God of War

God of War (2018) - a soft reboot of the series from SIE Santa Monica Studio. Kratos, once the Greek god of war, hides in the Norse Midgard; together with his son Atreus (a demigod, about 10 years old) he must scatter the ashes of his wife Faye from the peak of the highest mountain in the worlds. The path leads through Midgard, Alfheim and Helheim, three of the nine Worlds of Yggdrasil; the other six are revealed only in Ragnarök.

The central thread is the story of a father and son: Kratos learns to be a parent (his trauma from the Greek saga is that he killed his own family under the influence of Ares), while Atreus discovers the nature of a god within himself. The main antagonist Baldur, the Norse god of light and son of Freya, is obsessed with the curse of invulnerability and with hatred of his mother. In the finale it is revealed that Atreus's real name is Loki: this is the starting point for Ragnarök.

In combat you control only Kratos: the Leviathan Axe (icy, thrown and returned by the power of thought) and the Blades of Chaos, a weapon from the Greek saga that Kratos takes up in the key confession scene. Atreus acts as a partner with a bow: he is not controlled by the player, but actively helps in fights and translates runic texts. An additional layer is the shield and parrying: correct block timing gives a serious advantage.

The visual approach is a continuous shot: from the start screen to the finale the camera never cuts. This technique was groundbreaking for large games in 2018 and became a signature style of Santa Monica. A full playthrough of the main story takes 20-25 hours, a 100% playthrough takes 40+. After the finale, the New Game Plus mode becomes available (added for free in August 2018).

The PC version was released on January 14, 2022. The port was made by Jetpack Interactive in partnership with Santa Monica. Technically: DLSS 2, AMD FSR 2 (post-release patch), 21:9 / 32:9 support, HDR10, no frame rate cap, no Denuvo. Steam Deck status is Verified since launch, and the game takes 70 GB of disk space.

Russian voice-over is officially included in the Steam build (Settings -> Language -> Voice language -> Russian). Cast: Mikhail Belyakovich as Kratos, Ivan Nepomnyashchy as Atreus (the same actor in Ragnarök 2022), Lina Ivanova as Freya.

The PC version was released two months before Sony suspended sales in March 2022, so the key has not been revoked, and activation through Steam is not tied to a PSN account. There are no paid add-ons, the game comes in full. After finishing it, the next step is God of War Ragnarök.

God of War (2018) - a soft reboot of the series from Santa Monica Studio: Kratos and his son Atreus travel through the Norse worlds to fulfil the last wish of his wife and their mother. 2018 Game of the Year winner, Metacritic 94.