In 2023, gaming enthusiasts can take their passion for the God of War series to the highest level. With the release of God of War 5 Ragnarok, players will be able to challenge themselves by playing in the hardest difficulty setting ever seen. This mode will test their skills and strategy as they battle against endless hordes of enemies.
Players such as myself can expect a thrilling adventure as they journey through Midgard and the other 8 realms. Playing God of War 4 on its highest difficulty will be an unforgettable experience that no gamer should miss out on! Or that's what I was told by my long-term friends.
In Give me God of War, we get to see the average enemies have higher HP and damage. That major rise in difficulty gave me a really hard time during battles with the normal Draugrs. You could literally hear me say, “I beat Bloodborne, this should be easy”.
In the opening scene, we can see that the father and son duo is preparing a funeral. The wife of Kratos whom we never got to see is going to be taken out of their house, ready to be cremated.
One last look from the wise God of War, looking at his partner before vanquishing all the memories.
The body wasn’t the only thing that was burning. His eyes were encased with flame, all the sweet memories and events turning into dust.
In the initial fight between the Draugrs and Kratos where Atreus hangs back. It took me 22 minutes to complete that single location!
I was in a messenger call with the schnooks I call friends throughout and I believed that I had mastered the whole of the combat system during that time. They told that this was merely the beginning, that there would be more terrifying battles ahead.
In the end, I knew and still know what I want. To beat this game in the hardest difficulty in the first go, because I won't have the time to come back to it. New and improved games would dominate the socials and I would have to get my hands on them, like GOW: Ragnarok which I still don't have🙁.
Moving on, I tap some buttons on the menu section and find the enemy types I’ve discovered.
After a little more progression I found this optional area with rabid wolves. There was a chest that I had to get my hands on.
The next confrontation took me 7 minutes to clear, I was getting greedy about the damage and didn't care about defending.
This time I was trying to utilise the axe throw, and go for that ranged battle.
After the fight, in the corner of the place I found a lore that I didn’t understand. 2 brothers or wolves, one with the sun and the other with the moon.
The story part was resumed, Atreus found the deer and this time Kratos made sure to hit his mark. Without fail, he shot and hunted the animal.
They came closer to their prey. Atreus didn’t have the heart to finish off the deer, seeing it in its painful state. Kratos calmly grabbed his hand and drove the knife into the heart area of the deer.
After about an hour and 15 minutes of playing the game, I finally reached the first boss / mini-boss of the game, Daudi Kaupmadr. It shamelessly took the prized deer that Kratos and his son had hunted all evening. Here too I needed 6 tries before felling him, about 10 minutes.
I cleared some more puzzles and got into a clearing near the home of Kratos. He had lit the dead body before heading out for the hunt.
He came close to the cremation and picks up some of the ashes of his wife and filled it in a small pouch. This was the saddest face I had seen him make.
His house was nothing fancy or special. A wood cut into the shape of a bed, two beds close to each other, perpendicularly. They used animal skin as mattresses. The roof wasn't entirely covered by the wood and that's how the light got inside this hut. This goes to show that you don't always need the extravagant things in life to live, the simplest forms of comfort are truly beautiful.
Coming back to the story, Atreus insists that he was battle ready. Kratos asked him to land a hit on his palm to prove it. Atreus's hits were deflected by his other palm and Atreus was proved wrong. Kratos gave him a piece of advice, that the anger that Atreus harbors have no benefit if he can't use it in the proper manner.
Just then, a loud sound grabbed the attention of the son and father duo and lands on the front of the hut.
He knocks on the door like a gentleman, and a voice says, "Come on out, no use hiding anymore. I know who you are. And more importantly, I know what you are".
Kratos asks Atreus to hide in the chamber under the floor.
That's when we get to meet the short devil, the man who didn't say his name. He went on to say what was similar to Kratos according to his imagination.
They engage in some come conversation, the thin man slaps Kratos to get a reaction out of him. Kratos asks the man to leave his home. The man calmly says, "You are going to have to kill me for that to happen" and instantly starts to punch the God of War.
Kratos blocks an attack and face punched the guy. He flew back, rolling. The stranger says that it was his turn and punched the God of War into the air, he landed on the other side of his home.
A vicious duel had begun. I wanted to start this duel in the next episode because I was exhausted at this point, and a bit hungry.
All this happened in an hour and 40 minutes. I know this shouldn't have taken this long to get here but here I am. So far, the difficulty rose from GTA to Dark Souls if not higher. The art is exceptionally beautiful and the story is just starting to get to its best bits.
All in all, this is a beautiful game, with tough and annoying enemies, and a story that is getting better and better.