Almost two years since its initial launch on PS4 and PS5,God of War Ragnarokis finally available on PC, and to say that the port is a bit of a mixed bag would be an understatement. The port was met with skepticism even before launch due to its PSN requirement and massive file size, but it turns out those were the least of its problems. From weird audio glitches and memory leaks to constant crashes, God of War Ragnarok on PC is an exercise in frustration caused by a myriad of technical issues. If you may get past them, or if you’re lucky enough to not run into any of these issues, you’ll find a solid, if somewhat repetitive sequel that picks up right where the original left off.
Looks Better, Runs Worse
Before we delve into why the port is a disappointment, let’s talk about some of the positives because it’s definitely not all bad. First off,God of War Ragnaroklooks stunning and comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect from a modern PC game. We’re talking unlocked framerates, support for ultrawide and 4K monitors, integrated upscaling and low latency technologies, and various other visual enhancements. The port is also Steam Deck verified, which is always good news for those who prefer to play on the go.
Unfortunately, there’s no FOV slider inGod of War Ragnarok, but that’s to be expected. The game often uses the camera as a storytelling tool and adding the option to change the field of view would likely have caused a variety of problems. As far as the controls are concerned, you can expect full support for mouse and keyboard complete with customizable bindings, although I would personally recommend using a controller instead. The game was designed with controllers in mind and while mouse and keyboard work fine for the most part, the movement and aiming can feel wonky at times.
Performance-wise, it’s mostly a coin toss. The game launched with serious technical issues that caused constant crashes for lots of players, myself included. For the first week or so after launch, I could not play for more than 20–30 minutes without getting a crash or running into some other problem that put a damper on my progress. Things improved tremendously after the first couple of patches, but for me the game was virtually unplayable until the third major patch. These patches didn’t fix everything for everyone, but they’re a sign that the developers are doing their best to improve things on their end. Still, Ragnarok is a step backward for Sony when it comes to their PC ports, most of which performed better than expected at launch.
Mostly Solid Combat, But Lots of Boring Enemies
God of War Ragnarok’s combat feels almost identical to that of its predecessor, for better or worse. There are a couple of new combos and some mildly interesting companion abilities to look forward to, but there’s nothing to write home about here. Sony went with the old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage when designing the combat system, and it’s mostly still a blast once you get into the rhythm of it. Whether you’re freezing and chopping enemies to bits with the Leviathan Axe or flinging them about with the Blades of Chaos before turning into a rage monster and beating them to a pulp with your bare fists, there’s a lot to love aboutGod of War Ragnarok’s combat system. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about most of the enemies you’ll be fighting throughout the game.
God of War Ragnaroksuffers from a lack of enemy variety, a fact that becomes painfully obvious after you spend the first several hours of the game fighting the same handful of mobs. Things get more varied as you start exploring other realms, but I always found it odd that each realm only features a couple of new enemies. Stranger still, some enemies can be found in multiple realms, and they’re not necessarily the type of enemies you’d expect either. Sure, it makes perfect sense to run into Odin’s forces everywhere you go, but why are the same pesky lizards I fought in Midgard now bothering me in Vanaheim? At times, it feels like everywhere you go in this game you’ll eventually run into the same annoying enemies or some sort of variation of them.
To make matters worse, a lot of trash mobs inGod of War Ragnarokare unreasonably strong. While Kratos can hold his own against powerful gods and building-sized bosses, he can quickly fall to a small group of half-naked barbarians and their mangy dogs. I don’t think I died more than once to any of the game’s many bosses, yet I constantly found myself getting annihilated by over-sized frog creatures and little exploding lizards. There’s just something off about going toe-to-toe with a thirty-foot monster only to then struggle to beat a bunch of trash mobs. The balancing issues become even more apparent whenever you play as Atreus and blaze through every encounter without breaking a sweat. For some reason, Atreus is stronger than Kratos in combat, but only when he’s the protagonist. As a companion, he has little to no impact during fights.
Teenage Drama
Speaking of Atreus, he’s less of a sidekick and more of a quasi-protagonist now. You spend more of the game playing as Kratos, but there are quite a few sections where you get to play as Atreus instead. These sections tend to be heavily focused on the narrative, with combat encounters being there mostly just as a filler until you reach the next story dump. I didn’t mind playing as Atreus, but it wasn’t particularly exciting either. Now, I’ll freely admit that I might be a bit jaded at this point in my life, but a coming-of-age story about a boy trying to come to terms with his destiny while navigating the awkwardness of puberty feels out of place in a series that’s mostly about a jacked-up dude beating up gods and monsters. Sure, franchises grow and mature over time, though at this rate, the nextGod of War(if they ever make another one) might end up being a straight-up soap opera.
I like Atreus as a character, but having most of the story revolve around him while actively refusing to give Kratos any meaningful character development makesGod of War Ragnarokseem like it’s trying to distance itself from the rest of the series in more ways than one.Ragnarokis the most sanitized entry in the series, with almost every main character, including the titular hero, shying away from violence as much as possible while they’re outside of combat. This leads to a strange disconnect whenever Kratos is lecturing Atreus about the foolishness of wanting to start a war before the pair starts dismembering and decapitating people just moments later. It also makes the storyline about Tyr – the Norse god of war – turning into a pacifist far less impactful when we already have a god of war who, at least on paper, is now staunchly against war as well.
Sometimes Less is More
God of War Ragnarokstruggles to tell a cohesive story but bombards you with so many epic cutscenes and set pieces that you’ll rarely stop to think about its lack of focus. Much like its predecessor,Ragnarokoften feels more like a glorified big-budget interactive movie where you sometimes run around and kill monsters or solve puzzles in between jaw-dropping cutscenes accompanied by some of the most impressive visuals and voice acting found in gaming. For the most part, this formula works great forRagnarok, just as it does formany other games, but putting the story front and center like that can become detrimental when you’re not sure what sort of story you want to tell.
God of War Ragnarok’s story fumbles as it tries to wrap up several redemption arcs while introducing numerous new characters, exploring the dynamic between aging dad and teenage son, sending mixed messages about war and peace, making fun of Kratos’ grumpiness, awkwardly trying to tell food-related jokes, potentially setting up Atreus as a main protagonist for future games, and assembling the Avengers to try to stop the literal end of the world. It’s all a bit much to juggle, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the story leads to a rather unsatisfying conclusion. I wouldn’t necessarily compare it to the infamousMass Effect 3 ending, tempting as that may be, but let’s just say thatGod of War Ragnarokis one of those games where you’ll enjoy the journey much more than the destination.
The Real Ending
Once you’re done with the main story, the game invites you to jump into Valhalla, a mode that transformsGod of War Ragnarokinto a roguelike of sorts. Valhalla was originally launched as a free DLC and comes bundled by default with the PC version of the game. The DLC is heavily focused around combat and even introduces new ways to slice and dice foes. Narratively, this is more of a personal story that delves into Kratos’ past and gives the Ghost of Sparta the opportunity to confront some old ghosts from Sparta. The DLC features nice callbacks to the original games and feels like a fitting epilogue for old man Kratos.
I’m not usually a fan of roguelikes, but I did enjoy my time with Valhalla. The DLC encourages you to experiment with different weapons, combos and skills in a risk-free environment. You may have been nervous about testing a shiny new skill during the main campaign out of fear of messing it up and losing progress, but you don’t have to worry about that here since you’ll be running the gauntlet numerous times anyway. I suspect the developers did some rebalancing specifically for the DLC because combat in Valhalla feels fairer and there are fewer damage sponges in most encounters.
Closing Comments:
After launching in a fairly terrible state, the PC version of God of War Ragnarok is slowly but surely turning into a solid port that’s going to be easy to recommend once Sony puts out a couple more optimization patches. The performance is already significantly better than it was on launch day, but there’s still work to be done, so just keep that in mind if you decide to play it in its current state.
As far as the game itself is concerned,God of War Ragnarokcould best be described as a safe sequel.Ragnarokfocuses primarily on storytelling and big cinematic moments while refusing to take any chances when it comes to combat, exploration, or anything else related to gameplay. This refusal to innovate sometimes backfires as there are plenty of moments when the narrative isn’t strong enough to carry the rest of the game. God of War Ragnarok is mostly an enjoyable experience, especially when you include Valhalla as part of the package, but the sequel ultimately falls short in several key areas and isn’t nearly as memorable as its predecessor.
God of War Ragnarok
Version Reviewed: PC
From Santa Monica Studio comes the sequel to the critically acclaimed God of War (2018). Fimbulwinter is well underway. Kratos and Atreus must journey to each of the Nine Realms in search of answers as Asgardian forces prepare for a prophesied battle that will end the world. Along the way they will explore stunning, mythical landscapes, and face fearsome enemies in the form of Norse gods and monsters. The threat of Ragnarök grows ever closer. Kratos and Atreus must choose between their own safety and the safety of the realms.
