While God of War Ragnarök failed to win Game of the Year in 2022, it was still one of the year's biggest titles and its upcoming live-action adaption, which was greenlit by Amazon in December (per Variety), has people talking.
While Ragnarök was positively reviewed for the most part, it's far from a perfect game - with missing elements and unresolved plot points that left fans scratching their heads. For example, Ragnarök will be receiving an update in Spring 2023 that will bring New Game Plus and Photo mode, both of which are things that should have been included in the original release of the game. This, and more, are valid criticisms of the latest title in the God of War series.
God of War (2018) & Ragnarök Should Have Been One Game
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God of War (2018) already felt like an incomplete game and many fans speculated that Ragnarök was going to feel far more like a DLC rather than an actual game. While Ragnarök was no doubt a bigger and better game, it definitely made fans question why God of War (2018) was ever a standalone game.
Both of the games combined would've made for a perfect length game and had it been developed longer they likely would've been able to fix other aspects of the game that fans haven't been overly fond of.
The Puzzles Are Terrible
The puzzles have always been infamous in God of War games and while they're not nearly as bad in Ragnarök as they are in its prequel they can still be painful tom complete. The difficultly means that many may have to search online to figure out how to complete some of them, and they quickly become tedious.
The puzzles feel shoehorned in to lengthen the game, which only adds to the frustration. The poor design and feelings of frustration they bring mean that some are not even worth attempting, particularly for those players who don't enjoy puzzles in the first place.
The Bosses Are Underwhelming
There are many bosses to fight in God of War Ragnarök, however, most of them feel extremely underwhelming. In fact, the best bosses are the difficult Berserker boss fights in GoW Ragnarök which are part of a long side quest.
Other than these, most of the bosses don't actually stand out too much aside from the first Thor fight and the Heimdall boss. The most important boss fights are the second fight against Thor and the final battle against Odin, both of which are incredibly underwhelming.
The Game Is Stiff, Slow, & Too Story Focused
While Ragnarök does have a decent story to follow, it's arguably a little too much and begins to feel less like a video game and more like a movie or TV show. While the best PS4 story-driven games have become beloved titles, many of them have far more to lean on than God of War.
There are a high amount of cutscenes in Ragnarök that take up a large chunk of the game time and, in addition, there are also sections that are mostly guided and feel like cutscenes. In fact, most of Atreus' journey in Jotunheim feels slow, guided, and solely focused on narrative rather than gameplay.
Holding Back Content
While the post-game content in Ragnarök is a significant improvement from its prequel, it still won't take players overly long to finish the game fully. Oddly, Santa Monica purposely held back certain features like Photo Mode and New Game Plus which won't be released until spring 2023.
This was likely done to bring gamers back into the game, but it banks on players caring enough to return to the title when that update eventually comes.
The Event Ragnarök Was A Letdown
The build-up of the game was the major event of Ragnarök, but this ended up being one of the most underwhelming parts of the latest God of War game. Sieging Asgard can't help but be compared to when Kratos goes to Olympus in God of War III and it, unfortunately, pales in comparison.
When players finally get up to Asgard - which is somewhat of a disappointment already - they have only two bosses. For a fight consisting of all the realms, which were massive, the war should have been intense and jaw-dropping, but instead, it felt mediocre and underwhelming.
Some Realms Lacked Content
The Nine Realms were beautiful in GoW Ragnarök and it was a bad decision to never let the player go to all of them in the first game. A few of the realms ended up lacking solid content.
Realms like Vanaheim and Svartalheim were handled excellently, full of plenty of side quests and interesting locations to explore. However, realms like Muspelheim and Niflheim were incredibly lacking in content which is a shame considering both realms were in the previous game and only needed to be slightly improved upon.
Unresolved Conflicts
The game leaves off at an odd place considering most of the characters will probably never get revisited again. One prime example of this is Sindri who quickly grew to become one of the most controversial characters in the game.
His hatred and rejection toward Kratos and Atreus was definitely unexpected and stemmed far more from hypocrisy than anything else. To leave the story with him hating the main protagonists felt odd, especially considering fans will likely never see him again.
A Lack Of Gods
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While Kratos has striven to no longer kill gods that doesn't stop him from fighting them. Kratos fights a few gods in GoW Ragnarök but not many. There's no reason for this either when Asgard is supposed to be full of many Aesir gods and there are many non-Aesir gods in other realms that Kratos could have encountered.
For a franchise that did such an amazing job of adapting the Greek pantheon of gods, it's almost heartbreaking to see how poorly Norse gods were handled in comparison. It felt as if the game developers chose to emit many of them so that they could finish the game faster.
The Narrative Isn't As Good As It First Seemed
The best part about Ragnarök is that it's engaging. However, an engaging story and game shouldn't be confused for a game with a good story. Much of the narrative in God of War Ragnarök feels like a mix of God of War (2018) and God of War III but with arguably weaker writing.
Atreus' character arc is probably the worst and his hiding of secrets and obsession with war comes off almost comedic. It also steals much of the depth Kratos had in the previous game where he now feels flat and is overwhelmingly sad more than anything else.
Source:gamerant.com