Before we begin, it is important to note that this article will not serve as a test itself, since this is the first game in the license to be tested by the editorial staff, also and above all, because we have not played to the original version and therefore have no real points of comparison. Here, we’ll pick up the essence of the game with feedback on our user experience to establish whether the game deserves your attention for release, or not.
The Mortal Life of a God
The epic of this opus of God of war invites you to embody Kratos who, far from his country of origin, tries to rebuild his life by leaving the past to the past in order to live in peace with his son and his wife. We do not know anything about the latter, as well as the years that the family spent on these lands. The story really begins with the death of his wife. She had loaded Kratos and Atreus, her son, to drop his ashes from the highest mountain in the Kingdom. Thus begins a family and educational quest where Kratos will have to moderate his hidden emotions in order to offer an initiatory journey to Atreus.
During their trip, our two protagonists will see their relationship evolve through all the emotions, ranging from sadness to laughter not to mention the coldness that inhabits Kratos, whose true nature her son does not know. Their epic will also be punctuated by encounters, friendly as well as enemies, which will be able to offer a new turn to their adventures.
Finally, we note that this opus is different from the usual God of war. Here, very little (if at all) fighting between gods. If they are an integral part of the Nordic history that our protagonists experience, they are hardly present. Besides that, it is a rather provided bestiary which makes its appearance in order to make the most of your ax, post-mortem gift from your wife.
The feeling
As announced above, this is the first opus we are playing, without even knowing the title initially released on console. Moreover, the great interest of this game is that it allows anyone to play it. This is the result of a story that allows us to learn more about the father-son relationship (which we discover), but also about Kratos, his wife, and bits of his past. The whole is watered down by transitions sometimes humorous, sometimes sad and accompanied bya careful and precise artistic and sound direction.
During our sessions, the transitions between shadow and light were well made, if we do not count certain places with sometimes too strong contrasts. The PC version offers a significant range of configurations allowing you to adjust the colorimetric rendering as you wish. However, the title wants to offer total immersion by trying to minimize the impact of reducing certain points in order to integrate smaller configurations more easily.
The title is advertised as compatible with NVIDIA DLSS and Reflex which, to popularize, tends to make the movements and actions of the character more fluid and responsive. Honestly, it is difficult to put forward exactly the technicality of the process as well as its impact in the game. However, as an average player, God of war seemed to us fluid, without jerking or unwanted loading that could interfere with the experience. To be honest, the only real moments of difficulty were more due to an error in interpreting the tasks to be performed or simply an enemy whose skills exceeded our own. Finally, it is possible to customize all the actions in God of war, but also to enjoy the game with any controller (as well as the keyboard-mouse combo, but that goes without saying).
In short, whether you are a connoisseur or a simple fan of the title, it is a unique and enriching experience that awaits you. Discover franchise in a new light with artistic direction and movements reworked to adapt to PC possibilities. From start to finish, there were no problems to report. The colorimetry is well thought out, although accentuated, no superfluous element or effect is amplified excessively, even during the fights whose reading is very well orchestrated.
The gameplay space
For purists, or simply those who wish to discover the title on PC, here is something to delight your pupils with a brief gameplay video highlighting certain passages and events of the game in order to form your own opinion. Note that the game is running in “High” configuration for recording with ShadowPlay. Here is the configuration of the test PC as a preamble to the gameplay video.
- Operating system : Windows 10 Professional 64-bit
- Processor : AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- RAM: 16.0 GB DDR4 1066MHz RAM (15-15-15-36)
- Graphic card : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
If you need a reminder about PC configurations, you can find them right here. Otherwise, be aware that you can also get the PC version of God of war while saving some money, thanks to our partner Instant Gaming, offer it to you for the sum of € 33.99 instead of € 49.99, or 32% reduction.
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