God of War Ragnarök opens with some rough animal cruelty

Are you ready to start looking? Prey and then, almost immediately, hit the pause button so you could look up whether or not the heroine’s pet dog survives the movie? Are you putting on? Marley and MeDo you ever need to let your hair down? You might need to be warned about one of the first scenes. God of War Ragnarök.

[Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for the first 2-3 hours of God of War Ragnarök.]

Image: Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

God of War RagnarökThe story begins in Midgard with Kratos (father) and Atreus (son). Now, Midgard is plagued by snowfall and ice because of Fimbulwinter. A father-son team drives a sled pulling wolves, to get them through the treacherous conditions of blizzard. As they journey home together, Atreus and his father talk about a wolf who isn’t present for the ride — Fenrir, who’s back at the camp, sick and refusing his food.

Kratos tells his son to prepare for the worst, but Atreus won’t hear of it. Atreus discovers his pet is in horrible condition when he and Kratos return to camp. This scene ends in Fenrir’s death.

Unfortunately, that’s not the only example of animal death that happens during the first couple hours of this game. The scene that immediately follows this one culminates in the death of a mother bear; Kratos and Atreus find her two young cubs crying next to their mother’s body. The game’s protagonists don’t help the baby bears; Kratos instead elects to let nature take its course. The baby bears will then be adopted by another bear-family, I suppose. I don’t know if that’s a thing bears do — it’s just what I choose to believe.)

An hour or so after that, there’s a side quest that involves rescuing a trapped whale-like creature. This is the least intense of the three scenes, although it’s certainly still sad; the creature appears to be quite elderly, having lived most of its life in captivity, weighed down by heavy chains that restrict its movement. Its rescue is bittersweet, because although it’s still alive and now free, it doesn’t seem to care much about its own fate anymore.

The major theme in God of War Ragnarök Acceptance of death is key, and these opening scenes set the stage. This game will remind you to be thankful for the time you’ve got. While you’re at it, please be thankful for this warning about one of the saddest openings for a video game I’ve ever seen.