I watched friends play the first 2 god of wars but hadn't paid much attention afterwards. I wanted to play this because of it's great recommendation, but it took a good friend just getting it for me to finally play it, and I'm so glad I did.

The biggest gripe is a lackluster combat, and you'll not find this comment rare, but I'm gonna be honest I'm not sure if GoW fans remember how that's par for the course this whole time. It's definitely not bad or unplayable, just could be better and sounds like it will be in Ragnarok, we'll see.

The story is so good, the characters are so good, I just, am shocked honestly, I was expecting a super gratuitous violence fest... I got that AND a fantastic emotional growth journey as well!

They even took such a common boring trope of immediately having a dead mom, but then made her one of the most interesting characters just from general game dialogue. We know more about her than most any other character including Kratos/Atreus for a good portion of the game and it tells us so much about both of them in the process - perfect.

GoW 1-3: I never cared for Kratos even tho I felt sympathy for him. This game had me 100% along for his journey almost immediately from the start and only expanded it from there. It's so hard to praise the game and it's nuances without spoilers but in general understand this is a great story, even as a standalone experience. I bought the sequel before I was even done with this one, and after finally finishing this game I know I made the right decision.

Absolutely outstanding, great acting, great story, great visuals, superb audio (first time I've ever heard a game make the audio reverberent when you're in caves). Fantastic fights, massive world - it's just astonishing.

The game was everything I hoped it would be. The combat was very savagely satisfying. The story and the father-son interactions kept me hooked right from the start. Nice world to explore and a lot of interesting characters.
Smooth and seamless port.