It is God of War season with the release of God of War Ragnarok and players and critics are already saying that it will be a Game of the Year nominee. Ragnarok is the 8th game in the main series franchise and the second in what is referred to as the Norse era. The new era thankfully retains the brutal boss kills of the Greek era games.
God of War gained a reputation with gamers and worried parents alike thanks to its enemy and boss kill animations. Along with a fantastic combat system God of War lets players go through a quick time event to finish the bosses of the game with a flashy ending kill. As the Greek god of war, Kratos does not hold back when it comes to his kills which can be brutal enough to turn players stomachs. Some kills are worse than others, but they’re all spectacular in their own way.
10 Hydra
God Of War
The first boss kill of the series comes against the Hydra. The Greek mythological beast attacks Kratos while he is sailing on the Aegean Sea. After pummeling each of the Hydra’s heads in turn, Kratos uses his Blades to smash the Hydra’s head into a pillar multiple times.
Then he jumps onto its head and stabs its eyes with his blades. Finally, he grabs the Hydra head with his Blades and pulls it down onto the broken pillar so that it stabs up through its mouth and eye. While not the most brutal kill in the franchise, it does include the added detail of the head sliding down the pole and the smaller heads of the beast exploding.
9 Garm
God Of War Ragnarok
The Norse era God of War games do not have as many of the ridiculous and bloody boss kills of the Greek games but the more realistic situation and better graphics mean that the boss kills end up being more brutal with how personal they can be. In Ragnarok, Atreus and Kratos team up for a personal kill against Garm.
Garm is a gigantic hellhound who can tear through the fabric between worlds. Kratos and Atreus have to work together to stop him. Kratos knows they’ll have to kill the wolf while Atreus wants it to live. So when the father and son work together to break the wolf’s neck with a chain and pillar, it's a violent and bittersweet victory.
8 Helios
God Of War III
In God of War III, Kratos goes on his greatest god-killing spree in the series in order to successfully get his revenge. One of his earlier kills comes against Helios, the god of the sun. Helios’ death is a brutal one, first Kratos shoots his golden chariot out of the sky causing him to be caught in the hand of a Titan.
The Titan crushes him and launches the god across Olympus, and he is left broken on the ground. But the fight isn’t over there. Kratos shows up and slowly rips his head from his body with his bare hands. And to add insult, the god is still alive, now only useful as a screaming lantern for Kratos.
7 Icarus
God Of War II
Icarus does not seem like the most worthy of competitors for Kratos. He is an old man with no powers beyond flight. Just as he is about to fly across a chasm to meet the Fates and escape the Underworld, he meets Kratos.
Had Icarus only stayed quiet, the god of war would not have noticed him. Instead, Icarus attacks him saying he wants to meet the Fates first. They both fall down the endless pit to the Underworld but in the fall, Kratos rips Icarus’ wings off and sends the old man screaming back to torment.
6 Heimdall
God Of War Ragnarok
Heimdall is a brand-new character in Ragnarok and immediately makes it known that players are going to hate him by the time the game ends. He is arrogant and violent, constantly trying to find an excuse to kill Atreus. His bravado comes from the fact that he can see the future and therefore no one can ever defeat him in a fight.
But Kratos utilizes a new weapon that immobilizes him. He then destroys Heimdall’s arm but leaves him alive, in accordance with his new promise to be peaceful. That is until Heimdall attacks him anyway and Kratos chokes him to death. The kill is brutal because of how close the camera is to Heimdall’s blood-covered face and the voice of Mimir begging Kratos to be better.
5 Perseus
God Of War II
Perseus is a Greek mythological hero but as so often is the case in God of War, the hero isn’t all he’s foretold to be when Kratos meets him. In God of War II, Perseus has been trapped in a bath house for ages, slowly going mad, so when he sees Kratos, he attacks.
After a long fight, Kratos slams Perseus hard enough into the wall to crack it, shoves him face first into the bath waters to partially drown him, suplexes him, and finally throws him through a wall and onto a dangling spike that impales him and finally ends his suffering. It's a particularly painful and brutal end to a once-famous hero.
4 Magni And Modi
God Of War 2018
Before Thor was ready to arrive in Ragnarok, his sons Magni and Modi took their shots at Kratos and Atreus in God of War (2018). Kratos and Atreus fight them back ending with an incredibly violent and shocking ax to the face for Magni, who during the fight was much stronger than Modi.
The brutal part about this kill is Modi’s reaction. He really cannot believe what he’s seeing, no one was ever supposed to be able to kill them. His world is shaken so much that he stops fighting and runs away terrified. The next time players see Modi, he is half-dead. Thor took out his anger on him and Atreus killing him is little more than a cutscene.
3 Zeus
God Of War III
In God of War III all the events and coincidences of the series are finally revealed and the Greek era comes to an end. And it appears that every awful thing that has happened to Kratos throughout the games has been the work of Zeus, who until now has been historically misrepresented in media.
Zeus and Kratos have a long-drawn-out fight with multiple location changes, weapons, and cutscenes but the fight finally ends with Kratos’ favorite weapon, his hands. In a first-person fight scene, players can press buttons to pummel Zeus until the entire screen is covered in blood. Once the red slides off the camera, all that is left is the bloody pulp of the king of the gods.
2 Aegaeon
God Of War Ascension
God of War Ascension is the oft-forgotten game of the series that serves as a prequel to the events of God of War. Despite that, there are still a number of brutal boss kills in the series. The first in the series is that of the Titan Aegaeon.
This multi-handed monstrosity has been gruesomely converted into a living prison. When Kratos escapes prison, his gaoler Megaera releases parasites into the arms and eyes of Aegaeon in a horrifying sequence that turns him into a half-titan, half-spider monstrosity. His brutal death comes by him chomping down on his own body parts but by the end, it seems like he may welcome death.
1 Cronos
God Of War III
It’s fitting that the most brutal kill in the God of War franchise is saved for the original ruler of the gods and titans. Cronos was the father of Zeus and the other gods on Mount Olympus but devoured them to keep his power. They eventually won and cast him down to Tartarus.
Kratos’ battle with the bitter Titan is not for the squeamish. First he cuts himself out of Cronos’ stomach, releasing his intestines. Then he slams a giant, glowing crystal into Cronos’ mouth in a painful sequence. Finally, with the Titan completely defeated and begging for mercy, Kratos slams his sword into Cronos’ forehead, killing him.
Source:gamerant.com