If you’re not, the foreshadowing has been there the entire time. If you’re new, this is just solid storytelling. This moment again plays incredibly well, but also incredibly differently depending on your history with the God of War series. Once the boat reaches shore, we see ominous red light has supplanted the natural beauty of the cabin Kratos and Atreus used to call home, the same color of the rage that Kratos has been suppressing. But then the cinematic blocking expertly reveals Athena, the ghost of his past, sitting opposite him - a silent totem of what’s to come. The camera tracks in a circle around Kratos, who’s clearly alone in the boat. Bear McCreary’s score simultaneously puts us in the mindset of a parent grieving for their ailing child as well as a man who’s on a reluctant and painful collision course with his past. The bitter howl of the wind, the savage crack of thunder, and the panicked cries of fleeing wildlife fill our ears. Retracing his steps back to where the game began many hours prior adds a sense of gravity and contemplation to everything we’ve accomplished so far.Īs Kratos steps into the boat and sets off down the river towards his home, a literal and metaphorical storm envelops us. This technique is used to incredibly impressive effect as we accompany Kratos along every second of his journey. The latest God of War is presented entirely without a single visible cut, much like last year’s film, 1917. In order to save Atreus, we’ll have to travel back home, face the literal ghosts of Kratos’ past, and embrace the rage he has so desperately tried to quell. So the titular God of War realizes that his trusty Leviathan Axe, a frosty weapon that had been at the heart of the game’s deep, fantastic combat system for the previous 10+ hours, would be useless. Kratos’ son Atreus is suffering from a sickness that can only be cured by venturing deep into the frozen wasteland of Helheim. What occurs over the next five minutes represents an emotional and mechanical turning point in what a lot of folks, myself included, hold up to be one of the absolute best games of the generation. But if you were a fan of Kratos’ Greek adventures on previous Sony consoles and handhelds, you probably understood the tragic weight of those words. “I must return home and dig up a past I swore would remain buried.” If 2018’s God of War was your first trip into the series, then this was just a pretty cool line in a game that was already filled with a lot of pretty cool lines. This article contains major spoilers for God of War (2018).

Last upgrade for blades of chaos