poetica and in Prose, but from which it is evident how the developers of Sony’s Santa Monica Studio have been able to pay great attention to detail and an intelligent visual representation of the myths . We will soon go into detail with respect to this statement, but obviously without going into inappropriate spoilers, it would in fact be a crime to anticipate some epic moments of the title.
God of War: Ragnarok is the sequel to the reboot of the God of War saga released in 2018. The new deeds in the Nordic lands of the god of war Kratos, together with his son Atreus, had immediately conquered the public thanks to a narrative component much deeper and more introspective , which gave a new dimension to the character of Kratos: in the original trilogy the Spartan was represented in a two-dimensional way as a fierce and incessantly furious warrior , seeking his revenge against the pantheon of Greek gods. His was a soul without the possibility of redemption, victim of the same wrath as him, as then clearly seen at the end of God of War 3. In the 2018 chapter, however, we saw him aware of his mistakes and willing to rediscover his humanity, also for the good of his son, despite the fact that until the end he did not feel adequate in the role of father for the sins committed in the past. However, this great change in the saga left intact the spectacular action that is typical of it and the presence of a nice cast of deities, rather well represented.
God of War: Ragnarok is the perfect sequel to the 2018 chapter , from which it doesn’t want to deviate either in the narrative, with the story continuing from where it left off, or in the gameplay, which remained very similar to its predecessor, but expanded and improved in each appearance.
From myth to videogame
The myth has been a constant in man since its inception. Every existing community has always been accompanied by its myths About him; every culture has had stories of gods and events that have represented different cosmogonies and that somewhat embodied the very essence of a people. One of the first mythical events written in the history of the world is the Epic of Gilgamesh , an epic poem from Mesopotamia from the third millennium BC which narrates the deeds of the king of Uruk and his exploits against monsters and gods on his journey in search of immortality.
Since then the myths have ceaselessly followed one another in the history of humanity and even when the divinities of the various pantheons have no longer been venerated by the people, their stories have continued to live changing shape . Some deities, such as Thor or Hercules, have become superheroes, and the very concept of “superheroes” endowed with superhuman and often divine powers, while other times real deities created precisely for comics and films (such as the recent Black Adam ), embody the essence of mythological stories. Among these new forms of narrating the myth there is also the video game and the two God of War titles are the perfect example.
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The beginning of this new adventure takes place three years after the end of the previous journey of Kratos and Atreus. In this period Fimbulwinter has broken out on Midgard and on the other worlds of Yggdrasill , the endless winter that will lead to Ragnarok, the epic sunset of the Nordic gods, in which they will face the forces of chaos in a final battle that will destroy the world. Kratos and Atreus have remained hidden all these years training and preparing for the coming of Ragnarok, but Atreus’ will to seek his place in the world and find out what the prophecies of the giants have in store for him push him to disobey his father to find the answerswhich, as a good teenager, he is looking for. From here the events will unleash that will lead our protagonists to meet a host of old and new characters, of which, however, we do not want to anticipate anything.
God of War: Ragnarok has nothing trivial about its story: don’t expect a rush to Asgard with Kratos taking down all of the Norse pantheon. Of course, the battles with the bosses will not be lacking and they will be epic as never before, but one of the main themes is precisely that of change and Kratos is its symbol. The Ghost of Sparta no longer fights out of hatred, anger or revenge, but rather tries to avoid confrontation and wants to make his son think about how much war does not lead to anything good, and even when he finds himself fighting he will only do it to defend himself and especially his loved ones . Despite this, he will never come to terms for his own personal gain, showing that he respects more and more the people he now calls friends.
Kratos is the symbol of how great writing can transform a two-dimensional character, destroyer of everything he encounters, into a much more multifaceted and introspective one, a god who wants to feel like a simple man again . The rendering of the character is simply sublime and it will be difficult not to get attached to this new Kratos, above all thanks to the splendid acting of Christopher Judge , the American voice actor who plays him doing a magnificent job (a speech that also applies to all the other members of the English cast) . The Italian dubbing is also well done, but the original one is absolutely on another level.
However, Kratos will not be the only character to pierce the screen, in fact we will find a more grown-up Atreus with the desire for rebellion and the desire for answers typical of a teenager, which will lead him to make his mistakes , as we all have done since young. A host of interesting characters is added to the two: old allies (such as the dwarves Brok and Sindri or Mimir, the talking head that belonged to the wisest man of the nine kingdoms), who in this second chapter of the story shine more than ever with dialogues entertaining able to dampen the tension, and several antagonists, much deeper and more constructed than one might think. Thor will not be there just to be confronted, but will have his own story, his problems and thoughts of him, as well as Freya, still furious with Kratos for what happened in the first episode. Not to mention the new additions to the cast, which further expand the epic of the story thanks to extremely well-constructed beautiful dialogues.
The characters laugh, joke, argue and above all tell about their lives and other stories that fit perfectly into the narrative background and all with a unique naturalness , so much so that it will seem like you have known them all for a lifetime. Several times we stopped just to hear the stories told by Mimir or the anecdotes of Kratos.
To this already great videogame narrative test are added some strokes of genius that have left us speechless with regard to the mythological representation of some characters and stories. In mythology it often happens that there are stories that are impossible to imagine with the tools of normal reality, especially when it comes to the genesis of a character. For example, in Greek mythology Athena was born from the head of Zeus to symbolize the wisdom resulting from the thought of the individual and the goddess is in fact the patroness of this aspect: in a modern work a similar story is difficult to render realistically, even if with mystical elements in between. And yet, in God of War: Ragnarok the authors have managed to make sense of some Nordic legends that are apparently impossible to adapt faithfully and believably at the same time, and above all they have succeeded without distorting the story. We don’t want to tell you too much, but for example the birth of Jormungandr and Fenrir, both conceived by Loki in the tales of the myth, here find their own dimension that does not deviate too much from the original.
Fans of Norse mythology will rejoice in front of these scenes, not to mention the myriad other epic details present in the long history of the game, such as the beauty of the wolves Skoll and Hati, who will chase the sun and the moon before your eyes, as already seen in the trailers, or the spectacular battles against creatures of myth and other deities , which will make you shiver for their epic rendition.
How a god of war fights
God of War: Ragnarok, however, is not only beautiful from a narrative point of view, but also represents a top-level game in terms of its gameplay . The exploration has been greatly expanded compared to the previous chapter. We will not be faced with a title with an open world, but this time we will be able to visit all nine worlds of Yggdrasill. Each area will be mainly linear and at the service of the story, but there will be detours and optional areas and the developers have often enjoyed experimenting and offering something different than a simple path to follow. For example, the trials of Muspelheim will return, in which the player will have to test his fighting skills, not to mention some interesting new features such as the surprises of Niflheim or a huge area with freer exploration and full of secrets located in Vanaheim. This will also be completely optional, but in this game almost all the optional content tells parts of the story that are very important to the general background.
However, stealing the show is the fight , which will see Kratos immediately obtain his iconic weapons: the Leviathan ax and the Swords of Chaos. The combat will work in a similar way to the previous title, but will be expanded in several aspects such as the possibility of infusing each weapon with its own basic element (ice for the ax and fire for the swords) to perform new attacks. You will then be able to acquire new skills, different types of Fury of Sparta (Kratos’ special ability, which allows you to attack your opponent in a fit of rage, becoming almost invincible for a few moments) and new runic attacks, ie the special attacks of every weapon.
The more you continue with the game, the more battle options will expand, leading to dynamic, varied combat which, once mastered, will allow you to develop truly spectacular attack sequences, so much so that you will experience the thrill of actually enjoying the power of a god , especially after taking down massive monsters the size of a house. Know that, in order not to spoil the surprise, as regards the options in combat, we have only talked about the tip of the iceberg. It will then be possible to equip Kratos with different armor and shields, each with different effects, not to mention the special relics and amulets that will allow us to customize the aspects of our mighty warrior according to the style of play we prefer: for example, we can aim for greater damage stuns or elementals, to a greater offensive or defensive capacity.
The flagship of God of War: Ragnarok are its boss battles . One of the criticisms leveled at the first game was that the boss battles were too few: in Ragnarok there will be many , especially against minor opponents, such as mighty beasts, mythical creatures and warriors of great power, which will still be challenging and very fun to deal with. The best, however, will come with the clashes against the main bosses of the story and here we will witness moments of incredible epicness, worthy of a great tale of the myth .
God of War: Ragnarok is currently the best it is possible to play on PS5 (and also PS4) among the console exclusives. The narration has an extremely high level of care , enjoyable by anyone: from those who just want a good action game and those who love fantastic stories, up to giving their best with those who know a little about the Norse myths. The gameplay is a perfect center in all its aspects and in addition the game features over 60 accessibility options , allowing as many audiences as possible to enjoy them. The epic created by Santa Monica Studios is an unmissable title, which will remain in the annals as one of the works that have best managed to pass on the essence of ancient mythologies in modern mediums.
