The game, God of War (2018) broke a lot of barriers, to create an enthralling experience encompassing combats, narrative depth and look. Of course, anything that came after was going to have a lot to answer for in comparison to the one before it.
Still, God of War Ragnarok was up for it, building upon one of the best games out there and taking Kratos and Atreus through more Norse myths.
However, in the independent release on the PC PlayStation, it has again broadened their exposure to a much wider and ever-increasing audience.
Although it started in PC port, The Last of Us Part I still had some issues, but most games developed by Sony were good—And God of War Ragnarok proved this.
Pc gaming of Ragnarok feels nearly as smooth as on PlayStation 5 in 2022. Transferring a game of this quality to another platform usually causes lags or poor graphics on the new console, but that isn’t the case here.
The developers Jetpack Interactive, and in partnership with Santa Monica Studio, have done a great job to make sure that God of War Ragnarok fits perfectly well with PC.
The speed, and fluidity of gameplay are excellent; there is no screen tear or texture pop-ins. The continuity of cinematics with gameplay loses none of the feel and dramatic engagement that first won over the audience.
It contains the same level of satisfaction for the gameplay, which gives players various opportunities to defeat enemies. Kratos uses Leviathan Axe and blades of chaos as his main arsenal but the inclusion of a new weapon in later part of the game makes the fighting sequence interesting.
Violence is as nasty as you’d imagine, with loads of stabbing and hacking and slashing and the like which ties in with Kratos’ rage. Sparta powers introduced in this game’s story mode intensify the fight to something bigger than simple brute force, as well as strategy to clinch a win.
Still, one of the less surprising and more magnificent achievements of God of War Ragnarok is that of scale, not only visual but also narrative.
The story revolves around Kratos and Atreus, as they work their way through the game with a mix of purposes, anger, and disappointment that really captures the player’s attention from the start to the end.
This particular theme is squarely hit, watching Kratos try to balance between allowing his son to grow into a man and shielding him from all aspects of life that can be deadly.
This creates the emotional thrust of the game, as it builds up to fateful confrontation with Odin and the forces of Asgard. The fact that the war is approaching, and the specific events in the game provides endless moments of tension and suspense.
Those few who are lucky enough to be able to build or have access to a top-end desktop and tower PC get even more of a boost. Backing up for NVIDIA Reflex technology makes combat very tight, and unrestricted frame rate gives smooth movement throughout the game and its cinematics.
The player also has worthy of returning to the Game of War Ragnarok at 4K with more vivid images, enhanced details of the environment, and character models.
Additionally, the game supports panoramic widescreen options, allowing players to experience the game in ultra-widescreen formats like 12:9 and 32:9, make it more immersive, if the player has the equipment for it.
Standing out in the PC version we can mention the Valhalla DLC. Released for free and a continuation of The Realms of the Vanir main game, this add-on further explores Kratos’ life before his adventures in Norse territory.
The DLC is full of great action pieces and interesting narratives more deeply exploring some characters from Kratos’ time in Greece. Their passion is evident, as are the extended cutscenes; the fighting sequences give more dynamic feel as well; and this content is as optimized for PC as the main game.
Conclusion
God of War Ragnarok on PC remains to be a wonderful transition game in which nothing is sacrificed while moving on to another platform.
Heaven’s Vault remains beautiful and has close-to-console-quality graphics, maintaining fast-paced gameplay with various controls, either with DualSense controllers or with a mouse and keyboard. Above all, one must underline the fact that the narrative is still central to the concern.
Kratos and Atreus are not the only characters with such a wonderful story – every character has a good share of screen time, and the drama still feels as dramatic as when the game was released. God of War Ragnarok is a real masterpiece; playing it for the first or second time, or enjoying it on PC is a pleasure.
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