God of War Ragnarok

Thursday night, I was sitting on the couch wondering if my second wind would kick in. The week was almost over, and I hadn’t played anything since Saturday. Not even a couple of games of Cartographers on my phone! Rabbit came in and checked on me, and asked about my plans for the night. That’s when I decided I would finally sit up and play God of War Ragnarok.

Tired, stressed, and almost making myself play games. Not a great place to start to try and relax from. But 10 minutes into God of War Ragnarok, I felt considerably more relaxed and content than I had in a couple of weeks!

I only played for the first couple of hours. My thinking was I would sit and get things in, and at worst restart on the weekend once I felt better. God of War Ragnarok was like putting on your favourite jacket. I was instantly pulled into the game. I enjoyed the no-nonsense straight into the deep-end introduction.

If you played God of War 2018, you have a pretty good idea of what I mean. God of War Ragnarok did dial this up to 11 though. There was action, emotion, mystery and of course tutorial prompts. It was amazing! 🙂

It might be Christmas before I play God of War Ragnarok again. There is a solid chance I will replay the first section again. Not because I was unhappy with my progress, but because I would like Rabbit to see the first hour especially. Also, I do need to cement the controls into my muscle memory. Bloodborne and Callisto Protocol coupled with being tired means dodging is interesting at the moment!

It will be good to make my way through God of War Ragnarok over the break. I don’t think I will finish it before 2023, but I intend to make a solid dent in the story at least.

I have to admit, naming Sifu as my game of the year for 2022 was a tough decision. I can’t help but think that if I had finished God of War Ragnarok before making that decision, it might have been different.

The gameplay in God of War Ragnarok is everything you would expect from the series – it’s fantastic. But the story… wow. It’s hard to talk about it without giving anything away, but let’s just say there are plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing. Even when I thought I knew where the story was headed, it still managed to surprise me.

One particular story beat really caught me off guard and hit me harder than I expected. I finished the main story close to my normal bedtime, but I just had to keep going and follow the storyline in the post-game. I ended up staying up an extra hour, it was that engaging.

Now that I’ve finished the main story, I’ve been exploring the realms and wondering if I want to go for the Platinum trophy. I’m hovering around 80% completion on each realm, and most of the trophies seem to be tied to completing all the tasks. I’ve also encountered one of the post-endgame bosses, Gna, and I have to admit, I’m not quite ready to take her on yet. I’ve come close to defeating her, but I haven’t quite been able to finish the job.

I do have some time before the Dead Space remake comes out, and I’m thinking about whether or not I want to try for the Platinum trophy. The combat tests have been fun so far, and I know they’ll only get harder. Gna’s fight was punishing, but I’ve earned Platinum trophies in games like Bloodborne and Elden Ring, so I know it’s possible. I’ll have to see next week if I decide to go for it or not.

Last week I was wondering if I would be able to Platinum God of War Ragnarok. I had a blast exploring the nine realms at leisure, and I got pretty close to finding everything in a couple of them. I even used a collectibles guide to help me find those sneaky ravens and chests. It only took me about 30-45 minutes of exploring to come close, so I could clear a realm in an hour.

So, what does this have to do with the Platinum? Well, after finding everything, there are only a couple of combat-related trophies left to earn the Platinum. And when each trophy is just a single fight, it’s usually the push I need to go for it. Resident Evil Village is only one trophy away, but that’s a lot of fights as I need to clear Mercenaries mode (still).

So, what did I do on Saturday night and Sunday morning?

That’s right – I earned the Platinum for God of War Ragnarok! First Platinum down for 2023!

But now, I’m faced with a bit of a dilemma. The Dead Space remake is coming out soon, and I know I’ll want to jump into that. But the new Fire Emblem game is also coming out, and I haven’t even started Three Houses yet. Both games are time sinks, so I don’t want to start and then stop in a few days with Dead Space.

As I’m writing this earlier than normal, I’m still wondering what I decided to play next. But I’ll be sure to update you next time!