God of War PC review: The best PlayStation exclusive comes to Windows

2018’s God of Conflict is among the greatest video games ever made. And with its transfer to Home windows PC practically 4 years after launch, it’s managed to get even higher.

God of Conflict shocked gamers with the methods during which it matured the collection — like making Kratos a personality folks care about slightly than an unrepentant bastard, and eliminating the intense objectification of feminine characters. However as a lot as developer Sony Santa Monica centered on constructing a brand new legacy, it didn’t cast off the previous utterly.

God of Conflict picks up years after Kratos’ adventures by way of Greece, the place he slew your complete pantheon of Olympian gods. Now he’s a father, once more, and he’s attempting to tug his son, Atreus, in a special path, to assist Atreus keep away from a number of the merciless errors Kratos made in his earlier lives on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.

It’s nonetheless a collection about rage, however as an alternative of specializing in the youthful frustrations of the previous, it gives a extra mature take. Concern is the brand new coronary heart on the middle of Kratos’ fury — worry that Kratos’ previous won’t ever let him be at peace, that his son will uncover who he actually is, and that he’s too damaged to ever be the daddy he must be. And naturally, worry fuels a brand new rogues’ gallery of enemies — the Norse gods — who’re all preventing to stave off the top of the world.

God of Conflict wraps an exquisite story into a good third-person motion and puzzle recreation. It demonstrates a fervid appreciation for Norse myths in the best way it makes these gods into compelling characters. It takes RPG methods, narrative-based exploration, distinctive weapons, and storytelling tips from completely different sorts of video games, and melds all of them collectively completely. It’s a marvel of recent recreation design, but it surely’s been shackled to PlayStation for years, limiting each its technical potential in addition to the quantity of people that can expertise it.

Picture: SIE Santa Monica Studio/PlayStation PC

With this PC launch, Sony has not solely introduced a superb recreation to lots of PC gamers; it has additionally given God of Conflict a second life as a visible feast. The unique launch seemed nice in 2018 on PlayStation 4, and in 2021 on PlayStation 5. However in 2022, God of Conflict seems downright beautiful on PC.

On extremely settings, God of Conflict runs easily at 120 frames per second in 1080p decision on my PC. (I’m rocking an Nvidia RTX 3080 with a Core i7-10700K processor at 3.80 GHz and 32 GB of RAM.) The melted innards of Draugr splinter aside with a crack when Kratos rips the creatures open, spewing orange viscera in every single place. Throughout emotional moments, the refined twitches of Kratos’ face betray his ideas superbly. And through close-up pictures, I can depend the person grey hairs in his superbly detailed beard.

Nothing compares to taking part in a recreation like God of Conflict for the primary time, seeing the best way the water rushes out of the Lake of 9 as Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, rises from beneath the waves. However when the enormous snake opened his mouth, and his voice bellowed by way of my headphones, I used to be much more awestruck by his design — his 4-year-old mannequin and textures look glorious, even with my face simply inches away from the monitor. The water dripping off of his mossy beard, the shadows in his nostrils, and his throat wavering whereas he speaks — all of it seems higher than ever. It’s the identical recreation, however with its already spectacular units and visuals turned up, creating an much more immersive expertise.

However my stunning PC playthrough wasn’t with out some hiccups. On uncommon events, I skilled minor display tearing throughout fast turns. Kratos’ armor additionally sometimes clips by way of his physique or objects. The improved visuals make the 2018 degree of element on sure textures — like a uncommon form of chest, fabricated from a shiny gold — extra noticeable, with the sport’s improved shadows seemingly not pulling the identical weight on brighter textures. However these blemishes have been the exception to the rule, thrown into distinction by the wonder seen in every single place else within the recreation.

Picture: SIE Santa Monica Studio/PlayStation PC

The wonderful visuals and easy efficiency of the PC model is one thing I’d hoped for — a method to see this glorious recreation in a brand new mild, not constrained by my PS4 that was only a few years away from being benched for a PS5. God of Conflict is an thrilling addition to anybody’s Steam or Epic Video games Retailer library as a result of it seems stunning and runs nearly completely, however there’s one more reason to be thankful for its bounce to PC: A legion of recent gamers will get to expertise Sony Santa Monica’s magnum opus for the primary time.

With Sony’s latest transfer to get a few of its unique titles (Horizon Zero Daybreak, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone) into the arms of PC gamers, it’s opening itself as much as a good wider fan base. Certain, a few of these gamers would possibly purchase a console to take a look at God of Conflict Ragnarok later this yr, however that’s not the purpose. God of Conflict is my go-to instance of how mechanics and storytelling can mix to create one thing distinct from different mediums, a recreation I like to recommend to nongamer family and friends on a regular basis (with a excessive diploma of success). It was all the time a bummer that it took shopping for right into a single console ecosystem to expertise this recreation, and now, it doesn’t.

God of Conflict on PC is greater than only a nice visible improve for an already beautiful recreation. It’s the perfect model of probably the greatest video games ever made, excellent for replays and first run-throughs alike.

God of Conflict will likely be launched Jan. 14 on Home windows PC. The sport was reviewed utilizing a Steam key offered by PlayStation. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.