We’re less than a week away from God of War: Ragnarok arriving on the PS5, but reviews are already pointing at this long-awaited sequel as being perhaps the best game of 2022. As of the time of this writing, Ragnarok has a very healthy 94 percent on Metacritic, with many publications giving the game a perfect score.
Not us, though. In his 4 out of 5 review, our own Eric Switzer praised the game's improved combat system and gear progression and the unrivaled visual splendor provided by the PS5 version. However, he did note that Ragnarok felt like it might have suffered from some fetch quest bloat in order to satisfy the "time = value crowd."
Eric's criticisms appear to be in the minority, however. People wanted more God of War, and that is exactly what Ragnarok provides. Here's a rundown of scores from some leading game outlets:
- VGC - 5/5
- Game Informer - 4.75/5
- Screen Rant - 4.5/5
- GameSpot - 4.5/5
- Destructoid - 4.5/5
- IGN - 5/5
- Push Square - 5/5
- Forbes - 4.5/5
- Siliconera - 5/5
"It’s a truly special and fittingly grand conclusion of Kratos’ Norse saga," wrote IGN in its spoiler-free review. Indeed, it seems like the story is what stands out most of all in God of War: Ragnarok, which is why so many of these reviews lament how difficult it is to keep plot points from creeping into the text. Destructoid said there was so much story thrown at the player that by the middle of the game, "I felt like this could have actually been a trilogy all on its own, with a little more time to linger on some of the events and moments therein."
While combat has always been God of War's strong suit, Ragnarok improves on that area with more diversity--both in locales and enemies. No more Draugrs in every zone, Kratos will now have to fend off fantastic beasts of Viking legend while trying to keep himself and Atreus safe from some very vengeful gods.
God of War: Ragnarok arrives on PlayStation 4 and 5 on November 9.