YMMV / God of War Ragnarök

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Why did Heimdall react so badly to Kratos trying to spare his life? The text implies that it's a case of Don't You Dare Pity Me!, but while he's angry at pity, he only gets moreso when he pushes Kratos's Papa Wolf button. It's led to a theory that what really infuriated Heimdall was reading Kratos's mind and seeing a loving, concerned father, then immediately recognizing it as something he would never have.
  • Does Sindri truly blame Atreus and Kratos for Brok's death or is he trying to push them away so that it wouldn't hurt so much when they were taken from him too by the war?
    • Alternatively, does Sindri only say he blames Kratos and Atreus to avoid confronting his own guilt? Sindri’s behavior during Ragnarok and Brok’s funeral seems to imply this.
  • If Odin had been able to get what he wanted, would he have been satisfied at last? The driving force behind most of his actions, especially avoiding Ragnarok, is that he's terrified of dying because he has no idea what will happen to the Aesir when one of them dies, and he thinks if he can get the mask and learn the secrets of creation, he'll be able to find out. He seems genuine when he tells Atreus that all he wants is answers, and is horrified and distraught when Atreus breaks the mask. Would Odin finally relent and back down upon receiving closure on the source of his paranoia, or would he have to continued to strive for even more knowledge and power?
  • When Kratos and Thor fight for the first time, does Thor actually kill Kratos with a blow to the head from Mjolnir? Or was he just knocked out by a lucky hit? There's evidence to support both claims.
  • Was Kratos' desire to avoid Ragnarok due to not wanting another apocalyptic war that sees the realms destroyed and a pantheon of gods slaughtered? Or, because he saw the giant mural at the end of the previous game foreseeing his death in Atreus' arms, is he afraid that if they pursue Ragnarok this prophecy will come true? Though Kratos would vehemently deny he was hiding from the Aesir, his story about the old woodcutter near the end of the game implies he was ready to accept his death but has discovered he still wants to live, so fear (or at least concern) is plausible. On the other hand, he may be afraid of dying for Atreus' sake; he does talk a fair bit about how Atreus is going to have to learn how to survive on his own without his father to guide him, as if he's expecting it to happen imminently. Perhaps he simply wants to live long enough to be confident his son can be without him and he doesn't think that point has come yet.
  • When Sif confronts Thor after Heimdall's death and asks him if their daughter will be next to die for Odin, was she convincing Thor to finally kill Atreus after losing her patience with the boy, or was she trying to get Thor to turn on Odin without the Allfather or his cronies catching on and Thor severely misunderstood her? The fact that she shows absolutely no ill will towards Atreus after he escapes and even wishes him well in the postgame once Thor and Odin are dead supports the latter.
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: The boat conversation where Mimir asks Kratos about the time he participated in a legendary tournament is usually assumed to be referring to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale due to Mimir's "history's greatest musician" line, but some also interpret as referring to Kratos' appearances in SoulCaliber: Broken Destiny, Mortal Kombat 9 or even all three due to the vagueness of the characters described and the fact that Kratos firmly declares Let Us Never Speak of This Again on the issue.
• Annoying Video Game Helper: One of the more common complaints heard from the players is that the characters accompanying Kratos will constantly comment on the situation, telling him what to do or stating obvious facts during battle (such as Kratos being on fire) with no way to make them stop. Worse, instead of these comments being done after the player is stuck for a while on a puzzle, or actively seeks out the NPC for help, the characters comment almost right away if you don't do it in one go, which on a first playthrough is going to happen a lot.
• Angst? What Angst?: For a man who's spent at least a century imprisoned, Týr is astoundingly well adjusted to his circumstances and is able to spend his regained freedom peacefully checking up on the realms.
• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • For a literal giant with multiple health bar slots, Gryla's boss fight consists mostly of shooting arrows at a glowing spot on her cauldron. Additionally, there are multiple candles Angrboda can light to stun her, and even her melee attacks are easily dodged and evaded.
  • The Frost Phantom has very easily telegraphable attacks, including even its unblockables. Its core can be attacked at any time, and the only real big moves that have to be made is destroying a number of stone springs that give it power.
  • For all his build-up as the mighty God of Thunder who can stand toe-to-toe with Kratos, Thor himself falls into this. You only fight him twice, once near the beginning and then not until the ending, to which you remain in the same spot of fighting him in front of Odin's hut the entire fight - a criticism that also applies to Odin (the location merely switching to a cave instead), and you can beat both of them relatively quickly (compared to Baldur in the previous game whom you fought three times, with the second and third battle utilizing huge set pieces and scenery, such as fighting on top of a dragon and Freya controlling the giant Thamur to intercept their final battle - both Thor and Odin's battles are surprisingly small in comparison).
• Awesome Bosses:
  • Despite his second encounter being anti-climactic, the first fight with Thor definitely lived up to the hype and lays out the dangers that loom over the heroes for the entire story. The Fission Mailed halfway through the fight is also incredibly memorable.
  • Garm, courtesy of being a frightening beast of a wolf and the battle itself being reminiscent of the God of War battles of old.
• Base-Breaking Character: There are two camps when it comes to the now older Atreus: he's either a well-intentioned kid who is just trying to figure out his identity, or he's very grating and selfish, especially in the first half of the game. People in the former camp appreciate how the writers balance his teenage angst and brattiness with his friendliness, making his seem like a realistic depiction of teenagers. However, it's because of the angst and brattiness that people in the latter camp find him annoying.
• Cant Unhear It: Good luck trying to read about Norse Mythology without hearing Richard Schiff as Odin, Ryan Hurst as Thor, or Scott Porter as Heimdall. Same goes for characters introduced in the last game, like Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danielle Bisutti as Freya/Frigg, Adam J. Harrington as Sindri, and Robert Craighead as Brok.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • The first troll encountered in the game gets instantly killed the moment it appears, and not even intentionally as it gets crushed in a minecart accident and promptly put out of its misery. Quite the wonderful sight for the players who got sick of the overabundance of troll bosses in the last game.
  • Killing Heimdall weighs heavily on Kratos and only fills him with more apprehension about upcoming prophecies, but for the player finally giving that smug son of a bitch his comeuppance is pure satisfaction.
  • Kratos finally earning not only his freedom but his redemption for all of his prior sins—after decades of being a Cosmic Plaything and falling further into becoming a Jerkass Villain Protagonist in the Greek saga in the name of his revenge—by finally earnestly letting go of his self-hatred and opening up his heart by the end of the game is one of the most heartwarming moments in all of gaming... only to then be followed up by Kratos accepting his son's wishes to venture out and find his place and telling Atreus he is ready, which rounds up the entire Norse saga as well as they warmly embrace one another before parting ways for the time being. Despite the devastation caused by Ragnarök, the Surprisingly Happy Ending the game ends on for both Kratos and Atreus is well-earned.
  • The Valhalla DLC is practically a victory lap for Kratos in this regard, as he finally completes his Character Development from the monster he started the franchise as after losing everything he ever had, the sheer "feel good" of the ending of the DLC as Kratos earnestly accepts his godhood at long last and joins Freya in rebuilding the world not as a God of War but a God of Hope is immensely rewarding after all Kratos has been through over the entire series.
• Common Knowledge:
  • A lot of fans reached the "conclusion" that Jormungandr is forever stuck in a time loop. He isn't. He was created by Atreus and Angrboda when they placed a Jotnar's soul into a dead snake, grew in size in a short amount of time, and was knocked back in time by Thor in the Final Battle. The Jormungandr we saw in the last entry and this sequel already fought Thor during Ragnarok. He Slept Through the Apocalypse and is still by the Lake of Nine.
  • In Norse Mythology, Heimdall and Týr are sometimes attested to be sons of Odin, which led to many fans believing the same within the franchise. But the relation between God of War's adaptation of them and Odin is never explicitly said, instead relying on interpreting various lines differently. In short, while there is nothing saying they aren't Odin's sons, there is nothing supporting it either. In fact, when Heimdall is killed, he's described as Odin's most valuable ally rather than son.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • Revenants, Wulvers and Dark Elf Lords are back, and they're as annoying as they were in the previous game. See 2018's YMMV for details.
  • Wyverns are about as tanky as an ogre, have oddly telegraphed attacks that seem designed to both exploit your limited view and require razor-sharp parrying abilities to have a chance of avoiding, and tend to only show up with crowds of other enemies that take your attention off of them.
• Diagnosed by the Audience:
  • There are some faint signs that Freyr suffers from something akin to PTSD. Freya mentions that, after being set on fire by the Aesir, Freyr became moody and aggressive for a time. She also states that he suffered from nightmares since then.
  • Odin's obsessive thirst for knowledge is revealed to be motivated by his fears of death, and he's willing to go to extreme lengths–including alienating everyone around him, and even genocide–to satisfy his need to know, which reads a lot like Existential Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Odin himself admits that he simply isn't capable of letting go of his search for answers, even if those answers are impossible to reach.
• Disappointing Last Level: For all the build-up towards Ragnarok being a battle featuring all of the many realms joining together to take down the Aesir, the actual final battle feels much the same as the rest of the game, Kratos and an ally fighting small groups of enemies with only dying elven allies every once in a while to suggest there's a battle featuring the armies of several realms. The final battles with the Aesir gods are somewhat disappointing too, while the final battle with Baldur in the previous game was an epic duel spanning multiple locations and with three different parties all struggling against each other, the fights with Thor and Odin are Kratos and his allies against that god alone in one or maybe two locations - an empty town courtyard and a featureless brown cave - with flat arenas and no real set-pieces.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Ratatoskr is an anthropomorphic squirrel in charge of tending the World Tree with a Disneyesque character design, cartoonish movements, and a lovable, witty personality which make him stand out in the realistic, gritty atmosphere of the Norse world. The fact that he is voiced (and partially written) by SungWon Cho, popular on the internet as ProZD, also helps cement his reputation too.
  • Fenrir's a big and sweet wolf whose death at the beginning of the game is a very heart-wrenching moment for many players, which makes it all the better when he comes back later as an adorably playful giant, providing a rare cuteness factor that's not usually seen in God of War.
  • Heimdall is loved by fans for how entertaining and despicably evil his smug attitude is, being a genuine threat despite being a supporting villain, and having one of the most well-designed boss fights in the game.
• Even Better Sequel: The first game of the Norse storyline was already a very well-received Soft Reboot that both continued Kratos' storyline while also seemingly re-inventing it for a new generation, introducing his son Atreus, and adapting the God of War formula to the then-most advanced state of gaming. Ragnarök was even better-received, won all sorts of awards and received tons of praise from both fans and critics for taking everything about the first game and doubling down on it in just about every way imaginable while also addressing and fixing the few issues that its predecessor was criticized for, such as enemy variety. To further this, it's also one of the highest video games ever rated on IMDb, currently sitting at 9.8/10, as well as the fastest-selling PlayStation exclusive at the time of its release.
  • Somehow the Valhalla DLC is this as well, being an introspective journey by Kratos embodying a concentrated review of the God of War timeline. It's all the good parts of the game distilled even further.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • The Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have started comparisons between MCU and GOW Asgard portrayals, what with the "Ragnarök" subtitle being added, and the appearance of a chubby Thor. Thor is a particular sticking point in the rivalry, with many God of War and mythology fans blaming Marvel for being an Audience-Coloring Adaptation that led to the divided reaction to God of War's Truer to the Text Thor.
  • Developed one with Elden Ring over which of the two games were the very best of 2022, something that increased after it was announced that both games were nominated for Game of the Year at that year's Game Awards^NoteWith the other nominees being A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Detractors of Ragnarök cite its linear nature and handhold-y tendencies as points of derision, while detractors of Elden Ring accuse it of having no narrative^note Or, at the very least, unfavorably comparing its more subtle methods of story telling against Ragnarök's more cinematic approach and for being too hard like with other Souls-like RPG games.
  • A rivalry with Assassin's Creed: Valhalla was made over their portrayal of Norse mythology. With arguments ranging from their individual personalities and character designs. Considering that God of War (PS4) was released in 2018, while Assassin's Creed was released in 2020, some comparisons were inevitably and unfairly made because of God of War's high esteem and mass praise in the gaming community. Their representation of Thor is a standout example, AC's Thor may have a large personality but many have argued that his design is more generic, whereas Thor in Ragnarok has a design that makes him identifiable and recognizable from the cast of other characters.
    • For a less heated example, some rivalry comes between fans who prefer the original story in Ragnarök vs those who like the more direct adaptation of Norse mythology featured in Valhalla.
• Fanfic Fuel: How the story would have unfolded if the real Týr had joined Team Kratos instead of Odin-Tyr, and his role in preventing or triggering Ragnarök. The real Týr is discovered in a prison Niflheim post-game, but he doesn't receive much character development as he just wants to visit all realms before joining the protagonists' headquarters in Sindri's house (which he doesn't get to do in the game, either).
• Foe Yay Shipping: Heimdall has been shipped with both Kratos and Atreus. For Heimdall/Kratos, it's common to see fans bringing up how Heimdall calls Kratos "sunshine" during their fight and fanon will have Heimdall use it as a nickname. For Heimdall/Atreus, shippers love their "fated enemies" dynamic.
• Game-Breaker: Soulless Assult Glyph in Valhalla has a chance of gaining a Relic Charge on any hit. When paired with Hilt of Hofud that creates a brief Realm Shift, with enough Luck investment, you can infinitely spam the Relic and to the point that the enemy won't even be able to fight back as there is no cooldown timer in when you can use the Relic again.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Kratos says he likes the Perfectionist Squirrel after Ratatoskr describes him as "laconic," "fewer words, greater impact." Kratos, being Spartan, is from the Greek region of Laconia, and the Spartans were so well known for their wit that the English word laconic came from them and their homeland.
  • The valkyrie Vanadís attacks Kratos and Atreus at their home, and it's revealed to be none other than Freya herself putting up a false identity so Kratos would actually engage in a fight. This is a case of Shown Their Work as the name "Vanadís" is another name used for the goddess Freyja in the actual myths. The name even translates to "woman of the vanir".
  • Mimir criticizes the play Oedipus the King for being mostly composed of speeches narrating offstage events instead of dramatizing them to the public, but Kratos argues that unfolding the narrative in a single time and place with no interruption is traditional to Greek storytelling, in order to make the play more clear. Indeed, Kratos' explanation of the play's structure represents the concept of the three Classical unities verbatim, a theory of dramatic tragedy derived from Aristotle's Poetics. In his work, Aristotle describes Tragedy as a poetic imitation of an action that is serious, and thus, tends to last around a daylight and be unified, complete, compact, and focused on a single goal and principal that moves the plot so that the components of the play would not feel dislocated and confusing to the audience (in contrast to Epic Poetry, which had a much longer timeframe). Renaissance dramatists took Aristotle's descriptions as rules called the three units, considered to be "time", meaning a tragedy would confine itself to around no more than a single day, "place", meaning a tragedy would not change its scene often and be set around a single broad location on-stage, and "action", meaning a tragedy would have a single direction all of the actions in the plot move towards, with no or few subplots.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Nightmares and Tatzelwurms. See the previous game's YMMV for details.
  • Nokkens are complete pushovers on their own, going down in a few hits. What makes them annoying is their Super-Empowering abilities, with their songs making mobs regenerate so quickly your only chance to kill them while under a Nokken spell is to either build their stun up or knock them off a ledge. By the way, their song does this to all enemies, including already-tanky enemies like Ogres, Wulvers, Heavy Draugr, and Vikens. To add to the annoying factor, while Nokkens have a pitiful amount of health, they compensate by sneakiness: they like to hide up on walls or in trees, with the only indicator of their location being a trail of colored smoke, and even when you've knocked them from their hiding place, unless you hit them with an arrow first, they'll dodge out of the way of most of your attacks.
• Good Bad Bugs: It’s actually possible to temporarily bring Brok back to life using an exploit with Sigil arrows and the Leviathan Axe. He lies back down immediately when the cutscene starts, though.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In the game, there is a scene where Kratos dives into an Alfheim lake to save Atreus and pulls him out before he drowns and Kratos is saved by Tyr afterward. Considering that Kratos's mo-cap actor, Shad Gaspard, died on 17th May 2020 by drowning after saving his son, it is awkward, haunting, and tragic to see. In the same vein, it's almost beautiful that Kratos was Shad Gaspard's final role in a video game considering that one of the game's central themes is about grief and there's a conversation between Kratos and his deceased wife about she'll always be a part of him and be with him.
    Faye: We will always walk together Kratos. You will always be a part of me. I will always be a part of you.
    Kratos: And when you are gone, that part of me dies as well. Faye, to feel your absence—
    Faye: The culmination of love is grief. And yet we love despite the inevitable, we open our hearts to it.
  • When Sindri first reveals the device that will help unlock realm travel, he uncloths it with a proud "ta-daaaa!", but Kratos and Atreus just continue their conversation with Brok. This is the most obvious display of Atreus and Kratos barely acknowledging or thanking Sindri's work for them, which is the crux of their friendship shattering towards the end of the game.
  • There's a moment during the first segment of playing as Atreus where you can choose to throw a snowball at Sindri. After what becomes of Sindri's and Atreus's relationship by the end of the game, let's just say that many players chose to drop the snowball during replays.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: The review by IGN Korea gave the game a 6/10 and summarized it as a "quickly brewed DLC", being notably the most scathing review in an otherwise acclaimed round of reception. Within days of the review's release, the review and its writer were torn apart on social media, leading to the writer to address the ongoing harassment.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the Japanese Dub of the Norse Saga, Freya's Voice Actress is Kikuko Inoue, whose Star-Making Role, Belldandy, in the Anime Adaptations of Ah! My Goddess, is literally the Norse Goddess of The Present, with her older sister Urd governing The Past and younger sister Skuld governing the The Future; and in God of War Ragnarök Freya gets to meet Belldandy (along with Urd and Skuld) when consulting the Norse Sisters of Fate with Kratos.
• Hype Backlash: Trips into this for quite a few people. Frequent complaints are the game feeling bloated by all it tries to stuff in and some of the moments feeling anticlimactic after a very long build-up.
• I Knew It!: Many players spent years theorizing that Odin would be the final boss instead of Thor. They were proven correct.
• Incest Yay Shipping: Quite a few people in the fandom ship Kratos/Atreus.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Heimdall's insufferable personality and antagonistic nature seems to be a result of Odin's abusive parenting mixed with Heimdall's overconfidence over his gift of foresight, making Heimdall the jerk we meet him as. Doesn't excuse his actions or behaviour, though it's easy to tell where the problems were in his life if his half-brothers Baldur and Thor are anything to go by.
  • Thor. Sure, the thunder god did many terrible things and was an abusive dad to both Magni and Modi, many of those terrible things were something he was forced to do by Odin, who gaslighted him into believing that being The Brute and killing is all he could ever be. Which left him as an Extreme Doormat who's unable to stand up to his abusive father despite being horrified and traumatized at having to constantly do atrocities at Odin's command. The deaths of Magni and Modi did drive him to clean up his act by raising Thrúd, but not only does Odin insult his sobriety but in a moment of weakness after Heimdall is killed, he goes back to being a drunkard. Which also leads to Thrúd having to drag him out of a bar after a mass brawl that leaves the owner dead and the inside of it in a wreck. Thor is so ashamed of himself he can't even look at her and when he finally gets enough courage to do so, he cannot say anything but a simple admission of "I fucked up". When he finally refuses to follow Odin's order to kill Kratos, Odin kills him in cold blood, and his last act is to attempt to reach out to Thrúd.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • The game opens with Kratos and Atreus having to Mercy Kill Fenrir due to his declining health and complications from advanced age. While it's a very sad scene to start the game off with regardless, anyone familiar with Ragnarök as it was told in Norse Mythology would know that Fenrir takes part in it eventually, leading many to correctly assume that Fenrir's death wasn't permanent.
  • From the end of the previous game and heavily focused on in this one, it was prophesied that Kratos would end up dying in Atreus' arms during Ragnarök - but considering that Kratos has bested death before, it was highly unlikely that it was going to stick, or if it would even end up coming to pass. As it turned out, Kratos survives the game.
• Love to Hate:
  • Odin proves to be every bit the cruel, manipulative tyrant Mimir described him as in the previous game. Between his charmingly Faux Affably Evil demeanor and Richard Schiff's charismatic performance, however, he proves to be quite entertaining to watch whenever he's onscreen.
  • Heimdall is such an unbelievably smug and mean-spirited asshole to everyone, a role done with so much earnesty that it somehow loops around to entertaining. It also makes his well-deserved beatdown from Kratos all the sweeter.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Fat Thor.^ExplanationThor's appearance in this game shows that he is fat, which took many by surprise (despite Mimir describing Thor as being overweight in the first game).
    • "CAM ON, ASGARD! SCOR SOM FACKIN GOALS!" ^ExplanationRe-imagining Thor as a football hooligan based on his build.
  • "Hire fans lol." ^ExplanationThe outrage of "Fat Thor" led to people making parody edits to "improve" his look, even crossing over with the memetic outrage over Aloy's appearance in◊ Horizon Forbidden West.
  • Are you a calm and reasonable person? ^Explanation Thor asks this of Kratos in the trailer, which... is cut by Kratos killing various enemies brutally, not to mention his very background. Fans have taken it as another variant of 'Dumbledore asked calmly'. Gained an extra layer of humor come the full release of the game, which has Kratos develop into a genuinely calm and reasonable person.
  • "History's greatest musician." ^Explanation One potential boat conversation has Mimir ask Kratos about one particular contest, with PaRappa being alluded to as "history's greatest musician" by Mimir. Naturally, this lead many to post images of PaRappa with Mimir's description of him as the caption.
  • "AAAAAAAUUGHHH!" ^ExplanationThe awkwardness of Odin's battle cry has led to many videos replacing it with other sound effects, such as Tom's yelling or Yoda's death scream.
  • "I died! I fucking DIED! *Beat* The fuck do you want?"^Explanation Brok's tantrum at the revelation that Sindri brought him back to life missing a piece of his soul sounds very silly out of context, leading several people to put captions like "me when I'm gaming at 3 AM and my parents walk in" over the dialogue, or to generally express frustation at something difficult in a video game.
  • "No." ^ExplanationKratos' straightforward response to Odin's offers got used as a reaction gif or image for situations the poster found undesirable or as a punchline
  • Kratos giving Atreus "the talk". ^Explanation At one point in the game, both Kratos and Mimir play Shipper on Deck between Atreus and Angrboda, with the former wondering whether he had prepared his son for love. This led to jokes among the fandom about Kratos giving Atreus advice on how to talk to girls, even teaching him about the infamous Hot Coffee Minigame from the original continuity.
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Some of the people who didn't like this game have criticized it for portraying Kratos as wanting to avoid war because the previous games had him all too happy to engage in it, with some even going so far as to accuse the game of "emasculating" Kratos. Even if we discount that Kratos doesn't want his son to march off to war or turn out like he did, these players don't seem to realize that Kratos killing the gods in III was actually a bad thing. As much as Zeus himself deserved it, Kratos basically screwed over the entire world (including his beloved Sparta) just by killing Poseidon and only went on to ruin what's left of the planet as he kept killing more gods. Even in the previous game, Kratos recognized that all the destruction he wrought without care made him essentially irredeemable. Having grown as a person, Kratos is obviously not in a hurry to destroy everything again.
  • Others have claimed the game is too linear and it devolves into hallway like levels, even negatively comparing it to Final Fantasy XIII of all things. However, many examples they use to justify this don't actually reflect the actual level design, to the point where they are cherry picked from inappropriate sections of the game (for instance, Kratos' flashbacks to his time with Faye are solely story focused and come at very specific parts of the game where it wouldn't to go off in a random direction). While parts of the main story path can be a bit linear, every world in the game opens up and branches off into huge wide-open levels with tons of areas to explore, side quests to do, and collectables to find just like in the last game. This criticism especially makes little sense in context of the original games where you do actually spend the majority of your time in literal hallways with only one direction to go in (albeit with many puzzles on the way).
• Moe: Fenrir is big, fluffy, has those warm Puppy-Dog Eyes, and is incredibly affectionate to his masters. It's no wonder so many players would like the chance to give him pets. Which, in the Playable Epilogue, they get to actually do.
• Moral Event Horizon: After making players spend the game reconsidering their impressions of him from the previous game and presenting a affable front, Odin firmly crosses the line when he reveals he's been disguised as Tyr all along and murders Brok. In this moment he not only kills a close friend of several of the heroes, making things personal, but it becomes clear that everything the characters have seen from him thus far were just lies and manipulations and he really is the selfish, power-hungry tyrant Mimir warned Kratos about, and settling things peacefully is not an option.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Any sound made by the Blade of Olympus.
  • The sound of the Blades of Chaos crashing together during the "Nemean Crush" runic attack is eargasm-worthy.
  • Gjallarhorn's high-pitched, bassy call that heralds the beginning of Ragnarök is enough to induce shivers.
• Narm:
  • At the climactic phase of his boss fight, Odin lets out an anguished scream as Atreus destroys the Mask. Unfortunately, the team in charge of animating the cutscene seemed to think it was intended to be a mighty battle cry, which leads to Odin adopting a threatening stance and puffing out his chest before yelling meekly like he just stubbed his toe, which somehow eminates a powerful shockwave that blasts Atreus back several meters.
  • After Atreus' dramatic farewell, he makes his exit by stepping around a corner and vanishing into thin air. Granted, there's a magical explanation for it, but it's still a little anticlimactic.
• Older Than They Think:
  • To put it mildly, Thor's bulky design has gotten people talking about historical accuracy and representation. When you look into the actual Icelandic culture and the mythological stories of Thor, you'll learn that there are some justifications for this design.
    • In the myths, Thor has been described by the Poetic Edda as having a voracious appetite as Thor once unknowingly drank a third of the ocean in a competition against Utgard-Loki, and during the fake wedding to Thrym, Thor ferociously consumed an entire ox, eight salmon, an entire wedding cake, and three casks of mead.
    • The game's design of Thor takes influence from Oddr Snorrason's work, as there are actually very few detailed descriptions of most of the Norse gods, leaving a lot of room for interpretation of their appearances. At best, Thor is described as having a red beard and being handsome in The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason. In the Poetic Edda, Thor is described as having a voracious appetite, having long hair, a long beard, and having fierce eyes.
    • The traditional and popular idea of warrior's build (i.e broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted) actually stems from classical Greek artwork, not Norse artwork. In Icelandic Culture, Grettir the Strong from the Grettis Saga was an overweight outlaw who would fight monsters like ghosts and trolls.
    • Santa Monica Studios are also not the first to portray Thor with a burly build, Valhalla is a successful comic book franchise that ran from 1979 to 2009 and it also portrayed Thor as a heavyset beefy man.
  • It might be jarring to see Odin being portrayed so thoroughly as a sleazy, treacherous and opportunistic Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist after many interpretations portrayed him as a more wise and noble god (especially in comparison to Zeus), but this isn't the first work of fiction where he's been portrayed this way, with that portrayal being based on Odin's depictions in earlier myths where he indeed was quite deceitful and self-serving. For example, the Prose Edda says he managed to get the Mead of Poetry from the jötunn Suttungr, who had trusted his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it inside of a mountain, by shapeshifting into a serpent in order to pass through a crack in the mountain and then seduce Gunnlöð into letting him have three draughts of the mead. Odin drank all of it and shapeshifted into an eagle to fly off to Asgard, where he regurgitated the drink.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • The Norns. Between their creepy hiding place and designs, their seemingly all-knowing nature, condescending yet playful behaviour filled with writing metaphors, very effective breakdowns of everyone in Kratos's party and a Wham Line that manages to leave even Kratos shocked, their one scene may be short but manages to leave one hell of an impression.
  • The Lady of the Forge appears for a single, 2-minute scene at most, yet provides one of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous moments in the game; between her intricate design, her locale, and her mysterious characterization, as well as providing Kratos with a new and incredibly fun weapon in the form of the Draupnir Spear.
• Padding:
  • Atreus helping Angrboda with her daily activities in Ironwood feels superfluous to the plot and unnecessarily drags the segment far longer than needed.
  • When Kratos returns to Svartalfheim in order to head to create the Draupnir Spear needed to kill Heimdall, they ended up being sent to an abandoned tunnel due to the travel door being jammed, forcing him and Freya to fight through the Grims and solving puzzles within to escape. The segment doesn't really progress the plot beyond random expositions nor does it introduce any new gameplay mechanics or enemies. There's hardly even any unique items to obtain, giving the player far less incentive to return once they escape
• Realism-Induced Horror:
  • Thor’s struggle with alcoholism is surprisingly grounded in reality, with his struggles with the temptation to drink in his first scene and eventually relapsing into his old habits. The results show how self-destructive alcoholism is and many players who have struggled with it in real-life relate to what he goes through.
  • Freya's character arc is a very realistic portrayal of a woman escaping from her abusive spouse. Odin's treatment of her has clearly traumatized her and made her wary of trusting others and opening up to them, and even if she hasn't seen him in years, the mere mention of him can make her angry and afraid, showing the psychological hold he still has over her without having to actually do anything directly anymore. This is shown most literally when Freya finally manages to destroy the spell Odin placed on her that prevents her from leaving Midgar, and she bursts into tears as she rips apart the roots of the curse one by one and finally screams "get out of me!"
  • For that matter, Odin's personality in general captures the portrayal of an emotionally abusive family member, not just towards Freya but also towards the other Aesir and Atreus. He acts welcoming, friendly, and reasonable to earn their trust, and then begins manipulating them. He doesn't hold Atreus captive and force him to do his bidding, he invites him to Asgard and tells him to come and go as he pleases, while also saying and doing things to nudge Atreus into staying and working for him of his own will. His methods serve the purpose of isolating his victims from others in their social circle by turning them against other so they have only him to turn to, and he'll be waiting with a fake smile and sweetly poisoned words. And when being cordial doesn't work he'll resort to lies, gaslighting, and guilt-tripping, saying whatever he has to to keep them under his control. Freya mentions that on their wedding night, she confided in Odin her fears about her budding estrangement from her brother, and his response is chillingly in how it echoes real life domestic abuse.
    Freya: I confided in him that night about wanting an apology from Freyr. Odin reassured me that he'd be the only family I'd need. And I believed him."
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: While the game itself is about as challenging as the previous game, especially on harder difficulties (if lacking the Early Game Hell the first has due to having the Blades of Chaos almost from the start), the Berserkers which serve as the game's Optional Bosses are generally not as difficult as the previous game's Valkyries (with a few notable exceptions). In general, they have much more predictable attack patterns and less mixups than the Valkyries have. And the most difficult Berserkers tend to only be so due to being a Dual Boss or even 3 enemies at a time, something you never quite had to deal with in the previous installment (aside from the Valkyrie that could summon zombies to assist her, something another Berserker does as well.)
• Signature Scene: The part where the player seemingly fails a Quick Time Event against Thor... only for Thor to revive Kratos and force him to continue the fight. This little bit of playing around with the video game medium impressed a lot of fans and is generally the most fondly looked upon aspect of the game's opening scenes.
• Tainted by the Preview: As with fellow 2022 titles Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7, the announcement that Ragnarök would be a crossgen title also targeting the PlayStation 4 in addition to the PlayStation 5 disappointed some fans. Lessened a bit as many fans expected this to also come to PS4 due to Sony's reluctance of clarifying things when asked directly about the game's platforms. The reveal trailer also erasing much of the concerns.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Trolls were widely disliked in the first game due how often they served as boss encounters, as all of them had the same mechanics and attack patterns, making their battles tedious and repetitive in the eyes of many players. This main story has you encounter exactly one troll... which Kratos easily beheads in a cutscene without even fighting it first. However, some Trolls are still scattered throughout the game and are fought normally, although just as optional mini-bosses.
• That One Boss:
  • More than one fan is thankful that The Hateful is a Favor Boss only. Her movements are fast and she has wide aggro ranges, a few too many unblockable attacks, and a number of mooks spawn while you are trying to fight her. Adding to this is that these fights generally take place in smaller and more enclosed spaces, so there's less room to dodge her. And to top it off, she must be fought 6 times to complete the favor in a variety of locations.
  • The Forest Ancient might not seem like too difficult a boss: Toss your axe when his chest is open, throw an ice block to paralyze him, and then go and attack him by kicking him, and it's in a wide open space to boot. The problem? He has a chest beam that you'll need to be good at dodging, you need to perfectly time your axe throws, and you need to throw the ice at his chest while it's still open. On top of this, there are ton of poison mooks unleashed during phase 2 of the fight, so good luck trying to take cover.
  • While most of the Berserkers aren't too bad, two of them in particular are a real pain in the ass.
    • One is Bodvar the Fierce and Starolfr the Troublesome, which as you can see is actually two Berserkers for the price of one. Neither one is particularly dangerous on their own and usually one of them is busy fighting your companion, but you cannot get tunnelvision on the berserker you are currently fighting as the other can jump in at basically any moment for an attack. And they like to swap frequently throughout the fight.
    • But even worse than them are Svipdagr the Cold and the Sisters of Illska which is a fight against THREE sisters (though two of them share a healthbar for all intents and purposes). Svipdagr on her own is rather easy, with slow and rather obvious attacks. However, what makes the fight difficult is the entire time, the sisters will be constantly throwing either fire or ice spells at you while you are trying to deal with Svipdagr, spells that range from spells moving across the ground towards you, to fire/ice bolts, to large ground aoes that you need to move out of quickly, to slow moving orbs that heavily track you and need to be destroyed with a thrown weapon (which can be difficult to line up as Svipdagr is still constantly swinging at you, particularly if you have aim assist on which tends to snap to her instead of the orb). The ice orb in particular is bad news, as if you get hit, you'll be frozen in place long enough that Svipdagr will likely land a blow on you, which can be very lethal at higher difficulties. And to top it off, if you manage to take down Svipdagr, you might think the sisters will be easy pickings as they've used nothing but ranged spells up to this point, well you'll be wrong as they gain new melee attacks and can be pretty aggressive with them, at which point the fight feels rather similar to Bodvar and Starolfr. Though fortunately they do die much faster than that pair due to the shared healthbar (which your companion will have picked away at some while you are fighting Svipdagr).
    • The King of the Berserkers earns his title. He doesn't have any real gimmicks, he just hits like a truck. Without the insane defense boost that the Steinbjorn chest piece gives, he will likely one-two shot you at any given level of health, even on normal difficulty. On top of this, he is rather aggressive with a wide variety of moves, including two attacks that he must be knocked out of doing heavy room wide damage, one of which is done in midair. And to top it off, he is just very bulky, taking a lot of damage to put down which is compounded by the elemental shields he'll put up at about half health and then again at about a quarter health.
  • The Maven is an especially hard boss for those who weren't expecting her. The moveset is fast, and the boss will often dodge your attacks, and they make it a point to throw multiple block breakers in a row, forcing you to dodge them perfectly, lest you suffer repeated, undodgeable damage from the stunning you receive when hit. She is also one of the only optional bosses where leaving and leveling up is not an option. If you’re ill-equipped or underleveled when you do this quest… good luck.
  • TYR. Not only is his moveset the most diverse of any boss and among the strongest, his fight comes with the added stress of being at the end of a 20+ minute gauntlet, and if you lose, it's back to the beginning. Things get especially bad when he whips out his khopesh swords and permanently blinds you when you're not standing in a certain area (which can also move). Good luck trying to beat Valhalla without Tyr making you smash your controller at least once.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The real Tyr. You can only find and free him during the post-game, and save for some small interactions when you visit him in every realm, he has no meaningful bonding with the rest of the cast. And slightly frustratingly, during his first conversation with Kratos, he seems to recognize Kratos but can't place where he's seen him before, saying it'll come back to him later at which point they can talk. But that talk never happens. It's not until Valhalla where he gets his proper time to shine, not only getting to build a proper relationship with Kratos, but also serving as the final boss.
  • Much of the screen time around Thor portrays him as a broken and traumatized father who wants to do better by his daughter Thrud, but he isn't sure how, building sympathy from the audience and setting him up for a possible redemption arc, only for him to be suddenly killed by Odin right after he's swayed by Kratos' words about their children and choosing peace, thus depriving him of any chance of redemption which many would have preferred to see over Odin abruptly murdering him for the shock-value.
  • The gods as a whole. Odin and his family are the only Asgardian gods to get any focus or screen time, and the only other god mentioned is Forseti, the son of Baldur and therefore Odin's grandson, who curiously never appears despite his domain of Justice meaning he really should have. Other gods such as Nanna, Idunn, Bragi, or Ullr are mentioned in some form, but never make an appearance. Most bizarrely, Thor is the only Asgardian god seen fighting in Ragnarök itself. This is also true of the Vanir, where only Freya and Freyr appear, with their father Njörd briefly mentioned in the past tense.
    • Aside from his connection with animals, similarly, very little is done with the reveal that Atreus is Loki. Loki is known as the Trickster God of the Norse pantheon, who has a mischievous, at times even evil streak to him, and he'd constantly trick and play pranks on the other gods. While Atreus eventually visits Asgard and interacts with Odin, Thor and other Asgardian characters, his role being Loki barely gets alluded to (other than verbally) and serves little purpose (the arguably closest allusion to the original myths is his hostile relationship with Thor, and even that is due to a completely different reason than the myths, which is Atreus having killed one of his sons than simply being angry at his pranks). Indeed, the fact that Atreus can turn into animals seems to be his main connection to Loki. Aside from that, the narrative could remove the name reveal entirely and not much of the story or Atreus' character would change. Many gamers familiar with Norse myths had hoped to see some storyline of Atreus cunningly tricking either Thor or Odin and/or playing a role in Ragnarok more similar to the original myths.
  • Given her role in getting Kratos the position of Greek God of War in the original trilogy and her ambiguous appearance in the 2018 game, one would think Athena would play a major role in the Valhalla DLC, a story that directly deals with Kratos' past in Greece and insecurities and doubts about once again taking up the mantle of God of War. Instead, the main Greek God that Kratos interacts with is Helios, someone whose onscreen relationship is barely touched upon in the Greek era.
  • The appearance of Kratos' younger self in the Valhalla DLC leads to a very poignant monologue from Kratos that acts as the emotional climax to his entire character arc. However, the fact that the younger Kratos is entriely silent and the two never exchange words as part of an argument or debate about their differing perspectives could be considered something of a missed opportunity, and many fans bemoaned losing out on the chance to have TC Carson return to voice his iconic character one last time, especially in light of how unceremoniously he was fired from the role.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Ragnarok itself, the Norse End of the World, is surprisingly under-utilised in the end. Much of the titular battle is fighting basic mooks over and over again while running to the Asgard Wall, and after the battle against Odin ends, Ragnarok itself simply goes away with little to no explanation.
  • The previous game gave the reveal that Jormungandr came from the future and had been sent back in time in a battle with Thor, giving the impression that time-travel might happen at some point and/or the player might be joining in the epic Thor vs Jormungandr battle somehow. Instead, the battle itself is reduced to far-away background action, and the moment of Thor hitting Jormungandr, sending him back in time, happens so quickly and unceremoniously that many players will miss it even happening.
  • Even though Valhalla is a massive Continuity Cavalcade for the Greek games and has no problem referencing some of the prequels like God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta, no mention is made whatsoever toward God of War: Ascension, even though the fact that it features a much kinder-than-usual Kratos would tie nicely into the DLC's message of Kratos learning to grapple with his past misdeeds but also acknowledge the times when he was genuinely heroic.
• Unconventional Learning Experience: The reveal of Thor's design caused the research and discussion on Thor's physical description in Norse mythology, the difference between a powerlifter/strength athlete and a bodybuilder, and the actual purpose of fat.
• Unexpected Character: Helios of all people being the main Greek god that Kratos interacts with in the Valhalla DLC was definitely something most didn't see coming, given his lack of a personal connection to Kratos in comparison to the likes of Ares, Athena, and Zeus.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Sindri can come across as this after Brok dies. Though it's understandable that he's angry and unwilling to talk to the people he blames for his brother's death, his actions during Ragnarok can come across as very selfish. He refuses to assemble a dwarven army, saying "no more dwarves are dying for this", putting the fate of the realms at stake purely because of his anger, at least partly seemingly to spite his former friends. The implication that he did not even bother to ask any dwarves at all, thereby denying them the choice to fight back, also flies in the face of the game wide lesson that denying someone a choice is a terrible thing. Though the army turns out to be not needed and not bringing an army likely spared many dwarves lives anyways, it causes Kratos to have an Out-of-Character Moment, he makes it clear to Atreus that emotions can not get in the way over the course of two games, but when Sindri's compromised emotions cause him to not do what he's told, Kratos is silent.
    • Similarly, while Sindri is very well-justified for the All Take and No Give relationship he had with Atreus and Kratos, it isn't the entire story. Much of his work he did without question: he made the Sonic Arrows and Compass when neither Kratos nor Atreus asked for them, and making their lanterns was because he unintentionally deprived Kratos of a light source by using the Bifrost key; had he informed Kratos about it, there would have been no need. As well, it was Brok's idea to use Sindri's house to accommodate them, and later freely offered accommodation for Freya as well, yet Brok is exempt from Sindri's frustrations. Having said that, Kratos and Atreus often did not go out of their way to express their gratitude for everything Sindri had given them, and considering how he helped in all these ways without them asking just so they could have an easier time on their journey, it's understandable why Sindri's angry at how they took him for granted.
  • Although he doesn't appear in the game, Modi is mentioned frequently by Thor and Sif as his and Magni's deaths still haunt them. Thrud is shown to be briefly sentimental in Modi's bedroom, and Atreus's nightmare also portrays his death a bit more sympathetically as they show how cruel Atreus was when he killed Modi in a fit of hubris. Although Modi's behavior is explained by him being a product of Aesir culture, Odin's manipulations, as well as Thor and Sif's abusive parenting, Modi is still the same character who was all too eager to hurt an 11-year-old and mutilate Mimir for disrespecting him. It is possible that the narrative was trying to explain that while Modi was indeed a horrible person, Atreus had no right to kill him, especially since Modi was not a threat at the time of his death, but as Kratos pointed out in the previous game, Modi was an adult and had no such excuse for his actions.
    Thor: "Modi had some problems, but he was my son. And the reason you aren't mush right now is because of that broken piece of wood."
• Wangst: While people can sympathize for Freya as she holds a grudge against Kratos, she, unfortunately, suffers from this during their journey through Vanaheim. Her angst-ing about her troubles and assuming that Kratos will never understand her suffering can come across a bit irritating, especially for those who have played the original games. Freya even goes as far as considering Kratos as her "God-Killing Tool" as his debt of her, and refuses to listen to him, even though Kratos has nothing but sympathy for her, and he'll help her regardless of his debt. Thankfully, she starts to soften up when Kratos reveals that he suffered just as much, if not worse than Freya, and her Jerkass Realization after meeting the Norns keeps her from being Unintentionally Unsympathetic.