2018 God of War is one of the best games of all time. And with the move to Windows PC almost four years after launch, it’s managed to get even better.
God of War surprised players with the way the series has matured – like making Kratos a character people care about instead of an unrepentant bastard, and doing away with the extreme objectification of female characters. But as much as developer Sony Santa Monica focused on building a new legacy, it didn’t completely do away with the past.
God of War begins years after Kratos’ adventures through Greece, where he slew the entire pantheon of Olympian gods. Now a father again, he’s trying to pull his son Atreus in a different direction to help Atreus avoid some of the cruel mistakes Kratos made in his previous lives on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.
It’s still a series about anger, but instead of focusing on the youthful frustrations of the past, it offers a more mature take. Fear is the new heart at the center of Kratos’ anger – fear that Kratos’ past will never leave him alone, that his son will find out who he really is, and that he is too broken to ever be the father, who he must be . And of course, fear fuels a new rogue gallery of enemies – the Norse gods – all struggling to stave off the end of the world.
God of War packs a beautiful story into an exciting third-person action and puzzle game. It shows a passionate appreciation for Norse myths in the way it makes these gods into compelling characters. It takes RPG systems, narrative-based exploration, unique weapons, and storytelling tricks from different types of games and fuses them all together perfectly. It’s a marvel of modern game design, but it’s been tethered to the PlayStation for years, limiting both its technical potential and the number of people who can experience it.
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Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/PlayStation PC
With this PC release, Sony has not only delivered an excellent game for the masses of PC gamers; has also existed God of War a second life as a feast for the eyes. The original release looked great in 2018 on PlayStation 4 and 2021 on PlayStation 5. But 2022 God of War looks absolutely stunning on PC.
On ultra settings, God of War runs smoothly on my PC at 120 frames per second in 1080p resolution. (I’m rocking an Nvidia RTX 3080 with a 3.80GHz Core i7-10700K processor and 32GB of RAM.) Draugr’s molten innards shatter with a crack as Kratos rips open the creatures, spewing orange entrails everywhere. In emotional moments, the subtle twitches of Kratos’ face betray his thoughts beautifully. And in close-ups, I can count the individual gray hairs in his beautifully detailed beard.
Nothing compares to a game like God of War seeing for the first time the waters pouring out of the Sea of Nine as Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, rises from the waves. But when the giant snake opened its mouth and its voice roared through my headphones, I was even more impressed with its design – its 4-year-old model and textures look superb even with my face just inches from the monitor. The water dripping from his mossy beard, the shadows in his nostrils and his trembling throat as he speaks – everything looks better than ever. It’s the same game but with its already impressive sets and graphics that have popped up creating an even more immersive experience.
But my lovely playthrough on PC wasn’t without its hiccups. In rare cases, small screen tears occurred during fast corners. Kratos’ armor also occasionally slices through his body or objects. The improved visuals make 2018’s level of detail more noticeable on certain textures – like a rare breed of light gold chests – as the game’s enhanced shadows don’t seem to pull the same weight on lighter textures. But these blemishes were the exception to the rule and contrasted with the beauty seen throughout the game.
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Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/PlayStation PC
The superb graphics and smooth performance of the PC version is something I was hoping for – a way to see this excellent game in a new light without being restricted by my PS4, which was only a few years away from playing for a PS5 to get on the bench. God of War is an exciting addition to anyone’s Steam or Epic Games Store library because it looks beautiful and runs almost perfectly, but there’s another reason to be excited about the jump to PC: a legion of new players will be the magnum opus from Sony Santa Monica can experience first time.
With Sony’s recent move to get some of its exclusive titles (Horizon Zero Dawn, Spirit of Tsushima, days gone) into the hands of PC gamers, it opens up an even larger fanbase. Sure, some of these gamers might buy a console to try out God of War Ragnarok later this year, but that’s not the point. God of War is my prime example of how mechanics and storytelling can be combined to create something different from other media, a game I recommend all the time to non-gamer friends and family (with a high degree of success ). It was always a shame that you had to buy into a single console ecosystem to experience this game, and now that’s not the case.
God of War for PC is more than just a great visual upgrade to an already gorgeous game. It’s the best version of one of the greatest games of all time, perfect for replays and first playthroughs alike.
God of War is released January 14 on Windows PC. The game was verified using a Steam key provided by PlayStation. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find For more information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy, click here.
