Not really. I think this game peaks at the beginning and post Alfheim really drags its feet. My main issue is the fucking combat man.
This perspective is absolutely awful. This kind of camera angle works for games like For Honor that are more centered on 1 on 1 encounters, but for God of War it throws so many enemies at you that you just cant focus on because Kratos takes up most the screen real estate.
The game does everything to remedy this issue from the shitty radar, to Atreus and Mimir telling you stuff, sans actually letting me see what the fuck is going on. And for a game with such a zoomed in camera, their are a lot of enemies with projectiles and their sound cues are surprisingly quiet and hard to hear, meaning that using the radar is necessary.
Add the flurry of slow-mo and effects and bad enemy telegraphs and it just feels like the game is fighting you on trying to have a good time. It feels like the game is more focused on keeping its one shot, zoomed in perspective over providing a readable environment for combat. And it wouldn't be a big issue, except GoW 2018 most involved portion of gameplay is its combat system as the puzzles are simple and easy and the platforming/traversal is pretty much non-existent with the lack of a jump button (seriously why can we not jump)?
There are just a lot decisions on the gameplay side of things that I just dont think worked out in the end, and the plot just feels like collecting a bunch of MacGuffins for propel the plot.
- We cant cross the mountain because the black smoke is covering it, we need a Bifrost to get the Light of Alfheim.
- We got it, and crossed the mountain, but this isnt the highest peak in all the realms, its another another place.
- Okay we got to go to Hel to get the thing cause Atreus is sick.
- Okay we got the chisel and found the gate to Jötunheim, but Baldur wrecks it. We got to find another way.
- In the end Mimir uses a rune or something a teleports them from Tyr Vault to Jötunheim.
Its just feels like a wild goose chase, and I really struggle to think of anything of interest that happens. This really didn't feel self contained at all, and the ending left me just as unsatisfied.
In the end I feel like this game is the very definition of a sum of its parts game. With exception of the art design and graphical fidelity, the parts of the game dont synergize into something truly great.