God of War is one of PlayStation’s flagship series, so it was a bit of a surprise to see it coming to PC. However, despite missing all the previous titles in the series, this 2018 adventure has finally made its way to PC. In the game, we will play the role of Kratos, the ancient Greek god of war, traveling through the Nordic landscape with his son Atreus. At the beginning of the game, Kratos and his family lived a relatively normal life until the death of his wife, whose last wish was for Kratos and their son to scatter her ashes on the highest peak in the area . Not everything goes smoothly, the Norse gods meddle in their affairs, and as part of the journey Kratos must battle monsters, dragons, trolls, and a myriad of foes.
All that has to be said about this adventure, the game is still as good as it was in 2018. This version is basically the exact same game, with all the extra content incorporated into this version as well. The Santa Monica studio made the right choice in a semi-open world. Without compromising the open-world aspect of the game, the story takes center stage. Dialogue and details bring Midgard and the other worlds you visit to life.
On PC, there are a few other options in the settings menu. You can use the same graphics as the original PS4 game, or significantly improve the graphics. The picture looks very good and the difference is clearly visible. It’s not quite the jump from GTA V on Xbox 360 and PC, but it’s still noticeable. For the most part, the game also worked well, with smooth combat. My experience was not riddled with bugs, however, the framerate of the game started to drop over time and the only way to fix this was to restart my gaming PC. This happened on two different computers and changing the settings didn’t improve the situation. Can’t pinpoint exactly what the bug is, even though I’ve been trying to speculate, but hopefully this part can be fixed soon.
The copy for review was provided to us a few weeks before release, and the graphics card manufacturer has not released an update for this game. Additionally, the developers are working hard to respond to some issues, which hopefully will be resolved before or shortly after the release. An example of this is their realization that rapid changes in control methods can create problems. I would like to stress that the above issues are the only ones that affected my experience, but are worth mentioning anyway. Plus the game supports 4K, and with that in mind, it’s hard not to pay homage to the visuals. The world is absolutely wonderful and it breathes life into the fairy tales I read as a child. “God of War” is exquisite, meticulous and pleasing to the eye, a wonderful interpretation of the ancient Nordic gods.
I was caught off guard every time I heard Kratos say “boy” in his deep bass, and on a PC it was very, very straight. The menus work well on PC and are fully mouse and keyboard playable. If you want to change the control scheme, you can also change the buttons. It’s not as customizable as other PC versions of PlayStation games, but it’s much better than many other paradigms over the years. Still, I’d recommend using a controller, as the game is entirely designed around the controller in third person, and it’s clearly noticeable. For example, you can’t use the mouse and keyboard to adjust the movement speed — so to use this feature, you do need to use a controller.
The PC version offers a great story that is as popular today as it was when it was released. It’s impressive whether you’ve played it before, or if you’re a new player to the series. Visual upgrades breathe new life into the game, while gameplay remains the same high quality. God of War has been wonderfully complemented by an unexpected format, and hopefully the sequel follows the same path. A few options in the menu and technical issues meant that the overall impression was a bit damaged. On a final note, it’s still a great piece.
