God of War Ragnarök Review

The production values are close to absurd. Nine realms, each with a distinct palette and material language, streamed through the seamless one-shot camera the 2018 game established, with animation blending good enough that combat and cutscene stop being different states. Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic carry a script that is genuinely interested in a father recognising his own failures, and Richard Schiff's Odin is a triumph of casting against type: a reasonable, tired manipulator rather than a bellowing god.

Combat adds the Draupnir spear and finally gives shields real identity, though the enemy roster still leans on reskinned draugr and the encounter design rarely matches the peaks of the Valkyrie fights. The problem is structural caution. Atreus sections stall momentum, companions telegraph puzzle solutions within seconds, and the pacing sags across a long middle stretch of errands. Everything it attempts it executes beautifully; it simply attempts fewer new things than its predecessor did.