Was it Good? - God of War (2005)

the gods of Olympus have abandoned me God of War one of the PlayStation's most successful franchises launching back on the PlayStation 2 in 2005 we journey with angry man Kratos through a deadly temple on a quest to kill Ares but recently with the PlayStation 5 reboot also being called God of War and its sequel Ragnarok being some of the highest rated games of all time when people say God of War now they mean this whereas I mean this so let's go back to 2005 and replay the game which started it all I'll be finishing the entire game and showing you all the relevant cutscenes while breaking down the mechanical choices both good and bad so let's Adventure through Athens Traverse the Twisted traps of Pandora's Temple claw our way out of Hades and then ask what the hell they were thinking with that final boss before enjoying the secret phone call from Kratos hidden in the game's ending so let's go forth in the name of Olympus as we ask God of War the original from 2005 was it any good quick content warning God of War is a violent adult gory game dealing with some pretty heavy themes of loss and death view a discretion very much advised as usual a massive thank you to all the supporters on patreon Twitch and YouTube who allow me to make these long form videos more on how you can support in the video description and at the end for now let's begin I bought God of War when it released and I knew nothing about it I hadn't read any reviews or seen any adverts the Box just looked really cool so I went home turned on my PS2 and finished the game in a single 10 hour play session now this wasn't normal for me but something about the game just captivated me it kept me playing I wasn't playing to review or critique back then I was just enjoying the experience so I'm really excited personally to go back to this game and try and break down exactly what it did that made me enjoy it so much what design choices did it make which worked but don't worry I'll make sure that I remove the rose tinted glasses and find aspects which did not and still do not work first no God of War 2005 didn't have native widescreen support the widescreen mode it came with simply chopped off the top and bottom of the screen and then Zoomed In which isn't really actual wide screen so the footage in this video is how the game is supposed to look first off the franchise is complicated I'll show the in-universe story order on screen you've got God of War in 2005 and the direct sequel God of War 2 in 2007. then the mobile game betrayal which happens between one and two the PSP game chains of Olympus released in 2008 and as a prequel to God of War 1 God of War 3 in 2010 for the PS3 then Ghost of Sparta for the PSP Ascension in 2013 the Facebook game call from The Wilds in 2018 murmia's Vision in 2018 then the franchise reboot also called God of War for the PS4 in 2018 as well and its sequel Ragnarok in 2022 so we are here the first game released and the third in the chronology so let's dive in pun fully intended because of this rather dark opening cutscene now there is no hope and Kratos cast himself from the highest mountain in all of Greece after 10 years of suffering 10 years of endless nightmares it would finally come to an end death would be his escape from Madness so before we go into the game let's discuss the character of Kratos and how we feel about him based on what we know at any given moment right now we know he's a man who's given up and is so depressed he's thrown himself off a cliff just to stop whatever nightmares he's having that's a pretty sad start then we cut to three weeks ago a battle aboard a boat now you already know that these three weeks are going to be the journey to his Cliff jump setting up a rather inevitable Greek tragedy storyline from the beginning you're on the deck of this boat taking out some horrific monster things it's a third person action game and if you mash some buttons you'll get some tutorial pop-ups press square for a light attack triangle for a heavy attack the game throws you into combat pretty much straight away so let's discuss the combat system the left analog stick moves Kratos the right analog stick Will Roll in whichever direction you push X jumps you have a double jump as standard Square throws a medium-range light attack and triangle is a slightly closer heavy attack circle is grab enemy or context kill we'll see these later but the most unique part of the combat system are the weapons Kratos uses the blades of chaos sure short thick blades Bound To His Arms by chains which he throws out so it's more of a mid-range weapon your range is normally greater than any other melee enemies and mashing Square starts a lavish flurry of damage spinning and hacking while triangle throws some heavy hitting attacks out normally ending in slamming the floor a combo of light and heavy attacks normally finishes with a heaviest attack which knocks enemies back and if you hold triangle you can launch enemies into the air and then briefly juggle them with aerial attacks this system gets fully fleshed out later but for now it feels chunky and substantial the fight on the boat is intense the camera follows Kratos as well and cannot be controlled by the player each area has a fixed camera angle and most of the time a transition between areas is an uncut camera fly through which is a much more difficult way of developing but is also a very immersive cinematic experience within only a few moments I'm already seeing a comparison God of War released four years after Devil May Cry and the similarities and inspiration is obvious everything from the fixed camera position to the combat style combo usage and reward colored orbs representing Health Manner and experience upgradable weapons which unlock new Combos and Powers additional weapons later in the game family driven narrative Adventure even down to the strange final boss God of War draws heavily from the Devil May Cry Playbook but it does so really well square and triangle use the blades but Circle grabs and after grabbing most human-shaped enemies you have to make a second choice very quickly press Circle again to punch them until they die and then stab them into goo on the floor press square to impale them onto one of your blades and then fling them away into another enemy as a range projectile or press triangle to just rip them apart all of these choices kill the enemy it's just a satisfying thing to decide how the enemy dies side note punching them generates the most red orbs because it gives the most hits and counts toward a combo meter so if you go to max out all items you want to do that as often as you can your health is shown by the green bar in the top left inside the stylized sword graphic later on you'll see your Blue Magic Bar and Red X experience all the bar too after killing some enemies we see more burst out of the hold and then the camera lingers on the door a little bit too long and the handle glints this is another strong feature visual Focus given to mechanically relevant things God of War is a master gently showing you what it wants you to see focusing on it just long enough that you think hey I want to go over there and investigate whatever that is you can interact with doors and levers by pressing R2 simple switches need a single press but a heavy door needs you to keep mashing R2 repeatedly and you can be interrupted by enemies while doing this you're not safe while interacting with stuff and I don't know it yet but this design of fighting on the deck while trying to open a door is actually the key to why God of War feels so damn good to play it's a very simple design choice and I'll explain what it is as I come to realize it drop down into the ship and find our first chest hold R2 to open just contain either red orbs which are use the level of weapons and magic spells up green orbs which refill our health blue which refill Mana or one of two hidden upgrade items that will will find later smash our way further into the ship and get told hold L1 to block this becomes instantly relevant as a Hydra head barrels through the ship's holds toward us blocking in God of War is a matter of timing holding L1 keeps you safe from the majority of enemy attacks but if you block just before being hit you'll drop the game into slow-mo for a second this will matter later when we unlock the block and retaliate skill throw some damage onto this Hydra and drain its HP bar until a large Circle icon appears above its head run up and press Circle and now a Cornerstone of the God of War franchise The Cinematic quick time kill event taking almost any enemy to low health will give you a circle icon above their head and each cinematic kill is different but the beauty of most of them is the camera never Cuts so once you've started the event it's a visual Feast a journey of damage that you can follow through to completion simply press the button which shows up it's always one of the four Shake buttons on the PlayStation controller and then just enjoy the violence the lack of camera Cuts helps the whole event feel like a complete moment a visceral fight from start to finish cutting nothing out and this is something we'll see done again and again God of War wants to show you the brutality and skill of Kratos it wants you to feel involved in and responsible for every gory strike and it wants to do it all in one take with the Hydra had taken care of the pounding music which is something we'll look at later on dies down and we balance our way across some Thin beams and this is another lovely design trick a roller coaster can't be all downhill excitement you need variation within the pacing to keep the player engaged otherwise they get overwhelmed you need moments of calm and simple and this moment slow down and navigate the beams carefully is pulling the energy down straight away it's pacing the adrenaline spikes so the intense moments feel more intense as they're Often bookended by moments of calm the balance mechanic itself is pretty simple if you fall just Mash X to get back up and eventually we meet a dude Who You'd assume wants to be saved I know who you are Spartan I know what you've done I would rather die than be saved by you oh a little bit of mystery we know Kratos takes his own life in three weeks and we now know that people fear him so much they would rather die than be saved by him but why questions are being set up we run under the deck and are attacked by flying imps annoying and hard to hit with melee attacks but here's where the grab move comes in Weak enemies or tougher enemies which have been weakened can be grabbed with circle and this is usually a one-hit kill but it does have some variety we've seen with humans you have the choice of punch launch or Rip but with imps you'll just stamp on them and rip their wings off it's brutal yet satisfying you'll notice there are also humans on the deck killing them gives green Health orbs clear out the imps on another Hydra head bursts through the deck and we learn about rolling right analog stick evades some attacks can't be blocked and must be evaded mainly magical attacks flame-based attacks or area smash effects will break your guard and stagger you backwards even if you do block them so we hack away at the Hydra and then it eats us up and here's a nice touch some enemies will grab you or eat you and this starts a test of strength just Mash Circle as fast as you can and usually when you win you'll retaliate and do massive damage so being grabbed is a good thing kill the Hydra and jump into the hole it left through the deck now we can't swim yet but we can Wade so we then climb further up the rigging and to climb you just move towards something climbable we'll see this fleshed out later in the Cliffs of Madness level climb up the Mast and more balancing oh we know how to do this already but now we have choices and this is another design we'll see a lot of God of War is essentially a linear game but you've got short offshoots from the main path which usually lead to Secrets now annoyingly it's not always obvious which is the main path and which is the optional secret so you'll end up doubling back on yourself or even tripling back to make sure that you don't progress too far and lock yourself off from a previous secret we make it all the way to the deck and meet a sailor it's it's Jew the Visions they were real the gods came to me he told me their Champion would come and rescue us from the Hydra but you're too late we're pinned down these creatures they came from nowhere the ships are all destroyed all hope is lost Spartan even for you so we have some Archer snipers to deal with but first off saving the game you can only save in these beams of golden Godly light and when you interact it says Zeus has given you the opportunity to save which is a lovely bit of flavor but will retroactively become ironic in God of War 2. after saving let's have a quick glance at the menu a list of all the items and God spells you can find along with the giant red liquid filled icon on the left the red bubbles represent your collected red orbs each icon fills up with 300 and then a counter simply takes over you spend red orbs to upgrade stuff so let's get past these archers and now a new mechanic grabbing and pushing objects hold R2 to grab stuff and then just drag it around slowly but this box isn't just cover from incoming arrows because if too many arrows hit the box it breaks so this is not about defense oh no we need to use this box as a step to climb higher at the upper end of the deck so we need to get it down without breaking thankfully you can hold X to charge up a kick and then just boot objects away from you this is much faster than manually moving one thing you do notice about ranged enemies is they lead their shots based on your last known movements and speed they don't fire it where you are whenever they lose their arrows they fire up where you're going to be so if you're running to the left when they lose it'll be aimed to the left and will hit you if you continue running knowing this you can run side to side and make them fire wildly off Target we hear some screams of women and children coming from the captain's cabin begging us to find the key and free them so we hop up some more rigging and go looking for it and this time we're joined by enemies combat while climbing is pretty simple light attacks throw your blade out in a straight line heavy slice the blade in a curve if you're close enough you can grab enemies and smash them into the wall then just throw them away getting hit four or five times knocks an enemy down but the same is true for you movement while climbing is unfortunately limited to only four directions up down left and right you cannot climb diagonally and while you can use x to LEAP a small distance you can own only leap side to side or up there is no fast way to climb down this will be changed in God of War 2. grab this connecting rope and slide all the way down to a new boat and find our first hidden chest with a secret item a gorgon eye if you collect six of these you increase your maximum health so we run inside and then meet the Avatar of Poseidon Lord Poseidon Kratos before you reach Athens there is a task you must complete this Beast this Hydra it is terrorized my Seas for far too long your skills are admirable but you will need assistance you will need the power of the Gods take this weapon Kratos take this power and use it to defeat your enemies foreign go forth in the name of Olympus he gives us our first magic spell you'll collect four of these throughout the game and they can all be upgraded with red orbs you select which spell is active with the d-pad and cast with L2 the active spell is shown here and you know I never noticed this as a kid but it's kind of strange that the spell Poseidon's rage is an electrical storm that seems like more of a Zeus thing the spell itself is great though it's a local AOE which stuns enemies looks and sounds great plus your immune while casting so you can cheese some bosses with it we'll look at that later eventually we find the captain's key it's on the captain and then the sailors shout that the big Hydra head is healing the others and then we hear the famous Doom screen so the big Hydra head is healing the others time to take this thing down and this is our first environmental puzzle boss fight the two smaller Hydra heads are exactly the same as the ones we've already killed except they will drag you toward them from time to time so throw damage on block roll and when you weaken them enough you have to climb the stacks of boxes and jump onto a spiked platform to impale them to the deck if you don't do this they'll just keep regenerating you have to impale both of them to make the central rigging safe enough to climb to take on the main head which will scream at you and push you back off the rigging blocking stops you from falling off but if you don't block you'll be thrown back down below killing the main head is a game based on the environment blocking all the biting attacks roll away from the Smashing ones which is hard because this platform is much smaller but then when you've weakened it enough a QuickTime event has you smash its head into the central mast after smashing the head into the Mast three times it splinters to a sharp point and the final QuickTime event will take down the Hydra foreign that was brutal with the Hydra dead we run into its stomach to rescue the captain's key but not the captain we don't need him Kratos has no time for things which don't directly benefit him also remember this Captain as he falls into the hydra's gullet because the game loves callbacks with the key in hand we can go and rescue the women and children from the Captain's Quarters and oh foreign [Music] slaughtered like animals the victims lay before him a reminder of his own past a past he could never Escape [Laughter] his only Solace was the sea endlessly sailing from one Harbor to the next in service to the gods of Olympus all his hopes rested with them actually I can't show you every cutscene because boobs ten years I have Faithfully served the guards for 10 years when will you relieve me of these nightmares we request one final task of you Kratos your greatest challenge awaits in Athens where even now my brother Ares lays Siege as we speak Athens is on the verge of Destruction it is the will of Aries my great City Hall Zeus has forbidden the gods from Waging War on each other that is why it must be you Kratos only a mortal trained by a God has a chance at defeating Ares and if I am able to do this kill a god in the visions it will end complete this final task and the past that consumes you will be forgiven have faith Kratos the gods do not forget those who come to their aid leaving the rotting Corpus of the Hydra behind Kratos set sail once more his greatest Challenge and freedom from his growing Madness lay before him in the ancient city of Athens a small touch I noticed about that cutscene and really like is how Kratos says if if I can save the city from Ares he knows he's tough but he still doubts himself and so the journey to Athens begins we jump to Kratos enjoying some quality time on a bed with two women and I'll have to skip some cut scenes because YouTube seems to be fine with gamified violence but it's still a bit iffy with gamified nudity but this does give us one of the strangest Easter eggs in a game if you jump back on the bed and press Circle you'll start a satisfaction Quick Time Event and if you win you get many many red orbs When we arrive at the Athens dock notice how the camera zooms out to give this wide establishing shot this is still gameplay you can still move it's cinematic without removing control from the player which is rare we lead the boat and now a new mechanic enemies sometimes have powerful attacks these usually have a visual particle effect like a flourish of color like these big blue sword swings this is a sign to block thankfully blocking cancels any of your basic attack animations and so you can do it as a response but cannot cancel the animation of a special God move or a role so committing to a god combo or a role does mean losing the ability to animation cancel for a second these enemies are also stronger and can't be grabbed until weakened meaning no more one-hit kills for anything with enemies getting tougher we pour some of the orbs into the blades of chaos and level them up unlocking three new abilities holding L1 and pressing X will Now launch enemies into the air and if done while in the air will slice them multiple times and slam them back onto the ground bouncing them back up into the air pressing R1 on the floor is now a shoulder charge knocking enemies back or a kick if you're in the air and now we have a rage meter fighting fills it and when it's full unleash the fury of the Gods by pressing L3 and R3 at the same time and you'll become a super powered Spartan Kratos for about half a minute you get this cool ghostly armor glow and a complete new move set which does way more damage also cannot be stunned or knocked back while in Rage mode another hidden chest gives us these second of these secret items a phoenix feather collects six of these to increase your magic meter push onto save Athens and now a new enemy type all new or mechanically unique enemies have intro cinematics when you first made them the Minotaur will be one of the most re-skinned enemy models in the whole game while their weapons will change the basic attack structure of a minor tort stays the same if you attack with too many light attacks they'll start blocking you then knock you back and then hit a heavy attack of their own but if you can weaken them you can then press Circle to start a battle of strength jumping onto them and stabbing them through the mouth with your blades killing a Minotaur in this way will always give green Health orbs and this is a simple yet extremely effective design trick in games you reward the behavior you want the player to engage in like how in the reboot of Doom they didn't want players with low Health to run away from a fight and look for a med kit they wanted players to be aggressive so they rewarded Glory kills with health same principle here if the player is low on health you want them to find a minor tool you want the player thinking yes I am saved you are doomed you reward that player's brutality while God of War isn't divided into levels as much the linear gameplay path does have several off shoots of it which loop around now each Loop is self-contained and there aren't any shortcuts or cutbacks consider the main game a straight line and each secret section its own distraction it means you can't ever get too lost but if you do miss a secret Loop you'll never find your way back to it another new enemy the giant spiked ball hand now this guy hits really hard and can't be blocked so dodging and aerial attacks are needed and this highlights a lovely use of the combat system different enemies require different approaches while you can use one style against everything it's not optimal sometimes blocking will be needed other times it's pointer sometimes slow heavy hits are the best other times you need to grab each enemy is a mini puzzle by themselves and killing them simply means solving the puzzle and this simple design choice will matter a lot later one thing you do notice about the QuickTime events like the Minotaur mouthstab is they all need the same camera angle because the camera is fixed and follows Kratos effectively on a rail the QuickTime kills are only shown from from a single angle and when you press Circle to start one the first few frames of that kill are always awkwardly spinning the enemy model into the correct position it's jarring when you first notice but then you do quickly stop caring now you'll notice that some of the chests start to switch between green for health and blue for magic when you press R2 to grab a chest it will remain on whatever color it was when you grabbed it and not as I used to believe as a kid keep changing even while you're holding it by forcing the player to pick between regenerating their health and refilling their magic you're making the player constantly question what they need more do I burn through Mana now and then open the chest on blue and hope that I don't need health later or do I save the Mana for a boss later and fight knowing that I've got some health in this chest as a backup it's a choice moreover it's a choice which only solves one of two problems that you'll have at any given time and that design idea multiple problems that's one step closer to the secret behind God of Wars Brilliance every now and then you'll run into a zigzag Corridor and I never realized this as a kid but just like siphon filter these are loading zones transitions between massive outside areas designed to seamlessly unload the old and load in the new and keep the player moving forward and have you never noticed a change after the intensity of the battle another moment of calm a puzzle the camera switches to a top-down View and we can see a chest so already the player has a point of reference chests are good therefore we should probably get here but how there are stacks of boxes but you can't quite make it but hang on one of them is wooden so we destroy that box and the stack drops down and now you can make it even something as simple as a jumping puzzle has another layer of complexity to it and when we make it all the way around the room the camera pans over and reveals that there was a secret chest behind us just out of camera shot this whole time because the camera isn't player control the camera position itself is a game mechanic and can be used to hide secrets from us this room reveals the game will do that and now you'll always be check taking just out of sight areas for Secrets onwards and we reach the second God spell Aphrodite Kratos the gods are pleased with your progress but your current skills will not be enough to defeat the minions of Ares I offer you the power to freeze your enemies where they stand but you must earn such a gift Medusa the queen of the Gorgons bring me her head Kratos and I will give you the ability to wield its power so Aphrodite he wants us to fight Medusa and as a reward we'll get Medusa's head now Medusa is fast so heavy attacks are pointless because she will avoid them that also means we need to do lots of rolling and blocking when you weaken her enough the QuickTime event to kill Gorgons isn't push buttons or Mash Circle it's match the rotation of the analog stick to the on-screen prompt to rip their head off with Medusa's head cleanly removed from her body we get the second spell the stone beam hold it onto an enemy long enough to turn them into stone then attack them to shatter them honestly I never used as much as a kid and you can play through most of the game without using it but not the entire game because combat sometimes is needed for puzzles check out this Soldier folded over a beam in the foreground while we climb a ladder nothing mechanical just a lovely visual touch you know in God of War there's always something visual going on we find a blister and pulling it back fires a massive bolt but it's also on a rotating pedestal so we spin it Round And while I know this is likely the right way I also assume if I rotate it more and fire it again and yeah there we go unless some Secrets baby here's a small visual touch I love this wall is climbable but we've never had to climb a wall like it before so how would a player know it's climbable well there's part of a ladder leaning up against it and you've climbed ladders earlier so you try to climb this ladder and you effortlessly transition onto the wall and now the player knows the design of this wall is climbable using previous knowledge to encourage a behavior and rewarding that behavior with new knowledge is great design Traverse the wall with this gorgeous background view of the city at War and then push a statue over to create a new path onto the opposite rooftop and while the levels may be linear in nature overall they're extremely densely packed and loop back and forth within themselves the critical path to complete this section crosses over itself and back through itself several times as New Paths open up from the same location medusas are now regular enemies and while killing a Minotaur always gives Health killing a Medusa always gives Mana by now the fights are frequent but small and intense they are never more than flyable six enemies on screen at any time but each enemy is dangerous and as each enemy takes a certain approach to kill and fights are usually a mix of enemies every fight needs you to deal with balancing multiple approaches right I have finally found the first major graphical mistake of the game Watch the camera Viewpoint as you jump and grab this rope Bridge see how it was on one side of Kratos for the entire fight and then suddenly switches to the other side instantly with a cut this is breaking a filmmaking principle called the 180 rule basically the camera can exist for any shot on one specific side of a circle never cross Beyond 180 degrees from its furthest position this transition does that and it feels jarring but let's be honest if breaking the 180 rule once is so far my biggest complaint we're doing pretty well hey look we've looped around to a locked door that I recognized from earlier but now I can open it and there's a wooden door I need to open beyond that and it's the ballista from earlier Our God of War does a great job of showing you all the tools you'll need to complete a task and then slow only giving you that task in increasing complexity and then more tasks related to it and letting you realize oh I know how to do this like many of you are probably thinking can you use the ballista to shoot the minotaurs and yes you can I jumped down this ladder and find a secret chest completely by accident and then on our journey to save the city we finally make it to the oracle's temple do not fear Kratos I am the Oracle of Athens here to help you defeat Aries find my temple to the East and I will show you how to murder a god so we need to find the Oracle to get the secret to stopping Aries from this Overlook you've got two paths one to the city and the other to this giant Oracle guarded door we can't go through here yet but note how it's massive and then note how this fantastic shot of Ares wrecking the city always makes sure to keep the model of Kratos smaller than the distant model of Aries you as a player are being made to feel small even this far away Ares dominates you visual reinforcement that Kratos is powerful but compared to Ares you are nothing and now another puzzle a button opens a door but it's on a timer and you can't get there in time before it closes there's a minus what in the room and a bottomless Manor chest so how do we solve this make the Minotaur stand on the button run nope that doesn't work run around and hook the Minotaur hits the button doesn't work either eventually you figure it out you need to use the Medusa's gaze spell to turn the minota stone while they are standing on the button and then run what a lovely blend of spell mechanic platforming mechanic and timing mechanic all tied to together with an enemy fight through these city streets smashing into some houses and stealing their red orbs and secret items I do love the dynamic battle damage of the Raging War Corners being blown off houses and enemies in the distance falling to The Archers arrows God of War seems to have taken the design approach of yes but what else is happening yes the players in a house but what else is happening in the distance the foreground what's the battle looking like there's always something happening Beyond Kratos finally find the sex Gorgon eye and increase my health not a lot but it will matter later throw some more red orbs into the blades and level them up again unlocking two new mechanics hold L1 and press square to spin around like a helicopter and hit everything with lots of weak attacks and then possibly the best mechanic blocking now has a Parry response as long as you block at the last minute and you'll know that you've done that because these slo-mo effect happens pressing Square will now retaliate with a wide slash pressing triangle will retaliate with an overhead Smash and R1 will charge forward and stab as a huge fan of Dark Souls realizing that God of War had a Time and parry and repost mechanic a good four years before Demon Souls came out it's quite interesting a new travel mechanic rope swings hold Circle to swing in whatever Direction you're facing you are over a safe pit so falling doesn't mean death just means try again until you succeed which is a perfect way to introduce a player to a new mechanic reach the Town Square and take on two massive trolls at the same time the issue here and thankfully this doesn't happen again is the crowd of fleeing civilians once you've weakened the troll enough to get the circle to appear above their head you go forward to perform the quick kill event and instead grab a random dude running past and just stab him to death and by the time that's done the troll has recovered and you can't get them into a quick time twice oh yeah that giant Circle has a timed window to be activated otherwise you just have to kill it normally but you don't get whatever your brutal kill reward would have been Health manner or extra red orbs now this fight is mandatory because another design God of War Has Lifted almost directly from Devil May Cry is the Red ghostly barrier that appears across an Arena's exit whenever a fight starts and these barriers only die when every enemy is killed seriously it's almost a one-to-one copy of the Red Ghost wall right down to the impression of a skull reaching out from the wall and then shattering when it's broken they could have had a small animation after the fight like some Rubble falling and revealing A New Path or an icon of Ares cackling and fading away but no they literally did exactly what Devil May Cry 1 did run inside and God damn how shiny is this floor I know Reflections aren't difficult nowadays but back in 2005 high quality Reflections were really impressive graphically and maybe I'm just an aging Millennial but something about Reflections in shiny Textures in games still really impresses me there is a strange woman ahead of us who keeps demanding that we stay away and while we're not chasing her specifically we are going this way which unfortunately ends with stay away don't come near me keep away [Music] that's probably the first death I feel bad about she died out of fear and as a player you still don't know what it was that Kratos did that caused everybody to be so deathly afraid of him so here we've got a locked hatch but the woman who fell has a key we can't jump back up so we jump down grab the key and then run back through the shiny building again and a new enemy a shield Bearer now the square button light attacks won't hurt these guys so you need to use the square square triangle combo to smash the ground and break the shield remember how every enemy is a puzzle and must be approached differently the game designers actually sat down and said what if an enemy needed you to use a specific combo to weaken them or make them vulnerable this shows that a great deal of thought went into making all of the various combat mechanics relevant at least once in the game from petrifying the Minotaur on the button to the combo smashing of the shields they give you a reason to use the skills you have at least once but then left you free to finish the fight however you liked after you'd used them and I respect that and then we see them do it again the Medusa enemies will try to petrify you you can't block this and if you don't you'll get petrified while you're in the air and shatter and die the moment you hit the floor but if you roll it resets the Petrified State this means with Shield bearers imps medusas and minotaurs all attacking you at the same time you need to combine the skills of grabbing the imps to kill them in one hit power attacking to break the shields rolling to avoid the Medusa and quick time killing to kill the Minotaur it God of War multiple enemies in a group doesn't just mean more bags of Health on screen it means multiple approaches to combat will be required open the trap door from earlier and push on through the city we climb the IV growing on the buildings and then double jump back and forth up the buildings all the while watching Ares demolish the city in the distance and then a new enemy the bladed wraith they can phase into the floor and spin towards you and you have to block them as they pop up and hit you and then you have to hold the block after the first hit otherwise they follow up with a cheeky combo of a second hit when they fall down and if you miss the first block you're guaranteed to be hit by the second this is the first enemy where you need to use block as a strategy G and you should avoid rolling because rolling into them is bad but they're joined by a giant spiked ball holding troll one of the enemies you can't block and need to roll away from and this is the moment that I realize why I love God of War it's combat and its puzzles so much it's never just one problem every situation in a video game is on some level a puzzle it's a challenge the player wants a certain outcome but the mechanics of the game prevent it overcoming its mechanics essentially is gameplay now the easiest way to design is one problem one cause one solution one goal the player needs to be somewhere or defeat something or find something and there's one thing stopping them from doing that the enemy has Health the room is amazed the object is hidden but good games stack multiple smaller mechanics together and they often set the solutions to these concurrent problems at odds with each other for example you need to move a box but there are arches firing at you you can hide behind the box to solve the Archer problem but the Box breaks so you must Kick the Box but now you're not safe not just one problem you need to open a door so there's a button but there's an enemy attacking you you want to kill the enemy but they're part of the puzzle to open the door so you need to freeze them you need to block The Wraith so you stand still and block but you can't block the trolls so you roll but you roll into a wraith you need to Power Attack to break the shield but this means performing a combo and you cannot animation interrupt or animation cancel a combo with a roll or a block but you need to make sure you are rolling to avoid being petrified which would break your combo God of War is forgive the pun god tier at combining multiple smaller problems into the same situation and then having them interact in competing ways and now I've noticed it I want you to try and notice it too I'm going to point out almost every time the game does it I'm going to call it the never one problem School of Design and in the brief moments where the game does feel boring or dull and there are a few of them it's because it only has one problem at that exact moment like here we've fought on and now we need to climb the ivy around a pillar and jump to another that's a platforming problem but then we've got archers shooting at us and if they hit us we'll be knocked of course and die that is an enemy problem to solve the Archer problem just stay behind the pillar but that doesn't solve the platforming problem the solutions are at odds with each other or on the rooftops fighting minotaurs and imps if I was just fighting imps I'd grab and pull the Wings off if it was just minotaurs I'd jump in the air and aerial attack but every enemy covers the weakness of the other and if you jump from roof to roof the imps will knock you down never one problem now this dude won't release a bridge lever and we have no ranged attacks two problems so time to explore a bit inside the temple is a movable ballista but it's not pointing at anything relevant but there is a lever to access a ladder which also happens to spin this floor tile because the ladder is connected by a chain so by putting the ballista on it and then pulling moving and pulling again we can spin the ballista around 180 and blast open a door earlier we had a Ballista facing a door and before that we had a spin puzzle so you've had no choice but to see how all these mechanics work on their own and now you're given a movable ballista a door and a method to spin so you combine all the current tools with your knowledge of what's happened previously to solve the puzzle this gets us into the next room and the next God spell this one from Zeus Lord Zeus Kratos you grow stronger as your journey continues but if you are to succeed in your quest you will need my Aid I offer you the power of the greatest of all the gods the father of Olympus I offer you the power of Zeus take this weapon Kratos take this power and use it to defeat your enemy and if you're thinking I know that voice yes you do that's Paul eiding he voiced Roy Campbell in Metal Gear Solid in fact the god of war voicecast is really interesting the narrator is grandmother willow Kratos is Mace Windu Ares is Spike Spiegel and Hades is freaking Nolan North no matter how hard you try you cannot Escape Nolan North the power of Zeus now becomes our only ranged attack launching lightning bolts at enemies I actually like how our ranged is limited by our magic this adds another layer of Mana or Health Choice you make when you find a switching box a ranged attack means we can take out the guy holding the bridge shut and reach the oracle Oracle praise Athena you've arrived no Kratos Kratos find me you must find me Athens depends on it the level has looped again and now we're above the Town Square from earlier another example of dense design and then this battle along the Cliffside sees the camera track horizontally giving the whole thing a side-scrolling beat em up feel reaching the Temple of the Oracle were attacked by harpies with dive bombing flame attacks so you want to keep jumping but then they've got medusas so you want to stay on the floor and keep rolling and I'll get petrified never just one problem take out the group and before going into the temple we meet a strange old man hahaha good my boy good Athena has chosen wisely I knew it was so who are you so you have the blades the skin as pale as the moon you are the one indeed perhaps Athens will survive at that but be careful I don't want you dying before I'm done with this grave the grave in the middle of a battle who will occupy an old man you will my son oh I've got a lot of digging to do indeed all will be revealed in good time and when all appears to be lost Kratos I will be there to help I like how Kratos has this begrudging respect for people who don't seem to fear Him and seem to be competent at their job and just seem to get on with it as for why someone is digging our own grave another mystery we find a sixth feather and upgrade the magic meter that's going to matter when we get the highest level spell so we head inside the oracle's temple and fight what seems to be an endless wave of harpies now you need to ascend to the second level and cross the roof beams but the Hobbies will knock you off so you kill them but more appear and this is because they are actually endless the harpies will never stop spawning from these tunnels in the walls this means eventually you'll probably need some help but the only Health chest is behind this movable statue so you move the statue while being attacked and you eventually realize you need to plug the hole with the Statue the game has made you interact with all the needed tools the problem is now kill the harpies to stay safe but that isn't moving the statue so move the statue while being attacked and take damage it's a balance it's never just one problem with the holes blocked up we balance along the beams above us but as with anything beams fall around you as you go because if combat and puzzles need to follow the never just one problem design then navigation needs that visually stuff happens around you which doesn't directly affect you but keeps the scene Dynamic even while platforming there's always something else happening fight through the corridors and reach the Oracle she's hanging on a rope we are in a courtyard and need to figure out a way up and unlike Ragnarok there's no annoying child to explain the puzzle 10 seconds after you've looked at it in fact quite the opposite the Oracle will keep yelling at you to help while offering no advice at all this is the first time that a puzzle usually a part of the game designed to be lower stress and low attention to serve as a break between the intensity is used in an intense way and this shows the game designers understand what causes intensity Beyond combat so it's not just jump from Ivy to Ivy it's wait for the wheels to stop spinning and then it's a rope swing and then a balance beam all while timed and finally a heroic dive to save her and with this we get a touch more backstory about Kratos and when the Oracle looked into his soul she saw a beast as well as a man once a captain in the Spartan Army Kratos had begun his command with only 50 soldiers but soon his numbers grew to the thousands his tactics were brutal brutal but effective drunk with power he was feared by all one his wife was the only one to Brave his Fury how much is enough Kratos when will it end when the Glorious Sparta is known throughout the world the glory of Sparta you did this for yourself his desire for Conquest knew no bounds but that which he desired would ultimately consume him choose your enemies wisely Kratos your brute strength alone will not be enough to destroy Ares only one item in the world will allow you to defeat a god Pandora's Box which lies far beyond the walls of Athens hidden by the gods across the desert to the east but be warn Kratos many have gone in search of Pandora's Box none have returned this is a really interesting narrative float because our first experience of Kratos from a narrative point of view was him jumping to his own death now for most players this is a very sad extreme thing so your relationship to Kratos will start from a point of sympathy but then it slowly revealed actually this guy was horrific and maybe you shouldn't be so sympathetic but because we opened with sympathy that's the emotion we as players are anchored to and every Revelation is filtered through the lens of sympathy and you as a player are still on some level feeling sorry for Kratos almost looking for a justification a spark of redemption as these horrific truths are revealed to you even though you know they are awful truths so we need to go find Pandora's Box a treasure hidden in the desert which contains the power to grant us a mortal god-killing abilities we leave the oracle's temple and run across this amazing sword bridge now not only is this an imposing set piece it's also going to be very relevant later along with the level Roots themselves physically Crossing back and forth the environment and the narrative do the same thing the sword Bridge leads us to a spiral staircase going down to the sewers because if Devil May Cry had that spiral staircase camera angles so are we there's nothing special about the sewer area just a straight line battle except the archers now have exploding arrows which explode a few seconds after hitting the floor so you want to roll around to avoid them but you're fighting minotaurs which can be blocked so you want to stand still and fight them never just one problem back into the City and we go to the Overlook from earlier with the oracle's blessing those huge imposing doors are now open they also throw some more red orbs into the blades of chaos and reach level 4 unlocking the L1 plus triangle attack a front flip heavy slam attack on the ground or a triple front flip in the air and then the triple R1 barge stab multi-stab combo we can now also press X straight after rolling to chain the roll into a jumping slice giving us even more choices to solve more problems when we are rolling and would rather be attacking the giant gate takes us to the desert of lost souls and the search for Pandora's Temple begins Kratos the journey forward is perilous but one you must complete if you are to have any hope of saving Athens Oracle spoke of Pandora's Box the Box exists it is the most powerful weapon a mortal can wield and with such a weapon with the Box many things become possible and so it is hidden well far across the desert of Lost Souls there is safe Passage through the deadly Sands but only those who hear and follow the siren song will Discover it you must find the sirens Kratos only they can guide you to Kronos the Titan a Titan lives Kronos is the last Zeus has commanded him to wander the desert endlessly the Temple of Pandora chained to his back until the swirling Sands ripped the very flesh from his bones stay true to the song of the siren Kratos your Journey Begins here pray it leads you back to Athens with Pandora's Box so the temple is strapped to the back of a Titan titans don't feature too much in God of War 1 but by the time we reach two and three they become a tad more relevant the way to Kronos the Titan is hidden guarded by three Sirens who roam the desert so we need to find the sirens and kill them to open the sirens Temple and thus find Kronos only one problem the desert is a massive open Zone full of sandstorms and navigation is almost impossible to find the sirens you need to wander around until you hear one of them singing Follow the sound and then kill them and they are fast and often guarded by minotaurs so you can't see very well need to use fast attacks but also deal with the slower attacking minotaurs never just one problem killing the sirens isn't difficult it's just time consuming and with all three killed we go back into their Temple there is a moving conveyor belt sending us toward a Crusher wheel which is a problem we need to run against it to make progress but the jump at the end of this run is too high which is a problem so we need to push a block against the actual moving conveyor belt itself while being attacked by enemies which is a problem through the temple we reach the first blasting horn which parts the sand allows us to make our way to Kronos and then the second blasting horn is whisked away and now we need to fight all three Sirens at once but this feels really strange it feels simple it feels flat and then I realized why this is the first moment the game felt boring because while there are three Sirens there's only one problem kill the sirens there's no environmental challenge no platforming challenge no competing or conflicting strategies against various types of enemies no timer no advantage to be gained or disadvantaged to be avoided this is just a straight-up case of one problem three times not three different problems at the same time and this is why this is one of the most forgettable fights in the entire game with the Sirens dead we can finally call Kronos [Music] Kronos the last of the mighty Titans emerged from the desert sands on his back Pandora's Temple awaited massive and patient ready to challenge all who went in search of its guarded treasure for three days Kratos climbed the sheer walls of the mountain he knew he would either recover Pandora's box or perish inside the cursed Temple now the entire Pandora's Temple section is a masterclass in looping puzzles densely packed platforming and interconnected paths all mixing the camera even zooms out to really enhance the enormity of the place as Kratos runs across the bridge and again this is gameplay not cutscene the camera focuses on a pyre but we can't jump up to it so we loop around pull some steps out from this rock and jump up them as they slide back in see even a step puzzle problem one you need to jump up some steps problem two they're moving back into a wall even something as simple as a step puzzle is more engaging if there are multiple mechanical challenge layers to it and once we have jumped up we meet the pyerman so you think you can conquer the Temple of the gods do you right it's never been done you know sooner or later the harpies will bring what's left of you back for me to burn the gods hid Pandora's Box in here so no more who would ever claim its power and yet year after year I open the gate for more and more soldiers and place more and more bodies on these pyres if I were you I'd leave now but I can see you are determined very well [Music] May the gods Grant you strength to conquer the perils that lay before you good luck Spartan here's a nice little flavor touch if you examine the pie it explains the dead adventurers are recycled and used as enemies inside the temple a new enemy type massive trolls which actually opens up a new tactic you can't move through enemy models so if you balance your aerial attacks right you can actually push yourself back up into the air and be able to stay in a spinning aerial attack combo until the giant thing dies finally we head into the temple and this is the main portion of the game Pandora's Temple is extensive and finding the box is basically 70 of the entire game while many people see God of Wars this realm spanning epic adventure the first game largely takes place inside a massive puzzle Temple this book plinth lets you know this Temple was built under the instruction of Zeus to secure Pandora's box and the temple itself was built by pathos verdis III the Chief Architect to the gods and in a lovely narrative touch as we learn more about pathos and explore the temple we will learn how his Twisted downfall draws parallels with kratosa's own life inside the temple is many focused on three giant in concentric Rings the rings of Pandora and progress is all about aligning these three rings via puzzles around them the traps start off vanilla enough spiked walls smashing into each other and leave those opening doors and resetting traps we've just conquered the first room we reach even has a large body of water and a tunnel at the bottom but we can't swim not yet pulling some levers gets us this handle on the outside ring and this lets us rotate the ring itself and spin the opening to access various paths now due to the camera angle as a kid I was never sure if it's the ring you're on that's moving or the ring stays still while the temple moves around it but here's an interesting secret you can only move the handle one way so the first New Path you reach is this door with two golden Muse statues missing now this is actually a totally optional secret but it's also the first New Path the player will open when taking the critical path through the game so a player is always likely to walk down here which means it's a secret that they wanted you to be aware of finding it is intentional but actually solving it is a choice you have to actively go back and make we fight into the temple and begin the challenge of Atlas and we very quickly find our next Godly gift not a spell this time but a new weapon Kratos the guards demand more of you you have learned to use the blades of chaos well but they alone will not carry you to the end of your task I offer you the very blade I used to slay a Titan take this gift and use it to complete your quest take this weapon Kratos take this power and use it to defeat your enemies the blade of Artemis you can switch between your two weapons by pressing R1 and L1 together this is a weapon everyone used for exactly five minutes purely out of curiosity and then switch back to the blades of chaos look I get what you were trying to do to give the player a choice but by now most players have invested a good amount of orbs into leveling up the blades of chaos and the move set of the blades isn't just about damage it's about breaking Shields launching into the air blocking and reposting it's about the range the blades of chaos have reach they keep the enemies at Bay the blade of Artemis does not Kratos was originally designed with the blades of chaos because the team behind the game said a simple sword would be too dull they wanted their main character to have something Fantastical and unique and the blades of chaos are so interesting both visually and mechanically and by now they've been so invested in there's no real reason to use anything else now in God of War 2 and 3 the weapon variety does increase substantially and you get the choice earlier so you're not too heavily invested in a single weapon but here the blade of Artemis is basic forget them a button puzzle next this switch makes a hidden door spin accessing another room but we need to be back there when the button is pressed for the spin to affect us solution charge a kick onto a box kick it onto the switch and run back what I love about this design is it's clearly born out of a designer looking at the button mechanic looking at the Box moving mechanic and saying you know we don't have a puzzle where kicking is actually needed yet so we should put one in they have mined every mechanic for its interaction with every other mechanic and then exhausted all the possible interactions when I say limitation breeds creativity this is what I mean if you have a limited move set by God you're going to find every possible way to combine it kicking isn't just a fun way to move things anymore it's required it's a part of this puzzles solution slight graphical issue with the blade of Artemis when you open the chests so if you have the blade equipped it defaults back to the blades of chaos on your back this door needs two decorative Shields to unlock so off we go to find them I cross this balance beam but some archers shoot me off that's two problems balancing while being shot so I Go and Kill The Archers problem solved there and then I balance across the beam problem solved there both problems create a difficult situation when combined but both of them are easy to solve if you focus on them one at a time beautiful Design This switch lowers a stone deeper into the temple and this lets us climb down the Rope the stone is tied to and then we swing across this rope bridge and now we have enemies approaching from both directions and you can still attack while swinging but my attention is drawn to the battle in the background now narratively who are these soldiers we had to go through a serious amount of trouble to even find this Temple and you're telling me there's just an army of people already here how grab the decorative Shields and Trigger this wall to start moving and enemies spawn in and start attacking so we're fighting in a slowly shrinking Arena and we're on a timer because we don't fight fast enough we get crushed so we can't be defensive we need to be aggressive but we need to be defensive because there are so many enemies attacking at once never just one problem Place both shields on the door unlock more the temple and God damn this guy was not messing around when it comes to traps you know when I was a kid I loved cheesy pulp Adventure novels the dungeon Dives or magical treasure troves and these kind of impossible traps were the bread and butter of high fantasy Adventure I love this stuff impossible dangerous excessive traps just make me happy from bladed discs on the floor with two separate switches needed to be pulled quickly to open a door which itself is then on a timer to moving floors and crushing rollers God of War is a master class in Lots going on but it's not overwhelming because you understand every individual bit that the puzzle is made up of climbing up some Cliffs around the outside of the temple and then this room and oh this is anxiety it's obvious the floor is going to open because it's a giant trapdoor and keeps being hit by something from underneath but you don't know when all you can do is kill everything as fast as you can and the enemy variety keeps your tactics changing while also hoping the floor doesn't fall away from under you and then we're okay this room gives us the handle of Atlas I find another six Gorgon eye and the minotaurs have been upgraded these ones are faster which seems like a simple change but it's throwing my block timings off you see I've conditioned myself to block when I spot a Minotaur weapon being held Aloft but now I need to block as it's being lifted this small changes actually affect gameplay quite a lot I can't commit to Stronger combos because combos can't be animation canceled by blocking basic attacks can we stick the handle into a giant statue of Atlas and set him into position we also find the first secret Muse key hidden behind him and then pull a lever to make Atlas launch the stone boulder through a wall you know this lever could have just been next to Atlas or somewhere else on the level but looping level design put it on the ledge above which also gives us this lovely shot of the boulder bouncing just under the ledge reinforcing the Precision the architect has built this temple with and by now you truly do feel like you're taking on a puzzle built by someone extremely good at making puzzles and this apparent skill of design makes the whole thing feel like a back and forth of brains vs brawn Kratos versus the architect you've read about him and he's personified by the temple itself this entire section has a personality it feels almost respectful of you as a challenger two skilled combatants taking each other up completing the challenge of Atlas leads us to the Tomb of the architect's youngest son who died while the temple was still being built and in his creeping Madness the architect designed a lock to knead his son's skull as a key so we rip it from his dead corpse which leads us to learning even more about Kratos foreign [Music] the wrecked bodies of those who had gone in search of Pandora's Box lay before him and at once Kratos knew who was responsible for this was not the first time he'd seen the ruined Aries and his minions had left in their wake Kratos had experienced it firsthand years before the youngest and boldest Captain in the Spartan Army Kratos inspired Fierce loyalty in his men it had always been enough to carry them through any battle until this day The Barbarians to the east numbered in the thousands and descended on the Spartans without Mercy the battle lasted near ours [Music] the discipline and training of the Spartans did little to stem the tide the merciless barbarians foreign ERS faced a massacre while their young Captain faced the end of His Brilliant career and his life but to Kratos victory was worth any price even his soul and my life is yours desperate call for Aid haunt Kratos for all his days what have I so Kratos was a skilled human soldier in his own right but also a desperate man and when faced with the ultimate loss he sacrificed his soul for guaranteed Victory knowing that he values victory over his own life we're left to wonder what happened to make him want to end it fighting our way back to the central rings and we slam the sun's skull into a door to open it and now a lovely looping puzzle sequence where the never just won problem design philosophy really kicks in you're chased by a giant spiked rolling cylinder but when we finally reached some steps and Escape we need to reach a ladder and this means riding the cylinder around the ring to reach it a trap becoming a required platforming element is brilliant outside we begin the challenge of Poseidon and meet the new enemy type a cute little puppy [Music] foreign not quite as cute as they first appear now God of War isn't a difficult game for the most part but there are moments of extreme difficulty Spike and this is one of them the Cerberus dog spits out smaller puppies and if you don't kill the puppies in time they themselves grow into big Surplus dogs which are game spit out and more puppies remember every enemy has a strategy or preferred tactic the Cerberus is the only enemy where not rigidly sticking to the strategy of kill the puppy first means you will die you need to kill the babies first no questions and if you're ever in a group fight poppies take priority over everything else I die here a lot take on two more trolls and then a defensive push using a block I like the visual flourish of the stone block having arrows sticking out of it letting the player know this block can stop arrows I love it when visuals reference mechanics Slaughter The Archers who were shooting at me and now a small seemingly safe room which turns slowly and opens a gate to reveal a chest which I grab and die right this is the first trap I felt is unfair and it kills the pacing of the game because you have no idea no hint this is even coming there are three chests revealed in this room in this way as the room rotates and you have to be super fast to grab them and then roll back so far the architect has been challenging but never straight up unfair deaths which are my fault I'm okay with I don't mind failing when I know what you want me to do but deaths which are cheeky oh gotcha bet you didn't see that coming moments they feel cheap you don't feel the game has earned that Victory against you and the energy and the pacing instead of being brought down is just thrown all the way off next up a new enemy type actually the first type to not get an intro animation these guys have swords and sighs they don't play any differently to normal human-shaped guys except the circle of QuickTime event sees you run them through with their own sword then give them a swift kick to the car so they fall on their own blade I also love how you can see the giant chain holding the temple to Kronos this is a nice reminder of the scale of this entire environment sneaky creep around the corner gets us the second hidden Muse key and I'll need to remember to unlock that room later now here's a graphical touch I adore and it relates to earlier when I said there's always something going on Beyond Kratos sneaking around the ledge you can actually see Chronos crawling below now for the time this was an incredible graphical trick I remember the original team wanted a sequence where you fought along the Titan's back as they were moving and you could see the distant Vistas but this proved to be way too demanding for the PS2 at the time so this small scene this tiny shot is actually super impressive for the time but don't worry when the PS3 was finally released the whole fighting along with Titan's back as they climb a mountain that was literally the opening sequence of God of War 3. we float back inside and reach this ominous looking room alive soldiers suspended in cages a crank missing a handle and a long run up a slope to the end room with two flaming walls and a note from a dying Soldier saying what the gods ask no man could do pulling this lever brings the Flames closer and right I see we need to offer a burning man as a sacrifice to carry on this means grabbing the handle from the top room going back down lowering a cage and then dragging that cage up the slopes now if you stop dragging the cage it slides back down which is a problem but you've got these lumps of debris which act as Stoppers but you're also being attacked by enemies and the guy in the cage is begging you not to do this that's multiple mechanical combat and emotional narrative problems all making this fight up the sloped room one intense experience seriously the next time you're playing any game and you think oh this bit's really good ask yourself how many small problems both mechanical visual emotional audio or combat wise are you dealing with at any one time chances are it's always more than one replace the cage at the top and pull the lever burning the guy alive and revealing the sanctum of Poseidon which gives us the trident and unlocks the swimming ability you can breathe underwater indefinitely and the controls are pretty basic up down and horizontal movement thankfully unlike Devil May Cry there is no underwater combat you do have a dash move that winds up and then boosts you forward which can smash through weak walls and eventually we finally collect enough orbs to max out the blades of chaos and hit Level 5. this unlocks The Rage of Hercules attack press square once then just press and hold it again it is the best combo by a mile and the final hit always sends enemies flying we've also got the L1 plus Circle ground slam which is a massive AOE pushback Now The Rage of Hercules combo is fun but this is also a slightly disappointing Revelation because it's literally the best combo in the game it does the highest damage of any combo and it can be animation canceled with a block meaning it's now the best attack choice in every situation and while the animation looks lovely and the impact feels good having objectively the best choice all the time does somewhat kill the variety of tactics we've needed for various enemies up until now dive into Poseidon's underwater tunnels and find one of his daughters the nyads Kratos does the only thing he can think of and kisses them honestly as a kid I never quite got the point of this and I still kinda don't but kissing the nyad's rewards Gorgon eyes and Phoenix feathers uh yes I see the designers were fans of the film Event Horizon you need to speed swim through this terrifying bladed tunnel as the walls close in on you and you need to use the Boost to make it because you cannot swim fast enough without using them so boosting isn't just about smashing walls it's now about racing death we fight through some more rooms unlock some more hidden chests and then find this Corridor full of pots which are Super satisfying to smash a combination of the particles flying and the crisp clear sounds of them breaking so you know what let's talk about the soundtrack the soundtrack does such a great job of elevating this game every battle is scored with an intense energy-filled fight beat and the slower puzzles bring it down with ambient chanting and the ever-present thud of the steps of Kronos as he walks along the desert it's done that thing where the muse music matches the emotion and the energy of the game so perfectly you don't notice what's playing you just know it feels right and when the main theme kicks in toward the end of the game framing one of the best moments in gaming it's just beautiful and we will get to that pretty soon follow the underwater tunnel and even more trap this time racing against boards being pulled by chains and if you're not fast enough you'll get swept along and crushed against the wall I like how even though swimming is incredibly mechanically basic they have still worked out a way to use all of those mechanics in a puzzle they've pushed the limit of five directions and then this room we're escaping the temple isn't done by huge steps on these massive pillars rising out the water that's actually a red herring it's instead a secret hidden Alcove in the base of one of the pillars a little fake out exactly the type of thing you know the architect would do which also Loops us background to the first room through the tunnel we saw earlier the ability to swim means we can return to the inner puzzle ring and dive down to another skull door which means we will need another skull so we swim through into this Grand lava edged room with a huge locked door at one end and a mechanical log cannon at the other we don't need this yet though so we push on into the trial of Hades each room here is more imposing than the last and I love how the camera always flies back to let you take in the Majesty of each new location which lets you as a player notice the platforming elements or the hidden doors that you will reach later and then it flies back in So exploration can begin on a more personal level I also like others massive statue of Hades is immersed in a pool of blood and I love the extreme use of color contrast with the lava gutters having this bright orange bloom effect against the dull black gray of the steps in fact light plays heavily here because the room at the top of these steps is too dark to enter the Shadows themselves forming a physical barrier so now we begin The Challenge of Hades to light up this room it starts with centaurs with electric bow blades charging at us and we need to kill them but they need to die on these highlighted areas specifically to charge the deaf altar each altar needs four kills see again you've got two problems it's not just kill centaurs it's killed them on a very specific bit of floor and they move around a lot lovely example of stacked mechanics again with the Altus charge we unlock the Labyrinth a stark contrast to the open room battles before this is a tight claustrophobic Corridor maze with trapped floors opening to Lava below ambushes hidden around corners Arrow traps you can't even roll past and this massive sliding block I narrowly avoid being crushed by the exit door States Hades demands all the souls in this maze be killed so once everything is dead we loop back around to the main alter room and the giant statue Rises out of the pool of blood we dive all the way to the base flip a switch to illuminate the mouth of the statue and then spin it round to pierce the darkness and Shine the way down an impossibly long Corridor filled with flaming Boulders and now one of the harder traps you need to to run against these Boulders and they're fast now there are doors to the side of this Corridor but I'm not risking trying to open them while these Boulders keep rolling now this is quite the challenge but I'm not sure if this is an intended hitbox mechanic or a glitch but if you roll into the wall as a boulder passes you'll avoid all damage eventually we make it all the way to the end and I find a book more writings by the architect he says there are eight dead ends and one safe exit which means those doors by the side you need to open them while the boulders keep rolling this challenge is Razor tight with its timings you need to mash R2 to open the doors and you've got just enough time if you wait for a large enough Gap to open a door and then roll into the Alcove thankfully even if you choose the wrong door there'll still be a gap to hide behind with the right or found we run through and reach the highest level of the original Statue room and now it's balancing time notice how this one room has featured a combat puzzle with a specific area to fight in a light puzzle with swimming mechanics and now a balanced puzzle with slow methodical movement that's a lot of emotions all within one room balancing across the beams is one problem but there's never just one problem because now you've got spinning blades to deal with what I do like is the visual Touch of having the cut and scratch marks on the end of the walkable beams so you know where the hazard blades extend to that's a sign that the designers didn't want to kill you unfairly they wanted you to have all the information you needed to take on the puzzle and death is your fault we cross all the beams and unlock the chained Minotaur gate in the log Cannon room so we head down some broken stairs and return and we meet the next boss foreign [Music] I love the design of this boss because there are so many small touches which all combine it's a massive armored up Minotaur so the health bar is also armored but we can't hurt it right now your attacks at this stage just damaged the armor and it's steam-powered and eventually you break one of its four vowels which again are shown on its in-game model and its health bar and when all four valves are broken at QuickTime event sees you ripping off its armor as best you can and stunning the Beast and then while it's stunned you use the giant log Cannon to Blast Away chunks of metal plates and as the armor breaks and the boss's flesh becomes more exposed so does the hit point bar you see the armor fly off that and the green start to show through if you hide at the back of the upper ledge the Minotaur charges and lava sprays from under you so there's no respite from the fight either thankfully you can kind of cheese Poseidon's rage the magical attack to get some invulnerability frames during those big attacks with all the minotaur's armor finally chipped away and the Beast stunned for a final time we fire the log Cannon one last time enough [Applause] what I think is so brilliant about this boss is the fight wasn't just combat it wasn't just a quick Time Event and it wasn't just platforming or environmental interaction it was a combination of all of them with a graphically updating enemy health bar to reflect your progress we head through the opened Minotaur door and Ascend the stairwell to the Tomb of the architect's second oldest son it seems built in the temple and his service to the gods claimed most of his family's lives and now you can see his Madness begin to spiral a note even says he begins to doubt the gods so needing his skull for a door we rip off the second son's skull and then head back to the inner ring to open one of the final doors but on the way we meet Hades Lord Hades your progress is impressive creators I offer you the songs of Hades itself The Souls of the Dead who stand ready to fight by your side take this weapon craters take this power and use it to defeat your enemies the army of Hades spell is much more expensive using more than half our Mana but the ghostly Spirits it calls forth are extremely useful we'll actually need this for the final boss back in the central puzzle ring we open the inner door using the second son's skull and now we must Spin and light up all three layers of interlocking rings and while I was doing this I was thinking this is a cool concept but why is it a bit boring and it's not just because it's downtime it's because this is another moment with only one problem to solve just solve it three times spin three rings using three handles and there's no way you can fail nothing to make it harder or more complex no second problem to solve at the same time it's just tedious oh remember the muse keys we found while we can unlock the Muse door and find a hidden room which increases our health magic and gives us a ton of red orbs with all the Rings lined up we push this diamond back together and the temple ascends foreign the game warns you that once you ascend to the higher levels you cannot return without the box so we head on up this giant statue hand delivers us to the next section and another new enemy this Anubis looking fella with a double-headed ax thing these guys always had a very Egyptian feel to me and felt somewhat out of place with the rest of the Greek aesthetic but they're extremely fun to fight mechanically blocking a lot of our attacks and staying at a distance before darting in so we take this dude out and then even more memories Kratos had been in service to the gods long enough to know the harpy had been sent as a warning a reminder from his former Master of the decision that had cost Kratos everything had it been that long since he'd almost met his end at the hands of The Barbarians that long since he traded everything to save himself the sky split a God of War stepped through descending from Olympus he saw the makings of a god in a mere mortal Ares would save Kratos he would turn him into the perfect Warrior his servant on Earth only a simple pledge of loyalty was required my life is yours Aries from this day I shall carry forth your will and his fate was sealed as promised Ares rescued his new disciples bringing forth the power of a god destroying those who would Slaughter Kratos and his men [Music] foreign Shield would befit the newest servant of the God of War the blades of Chaos forged in the foul as depths of Hades once attached the chains remained so Chained and seared to the flesh a part of the bearer's body the permanent reminder of kratos's pledge in return ultimate power The Rage of Aries exploded from within soon he would learn the true costs of such power of course too high even for Kratos to pay ratchet Beast I know who it is you serve turn to your master tell the God of War I am his no longer tell him he is not safe while I walk the earth I will find Pandora's Box and I will use it to see him tremble and fall before me and now you know the origin of the blades of chaos a cruel gift from Aries to Mark our Eternal servitude to the god of war from the inter machinations of the Rings of the Pandora puzzle to the vertical Maze of the Cliffs of Madness this entire area is a big outdoor collection of multiple smaller Loops which all join up together it's the closest the game ever gets to an open free-form exploration bit here's a lovely little puzzle you need to cross this room so there's a bridge but the bridge is split into two smaller circular Bridges so you need to use this lever to spin them round but when you release the lever they spin back so you need to overspin and then run and then jump in the middle of the overspin and while all this is happening enemy archers are shooting at you so many small problems the ultimate goal of the Cliffs of Madness section is to find two necklaces one for a statue of Hera the other for a statue of Aphrodite and use them to activate a bridge and this also gives us one of the more unique puzzles once you've cleared this room of enemies you need to play Tetris and no I'm not joking you need to fit all these blocks into this wall somewhere but you've also got a rotating floor so you can spin the blocks round and just to fake you out you don't need every block one of them is extra finishing the tetris wall will get you the first necklace the rest of this area is extensive but samey it's a lot of running lots of climbing and a lot of fighting and while it's fun to play nothing new happens for about an hour where this room appears clearly a spike trap floor with a movable block so we activate a switch grab the block and now we need to race against the timer to get the block around a corner to a ledge again count the problems need to move block climb up on ledge and it's time and failure means spiky death this gets us the second necklace and placing them both onto the bridge heads we get an almost complete bridge but you need to jump but the ledges we revealed also move again two problems not only do we need to jump back and forth you need to time those jumps the simple design choice of having the bridge be moving instead of static elevates this puzzle from forgettable platform bit to quite fun set piece and at the very top we get another flashback the path before Kratos was clear but still the memories came rushing back as familiar and permanent as the blades changed his wrists memories of what he'd done in the name of the next memories of how he become a servant to the God of War the Beast is Humanity robbed and replaced only with the will to murder no one was safe entire armies fell before Kratos and the soldiers who followed him on his unending path of Conquest all in the name of his master those who offered resistance of any kind were dealt with quickly I built this Temple to offer prayers [Music] to Aries burn this Village Burn It to the Ground emboldened by the God of War kratos's Army was useless feared throughout the world for their brutality all that mattered was Conquest in the name of Kratos their great leader who had become near in Vincent he feared nothing but there was something about this Temple something forbidden all his instincts told him he should never cross its threshold never step inside beware Kratos the dangers in the temple are greater than you know but the village oracle's warning fell on deaf ears his ambition would not be denied [Music] oh my God [Music] in that instant the glory he had reveled in turned to horror the image of his two final victims would stay with him for all his days with that act Kratos knew he could no longer serve his master he had but one calling now the death of Aries he would murder the God of War I think you know who those final two victims were but we don't have proof yet remember that memory though the village The Forbidden Church the warning it will return later Atop The Cliffs a double rope swing gets us to the architect's tomb and what a sight it is a button a locked door moving platform spinning blades and all of it timed but this area is so much more than it looks we need to move a statue onto a button to release even more locks but then there's an odd section of cracked ground so we Explore More and find a giant crane with a block payload so we drop it through the floor and smash into a cave with another button but this is just the first step because you now need to place the original Statue from the first button onto the newly found button and use the crane to depress the first button the statue was on and oh it just Loops back onto itself so nicely and now a jumping puzzle Crossing these slabs while avoiding the blades your single jump isn't quite far enough but your double jump overshoots so it's an awkward Middle Ground distance and I die here a lot in fact I die so much that I discover this sympathy mechanic the game asks me if I'd like to reduce the difficulty doing This only affects combat and no I'm meant to be a professional we're staying as we are eventually we fight our way into the architect's tomb and find a Grizzly sight a woman stabbed through the chest slumped over a table covered in plans and a note from the architect saying she tried to stop me so we have a man tasked by the gods to work a life of servitude whose insane focus and refusal to quit claims the life of his family and then in a blind rage after she tries to help him he kills his wife up to this point the temple has been your enemy and the architect has been the creator of your potential failure but now as you stand in his tomb you feel an odd connection a respect that one professional feels toward another even if on opposite sides of a conflict you're both men with ego and vision who lost everything to the whims of the Gods and in a lovely touch you can examine the tables around the edge of the room and see sketches of the traps and puzzles throughout all of the temple to unlock the final door we rip the wife's skull from her corpse and slam it into the lock and then face the final room a horrible mix of moving floor alternating directions all leading to Rolling Crushers archers standing on the only safe bits which will spew Flames at you if you stand on them and imps dive bombing you and knocking you around this room is a test of patience every tactic you can think of is counted either by the enemies or the environment but eventually you will clear the room and head on up but just before you reach the final section of the temple take note of the floor there's an image of a man battling Zeus and if you examine it the game says it's an image of the future nice bit of shadowing for God of War 2 there very nice touch finally we reach the highest room and find Pandora's Box thank you [Music] Kratos your quest is at an end you are the first mortal to ever reach Pandora's Box there is still time to say the Athens you must bring the box back to my city and use it to kill Ares return to Athens Kratos return and save my city and then in a beautiful example of the final Loop of this puzzle Temple the floor descends and you end up right back at the start unfortunately your acquisition of the chest hasn't gone unnoticed after after a Pandora's Box was at last freed of its confines Kratos had found the means to destroy the God of War far away in Athens Aries knew Kratos had succeeded in his quest so little Spartan you've recovered Zeus's precious box but you will not live long enough to see it opened I will see to that [Applause] goodbye Spartan you will rot in the depths of Hades for all eternity as the life began to leave Kratos his thoughts returned to that fateful night even in death the memories the Visions would not fade for how could he forget spilling the blood of his own family cruel trick orchestrated by the God of War my wife child how they were left inspired you are becoming all I'd hoped you'd be Kratos your wife and child dead nothing will hold you back you'll become even stronger you will become death itself but is the Flames consume the temple Kratos realized his true enemy was The God Who once saved his life the same God who had now taken everything from him Aries [Music] from this night forward the mark of your terrible deed will be visible to all the ashes of your wife and child will remain fastened to your skin never to be removed and with that curse all would know him for the Beast he had become his skin white with the ash of his dead family a ghost of Sparta had been born an end in death he had failed as the minions of Aries claimed Pandora's Box kratos's life faded and his cursed Soul was cast into the fires of Hades and Kratos fell into the Underworld the river sticks beckoning below the currents strong enough to carry even the strongest mortal to his eternal resting place but Kratos had no intention of resting yet he intended to live to return to Earth and complete his quest Tess left for me a boss [Music] you again look it's the boat captain lovely little callback now as a kid I remember the whole Hades section being really really long but that's not actually the case the entire thing from start to finish is about 30 minutes but the difficulty spike is insane the platforming gets way more demanding you've got loads of consecutive Precision jumps then traversing spinning flash pillars avoiding the blades sticking out from them while also avoiding archers with exploding arrows and imp dive bombing you and knocking you off the edge and these rotating pillars change speed and direction too which all adds up to many many small problems each compounding the last regular enemies are now super powered lava versions of themselves hitting for way higher damage and having way more Health it's difficult but it's familiar at least right up until this bit the vertical spinning bladed climb if you play a God of War back in 2005 and you made it to Hades this is the [ __ ] you remember this is the bit you hated these sections rotate you can't get dragged into the wall because you'll fall off and you can't get hit by a play because you'll fall off and you can't move diagonally because the game isn't programmed to let you do that and a single mistake knocks you all the way back down to the start and there are two of these huge columns to climb now saying you can't climb diagonal is sort of wrong you can't move diagonally but by holding up and then left or right at the same time you can somewhat mitigate the sideways movement of the spinning column so it's not full diagonal movement but it kind of acts as if it is amazingly getting to the top only takes me a few tries I either got very lucky or this isn't as hard as I remember it being we kill several ways of the Anubis style enemies and with each one killed it spawns a pillar to rise in the distance eventually enough pillars form a path for you to jump along and then a block descends from above we jump up and grab the rope and climb out of Hades all the way back to Athens and then the gravedigger from earlier appears who is this guy ah Kratos and not a moment too soon I only finished digging just a moment ago who are you now that is an interesting question but for now you must hurry Athens need you but how did you know I'm Athena isn't the only God keeping watch on you Spartan complete your task Kratos and the gods will forgive your sins I'm still amazed that all of Hades only took half an hour I remember it lasting so much longer back in Athens but without Pandora's Box we fight through the ruined oracle's Temple to find the Oracle herself lying in a puddle of blood saying that we failed and there is no hope so we head down the steps to confront Ares even if it might be completely futile Kratos had traversed the desert of lost souls bested the deadly traps of Pandora's Temple and escaped Hades itself there was but one task left Zeus do you see now what your son can do you cast your favor on Athena but her city lies in Ruins before me and now even Pandora's Box is mine would you have me use it against Olympus itself Kratos returned even from the underworld is this the best you can do father you send a broken mortal to defeat me the God of War foreign s of years Pandora's Box was finally open the power of the Gods Unleashed just a mortal every bit as weak as the day you beg me to save your life I am not the same man you found that day the monster you've created has returned kill you you have no idea what a true monster is Kratos your final lesson is at the end prepare to join your family Aries didn't expect the lightning bolt because he didn't expect the other gods to be helping us the power of Pandora's Box seems to be become really big and now we start the final one-on-one battle with Ares the camera angle is now much lower to emphasize the size increase and the tiny coastal city of Athens Burns in the corner as we fight in the open Bay the only problem with this fight is as epic as it sounds and looks it's just not fun to play this final fight makes two major mistakes first off there's only one problem kill Ares in one on one combat there's no environmental relevance no additional enemies change of tactics no timer no advantage to be gained it's just a simple fight and that leads to the second major problem the game is not equipped to make a one-on-one slugging match the best experience you've had a whole game aim of gaining skills and platforming and solving multiple puzzles at the same time you've had a whole game of really pushing the mechanics to the Limit and it all comes down to hit Ares a lot certain times you'll get QuickTime events like mash o and then press the correct keys but even that they've made a mistake with the change from Mash o to press the specific key is so quick and tight you'll still be mashing Circle and often fail the first specific key press it just feels lacking like all the amazing mechanics and stacking problems you've built on until now this is just the most basic way to have a final boss fight eventually you do hurt him enough and Aries drags you by the blades into a small nightmare Dimension where you have to survive one of the coolest moments in video game history and this bit almost makes up for how bad the rest of the Aries fight is the nightmares that had haunted Kratos for the past 10 years had now taken form and substance for him [Music] Kratos what's happening where are we by the Gods can this be real foreign [Music] there is nothing you can put in my way to stop me I will save my family [Music] foreign kratosa's nightmare the memory that haunts him the single defining moment he cannot forgive himself for ares uses it against him but Kratos fights back against himself you have to defend your family from waves of nightmarish Kratos clones as the church the ground indeed the very reality where you killed your family is torn away and as the Clones overwhelm you you can hold Circle to hug your family and transfer your life force into them the music swells your family screams for you to save them and finally you can atone and fight for your own forgiveness clones of you with the blades of chaos clones of you with the blade of Artemis even ranged clones of you throwing lightning bolts on small Islands floating around the edge of this battle but eventually you succeed however you cannot change the past and ares rips the blades of chaos from from you disarming you and throwing them back into your family once again but even though you're there on your knees disarmed you are not done yet because you spot the massive sword Bridge you ran over earlier the battle was not over the guards it seemed had a final gift for Critters still have allies and Olympus air now you will see how strong I am [Music] and now it begins the actual final battle one on one Kratos vs Ares and it is awful why does Ares have bladed wings that suddenly Sprout from his back also what happened to the blade of Artemis are we just forgetting we have that by taking our Blades of chaos away and giving us a new weapon we have a new move set but you have no time to become familiar with that moveset because you're in a boss fight and your moveset doesn't matter because jumping here is a bad idea anyway so we have a brand new weapon that we're unfamiliar with placed into a one-on-one fight the game isn't really designed to work well for it's a single problem to solve and on top of that the game really does commit to one of the worst design choices for what's meant to be an action-packed adrenaline fueled sequence Ares is really hard to kill his moveset is crazy fast he can break your guard catch your rolls stun lock you and push you back he is faster and stronger than you and you share a health bar this is the only time the game does this it's more of a Kaiju Battle hurting Aries adds Health to you you getting hurt adds Health to him so it's a constant back and forth slugging match with no real tactics but the worst aspect is you die a lot and the pacing which up until now has been almost perfect is completely ruined until now the game is kept on this knife edge of adrenaline narrowly winning just about losing deaths felt Fair retries felt cathartic but this final fight has you die so many times it swings from challenging straight into frustrating and unfortunately it has to be said it is a terrible game design decision to make the final experience that a player has of your game one of frustration put very simply the last fight just isn't fun because it hasn't been built up to any kind of mechanical way there is nothing in this fight that you think oh my God I really enjoy that mechanic I'm glad I get to use it again but eventually after an 18 minute slugging match Ares goes down oh my God [Music] remember Kratos it was I who saved you in your time of greatest need I haven't forgotten Aries I remember how you saved me that night I was trying to make you a great warrior you succeeded [Applause] [Applause] Kratos had done me impossible Immortal defeating a god Aries was no more the city had been saved and would Thrive again the same could not be said for Kratos for as he sought to rebuild his soul with the help of the Gods the truth was revealed to him rid me of the memories that haunt me still you have done well Kratos though we mourn the death of our brother the gods are indebted to you we promised your sins would be forgiven and so they are but we never promised to take away your nightmares no man no God could ever forget the terrible Deeds you have done in the end knowing the visions of his past would never leave him Kratos made his way to the Bluffs overlooking the Aegean Sea the gods of Olympus have abandoned me now there is no hope classic Greek tragedy twist the gods are cruel you've been forgiven but not forgotten and unable to live with himself the final Loop is now complete and we watch Kratos fall to his death 10 years of endless nightmares it would finally come to an end death would be his escape from Madness the fate of Kratos was not as it seemed the guards had other plans horn Aloft like a feather Kratos found himself risen from the sea and placed on solid earth you will not die this day Kratos the gods cannot allow one who has performed such service to perish by his own hand Aries tactics were brutal his path of Destruction had to be stopped but now there is an empty throne in Olympus and a new God of War is needed take these stairs Kratos they lead to your ultimate reward but death does not come so easy hold back up to the cliffs you step through a portal and arrive on Mount Olympus with an empty Throne to fill and no one better suit it your Blades of chaos are replaced with the blades of Athena and you take your rightful place as the new God of War foreign throughout the rest of time whenever men rode forth to battle for good cause or for evil they did so under the watchful eye of the man who had defeated a god they were driven forward by Kratos the Mortal who had become the new God of War story done credits roll but that's not the end of the game you've now unlocked god mode and the treasures menu secret behind the scenes making of stuff some of which is itself locked behind finishing god mode or the challenge of the Gods which is 10 small challenges in a row such as knocking enemies off this platform without killing them beating some time limits or not getting hit for a few waves completing the challenge of the Gods unlocks some joke cosmetic armor sets you get to replay the game in including a chef a fish or the armor of Ares but here is one of the strangest Secrets if you do go back through the entire game on God mode after killing Ares and ascending Mount Olympus you'll pass these two statues just before the final Throne if you spend an unreasonable amount of time attacking the statues you will unlock two secret messages in the European version both are accessed through the treasure menu in the American version you unlock a phone number now I don't believe this number is still active but if you did call it back in the day you got this foreign by the guards you've done it somehow you found your way here to me I offer you my congratulations and my respect together we shall Conquer The Perils that lay before us and we shall always dude dude they did it they found our Easter egg who are you it's me David Jaffe I directed the game what game your game God of War go away dude dude don't you get it these guys they spent all that time breaking those statues I mean they must have taken like forever and then they figured out the whole secret code thing I do not know what you are talking about we had this secret pretty damn deep huh creatos if I kill you I will get help or so wait wait wait wait if you got the secret from the net or a magazine then actually you kind of suck I mean work for it a bit right credos actually can I call you crate no go away wrong don't you hate it when they get the codes off the net so lazy hey say great what are you so pale for I am serious you know up close you actually look kind of pasty if you don't mind me saying it's it's kind of gross [Music] he was worse than a screeching Hoppy as I was saying you have found the secret you have done well congratulations mortal we will meet again so with God of War fully replayed we can finally ask was it any good but simply yes extremely the linear nature of the game's critical path is enhanced by the small but constant Loops of Secrets and criss-crossing puzzles the combat is fast-paced and brutal while being kept varied by the enemies themselves having strengths and weaknesses in each encounter stacking enemy types and environmental challenges sometimes with time limitations or combinations with block puzzles to mean you're never facing just one problem the combat system itself isn't just button mashing it's dodging blocking reacting and adapting with spells and weapon choices as you go leading to some beautiful QuickTime kills with no camera Cuts Pandora's Temple is a gorgeous environment and easily one of the most memorable Adventure temples in gaming the stacking challenge of combining combat puzzles and varied environments means it's visually stunning and the incredible orchestral soundtrack enhances every moment as a character Kratos starts defeated we see him for the Arrogant but doubtful man that he is and ultimately learn of his selfish sacrifice of his own soul to Aries leading to the ultimate of less regret of killing his family in a blind rage and then we get to lead him through his hard fought Redemption but not forgiveness leading to an emotionally moving and mechanically awesome battle with yourself in Hades For What Little Redemption you can try and earn the vast majority of the design of God of War 1 is simply fantastic from the game itself to the plethora of extra content unlocked after finishing it the only weak moment is the unfortunate final boss which goes against almost everything you've learned in the game up to that point doesn't relate to any upgrade you're involved in and kills the pacing of a climactic ending but if we can look past the absolutely abysmal Ares fight we now need to give the game a score when they set out to make God of War they set out to create an incredible action-adventure game that one of the developers once described as the adventure the back of the box is always promising you and I think you succeeded thank you very much for watching another massive shout out to all the supporters on patreon Twitch and YouTube who keep the channel alive you can support the patreon from only one pound a month check the video description for links to the patreon twitch Twitter and our Discord and as always remember the gods of Olympus have abandoned me now there is no hope

Channel: Josh Strife Plays

Views: 1,386,800

Keywords: classic gaming, retro games, older games, retro review, gaming reviews, nostalgic gaming, nostalgia games, playstation 1, playstation 2, n64, dreamcast, classic rpg

Id: snFATnSgdNY

Length: 116min 15sec (6975 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 10 2022