"We are not men. We are more than that. The responsibility is far greater."
Hello everyone!
Ergo, I have to make do with the rest.
And I mean it's not that I'm complaining here, given the fact that the reviews I do eventually post are pretty darn good if I do say so myself, in terms of the topics I choose and the eventual format they take on once I'm done with them.
So tonight, as my first official blog post upon my return from vacation, here we are.
With another game review, potentially one of the best games of all times released in the recent decade or so.
I'm not the only one saying it, by the way, there are others saying the same thing.
God of War, the 2018 edition and fourth major installment in the franchise, is here to Spartan Rage.
I'll have links to other video game reviews I've done thus far at the bottom of the page of course, but otherwise this is the first God of War series I've ever watched (on Youtube, naturally, because where else will you be watching a gameplay? Twitch maybe, if we're being accurate, but mostly it's Youtube) and I've only just clocked into the fact HOW MUCH there is to know BEFORE this one.
I may need to do some exploring, but for the time being I do know moderately enough to at least understand the plotline of this particular segment and installment.
God of War (2018) follows the story of Kratos (voiced by Christopher Judge and MAN did they nail the casting!) and his son, Atreus, right after the death of Kratos' wife Faye when they prepare the burial pyre for her and gather her ashes.
Naturally though, as this is a game, it's not as easy as that - Faye's last wish was to be taken to the highest peak and her ashes scattered there, so the father-son duo (suffering from not being as close as Atreus was with his mother and actually not really knowing one another all that well) prepare to embark on that journey, which will be both difficult and long.
Before they can even set foot outside their own forest though (and this forest being one Faye must have somehow warded so they weren't found) they're visited by the Stranger, a tattooed dude who demands Kratos tell him what he wants to know ... but he fails to actually ever say just WHAT it is he bloody well wants to know, and goes for Kratos' throat right away.
Now, as we all know, even us noobs, Kratos is the Greek God of War, having defeated Ares way back when and taken his place in the pantheon, which then led to some other shenanigans (including but not limited to another Titan War and the destruction of said pantheon because of all the shit they did to Kratos during the intervening years). So naturally he's not going to take this lying down, but it turns out the Stranger is almost impossible to kill and heals super fast as well.
Still, Kratos defeats him and takes Atreus on the journey, since the forest isn't safe for them anymore at all. And one of the first people - or beings - they encounter along the way is a Dwarf named Brok, who actually MADE the Leviathan Axe which Faye left to Kratos and which the player uses as their primary weapon in the game. A little later you also get to meet his brother, Sindri, who used to work in tandem with the other Dwarf but they quarreled and split up a long time ago.
In-game, these two Dwarves help you upgrade your gear and work on your axe and Atreus' bow and the like, but they're also a font of information and general humour as Brok is a complete nutcase and Sindri is a germophobe. It's hilarious.
Anyway, the father-son duo, a little worse for wear, also run into someone called simply the Witch when Atreus shoots one of her friends - a magical boar - and she helps them afterwards by placing a mark on them to hide them from the warmongering Norse Gods (who don't take kindly to outsiders like, you know, a Greek) and who warns Kratos that Atreus is going to keep on fighting himself as his divine nature tries to conquer his mortal one.
Kratos, in his infinite wisdom, says he has it handled and they head off to the Lake of the Nine, where they wake up Jormungandr, the friendly serpent, and discover Tyr's Temple in the middle of the lake, standing in the way of their trek to the mountain. This is important because the way to the top is barred by some inky black smoke, and the Witch takes them to the Temple, explaining it's actually a conduit or passage to other realms.
The Nine Realms all exist one on top of the other, but only through Tyr's Temple can one travel to the rest, and some have been blocked permanently by Odin. As for Tyr, he was a diplomat who tried to keep the peace between all the races, until the Aesir gods kind of ... made sure that wasn't possible anymore.
Anyway, the Witch herself is prevented from going with them to Alfheim where Kratos and Atreus must gather the light of the Bifrost to be able to travel afterwards, and where they also stumble into the end of the war between and Dark and Light Elves, and experience some really terrific bonding moments that honestly make the game as good as it is.
Kratos struggles right from the beginning with showing Atreus any affection, and Atreus is convinced his father cares for nothing and no one, and isn't even grieving Faye's death - which of course isn't true, as we all know, but they boy just doesn't know any different, though if he had paid attention he would see that it's the little things that make a point, like his father pushing him out of the way of danger, or turning so he's the one hurt, not the boy.
Anyway, after trials and tribulations - and Atreus performing some badass feats while Kratos is inside the Bifrost light - they're finally able to get the Bifrost light and return to Midgard, now continuing on their journey to the top of the blasted mountain (and by the way, they have to go THROUGH it too, while they're at it).
As they do, they run into a dragon Kratos needs to fight - because who else is going to do it? - and Sindri gifts Atreus some mistletoe arrows, which Kratos later uses to fix his son's quiver strap after it breaks. These arrows are important, but more on them later, as the journey FINALLY seems to be over ... only it isn't, not really.
See our guys find Mimir, stuck in a tree, and he's been talking to three Norse gods: Baldur, or the Stranger, Magni and Modi, who happen to be the sons of Thor, and wouldn't you know it but they're looking for a big, tattooed man with a boy beside him.
Kratos respects Mimir's wish to sever his head from his body and take it to the Witch to reanimate, and it turns out the witch is actually Freya - and if you know your lore, you know Freya is a pretty big deal all around. She warns Kratos once more that Atreus needs to know his heritage, but again Kratos refuses, even though Mimir is on Freya's side BUT Mimir knows of a passage to Jotunheim, which had been closed by the giants years ago to keep Thor and Odin out, so they head off to gather components they need for the journey.
This, in turn, leads them right into the path of Modi and Magni, whom Kratos fights off (because he's a badass), but Atreus collapses. The boy is ill most of the game anyway, but this is bad, so Kratos swallows his anger and his pride and returns to Freya for help despite the fact he despises the gods on principle. Freya instructs him to travel to Helheim for the cure, but before this he needs to retrieve weapons that will help him, because the axe is useless there.
And so Kratos goes back home for his Blades of Chaos, Mimir figures out he's hanging off the belt of the Ghost of Sparta, and Kratos does in fact go into Helheim and survive the travel - but not without some visions from his past life, from both Athena and Zeus, his infamous father.
A revived Atreus is finally told about his godly nature, and Kratos explains he had been trying to spare Atreus from the responsibility, because being a god is kind of a big deal and a complication, though all this results in is the little shiet being more and more arrogant as time goes by - and Kratos, oddly enough, says nothing as this happens, but then again he's kind of busy as they travel to the highest peak of Midgard to open the portal ... only to be ambushed by a beat-up Modi, whom Thor raged on after Magni's death.
Against Kratos' order, Atreus kills the other god, but if this wasn't enough they're once again attacked by Baldur (who, by the way, is Freya's son mind you), and in the ensuing struggle Kratos destroys the gate to Jotunheim, but also manages to rescue Atreus before the kid is carted off by Baldur, though the lot of them fall into Helheim along the way.
This serves as a steep learning curve for Atreus, when his father finally yanks himself out of his stupor and barks that being a god doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want, and then they trek back to the exit - learning, along the way, that the reason Baldur is as he is, is because Freya made him immortal, against his wishes, and deprived him of feeling anything at all in the process. For her it was to protect him, but he's been on a rampage ever since, trying to feel SOMETHING.
Now though, the group realizes, or Mimir realizes, that there actually IS another way to Jotunheim which Tyr and the giants hid from Odin, but they need Mimir's missing eye first and foremost, which so happens to be in a statue of Thor. Only, said statue was kind of swallowed by the world serpent in a fit, so it's time for a bit of an inside job to find it (yep, inside the serpent) before none other than Baldur shows up again.
This time though, Freya interrupts the fight, and Baldur is warned by Kratos that he won't let her be harmed, despite the fact Baldur wants nothing more than to kill her, which he does attempt to do, but in the fight preceding this, the mistletoe arrow from the quiver strap on Atreus actually broke his immortality spell, so now he CAN be killed - which Kratos promptly does when the dude doesn't back off, earning himself Freya's ire.
Because, you know, letting your son kill you and then having him continue his killing spree is better in the interim.
Kratos also FINALLY tells Atreus the full truth of his past - his godlike status that came with a price, his fight with the Greek gods, and the eventual annihilation of the pantheon by his own hand, and how he's been trying to do better since having Atreus in his life. The trio then FINALLY opens the portal to Jotunheim (cleverly hidden by Tyr in the realm between realms) but they find a barren wasteland and a dead world. Apparently, the giants fled Midgard only to die in their own homeland, which is the saddest thing ever if you ask me.
The duo discover a mural which shows their adventures, telling them that the giants could actually vaguely foresee the future, and that on top of THAT, FAYE was actually a giantess herself - and that she named her son Loki.
DUN DUN DUNNN.
On top of the highest peak in all the realms, Kratos and Atreus - now with a firm bond between them - scatter Faye's ashes, and Kratos reveals why he chose the name Atreus to begin with: it was the name of a compassionate Spartan comrade he once knew, and honoured. With their task complete (and Kratos conveniently not telling Atreus about the final piece of the mural his son hadn't seen, one in which Atreus holds his father's body) they return to Midgard, where Mimir warns them that the three-year winter signalling Ragnarok has begun, even though it shouldn't have happened for a hundred more years.
But as they're all tired, not even the warning that Freya, who used to be Queen of the Valkyries, is searching for her wings which Odin took when he exiled her to Midgard, can stop them from heading home to rest ... which triggers a vision during Atreus' slumber that Thor is bound to pay them all a visit, at some point.
THE END!
Because what is a game without a cliffhanger ending, am I right???
Man, was this a fantastic story. It's a trek of course, and the point of it is to deliver those ashes to scatter, but the HEART of it are Kratos and Atreus, the gruff Greek god who could give Geralt a run for his money in terms of eloquence, and the young Loki starting to learn the ropes. This is the driving heart and message through all their interactions and plotlines and if you don't come to love the development then I don't know what to tell you.
It's an interesting weave of mythology with a lot of different elements put into it (for example, in some cases Frigg is Baldur's mother, not Freya, and even Atreus says so during one of the many boat rides, but in this one Odin married Freya for some reason, not that she wanted it) as well as the potential of more when the hidden mural that shows the way is revealed.
Because see, you have FOUR corners, with symbols for Greek, Norse, Irish and Egyptian in each ... which means there's more to come, but more importantly RAGNAROK IS COMING!
This has already been confirmed by the developing studio as the next installment in this storyline, and I for one can't wait. Kratos might start out as a rather oafish character but he definitely turns into a father worth having along the way, and I want to see more of him and Loki! I also want to see just how Ragnarok ACTUALLY happens, considering some differences from the Norse myth, and don't we all want to know if Freya's going to be fighting AGAINST Kratos or WITH Kratos when it all goes down?
There's only one way to find out, but in the meantime, even if you can't play the game, I suggest you watch some of the playthroughs you can find online.
Seriously, this is one of the best things I've ever seen, with writing tighter than a mithril shirt woven together.
This is how video game storylines should be done, people!
... also Kratos with the lumberjack beard, y'all.
10/10 recommend.
xx
*images and video not mine
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