God of War Ragnarok: The cooler weather and longer nights in the autumn make video games more popular than at any other time of the year. As a result, many of the year’s most anticipated video game titles are held back until the holiday season.
Big successes like Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have been pushed back until 2023 due to the pandemic’s effects on production.
There was, however, one new game that was bound to make waves. Sony’s biggest release of the year is God of War: Ragnarök.
In 2018, the franchise received a reboot reminiscent of prestige TV, with the hero Kratos being recast from a bawdy warrior to a grieving widower embarking on a funeral procession with a son he struggles to understand. The original games in the series were violent, irreverent action games about killing gods and monsters.
Despite the innovative nature of the original game, its sequel will focus on polish and growth. With greater freedom to roam than ever before, Kratos and his son Atreus explore nine distinct Nordic worlds, where they encounter environmental challenges and slay a wide variety of magical beasts.
With more choices to tailor your fighting technique, combat feels tight and visceral. Then there are the thrilling boss battles, during which you may launch yourself into the skies, land, spit out a few teeth, and immediately jump back into the action.
The whole game’s story is presented in this cinematic format. Mimir, who is lovely and talkative despite being a severed head, provides comedic relief in this potent mixture of familial drama and divine melodrama. Although Kratos is so stoic and fierce that he can put bears in headlocks, his kid is already an adult and can skin a deer on his own.
Atreus is becoming apart from his father as he comes to terms with the full scope of his extraordinary abilities. Despite exciting battles, their relationship is the game’s focal point, and the topics covered are even more everlasting than fate and divine retribution: maturing and letting go.
A Plague Tale: Requiem, the sequel to 2019’s cult smash Innocence, similarly focuses on dysfunctional families and benefits from the fall’s sparse release schedule.
Amicia de Rune, the game’s protagonist, spent the previous game running from the wicked Inquisition throughout 14th-century France in an effort to save her brother Hugo from a curse. Amicia still clutches Hugo’s hand as they stroll through lavender fields and crowded medieval shops, demonstrating the care and concern that exists between them.
Even though the game’s title suggests bloody scenes, the game’s stunning settings don’t give anything away. Numerous dead bodies line the stone walls, as hordes of rats scamper into each available crevice. It’s futile to try to kill all of these mice. Meanwhile, your human foes are overwhelming you. As stealth is more heavily featured than battle, this game makes you feel defenseless.
Using Amicia’s sling and alchemical concoctions, you must use your wits to overcome obstacles. The game’s emphasis on the weight of violence when it is really used raises troubling concerns about the limits of what may be done in the name of justice. The tension between the young siblings, who have witnessed much tragedy and have only one other to lean on, is riveting.
If it sounds too serious to be an enjoyable kind of escape, check out Nintendo’s most anticipated game of the year instead! It’s clear that the developers of Bayonetta 3 prioritized the game’s slick, exciting combat and breathtaking action sequences above crafting an emotionally engaging or even understandable narrative.
It is the newest installment in a popular series about a witch librarian who fights both angels and demons. Instead of catering to the masculine gaze, she parodies it by creating battle couture out of her own hair, which rises away from her body as her magic strength develops. It’s every bit as silly, campy, and fun as it sounds.
Playing with flair is highly rewarded in this game. One can easily picture the Platinum Games brainstorming session when the sole requirements for a new concept were “Does it look cool?” and “Does it feel great?” The fighting, which is more focused on combinations and gives thrills as fluid and accurate as ever, and the theatrical set pieces are the best examples of this.
You may randomly jump into a rhythm-action challenge or a 2D stealth scenario, or you can crash a mega-yacht party and pursue bad guys through Tokyo’s skyscrapers. Regardless, when she has reduced the evil guys to dust, Bayonetta does it in a sensuous fashion by blowing a kiss. If you’re a gamer who gets bored during the colder months, don’t worry; there’s something for everyone.