God of War

Playing the original God of War in 2024 caused a stark realization about how jaded I’ve become regarding my favourite hobby. The idea that a major release with a sizeable budget and a consensus of high quality from mainstream critics could actually be high quality was genuinely surprising to me. I forgot that this was closer to how it used to be. The 2000s probably saw the most progress in gaming’s transition between its early and modern incarnations, and God of War almost managed to get the best of both worlds.

Most importantly, it was able to aspire to a cinematic presentation without sacrificing its video game appeal. It heavily features quick time events – a common shortcut for a game that wishes it could be a movie – but they’re mostly restricted to finishing moves, turning them into satisfying punctuation instead of immersion-breaking obstacles. Even its soundtrack has grandiose scope without forgetting the importance of a strong melody and sonic identity. Furthermore, while I’d never call it mature (in particular, its treatment of female characters is frankly embarrassing), there’s unexpected sophistication in the way its plot is structured as an epic Greek tragedy. Lastly, as someone who’s very fed up with the recent proliferation of soulslikes, I cannot tell you how gratifying it is that the dodge and block commands merely require button presses instead of signed affidavits verifying that you are not currently in the middle of another animation.

The game is similarly forgiving in most respects. That’s not to say that it’s easy – there are a number of reasonably challenging sections – but it generally prioritizes giving power and control to the player where possible. To that end, the iconic Blades of Chaos are among the most inspired weapons in video games based solely on their flowing, hypnotic movements. Enemies become quite the damage sponges in the second half, and I was starting to tire of the combat’s repetition towards the end, but the terrific finale jolted me back to attention. Outside of combat, the platforming and mild puzzle-solving are surprisingly enjoyable, once again because they’re accessible without being completely trivial. That might be representative of the game as a whole; it projects a fantasy image of mindless rage and violence, but it’s not mindless itself.