God of War: Ragnarok - Review: An Unforgettable and Gripping Journey

Thanks to Playstation for a review copy! This review contains minor gameplay spoilers.
From Santa Monica Studio comes the sequel to the critically acclaimed God of War (2018).
Fimbulwinter is well underway. Kratos and Atreus must journey to each of the Nine Realms in search of answers as Asgardian forces prepare for a prophesied battle that will end the world. Along the way they will explore stunning, mythical landscapes, and face fearsome enemies in the form of Norse gods and monsters. The threat of Ragnarok grows ever closer. Kratos and Atreus must choose between their own safety and the safety of the realms.
● A future, unwritten: Atreus seeks knowledge to help him understand the prophecy of “Loki” and establish his role in Ragnarok. Kratos must decide whether he will be chained by the fear of repeating his mistakes or break free of his past to be the father Atreus needs.
● Instruments of war: The Leviathan Axe, Blades of Chaos and Guardian Shield return alongside a host of new abilities for both Kratos and Atreus. Kratos’ deadly Spartan kills will be tested like never before as he battles gods and monsters across Nine Realms to protect his family.
● Explore vast realms: Journey through dangerous and stunning landscapes while facing a wide variety of enemy creatures, monsters and Norse gods as Kratos and Atreus search for answers.
God of War: Ragnarok Let's Play: • God of War: Ragnarok L...
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About FightinCowboy:
Content Creator, variety streamer, and professional weeb. I like to play games and make people laugh.
FightinCowboy
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[@FightinCowboy]

This review contains minor gameplay spoilers. If you're trying to avoid all spoilers I would suggest you don't consume any review content. Had to record this while sick with strep please excuse my voice not being as smooth as usual but I can't wait for y'all to enjoy this yourselves!

[@anthonymangiarciana]

Feel better man

[@realslimshady6650]

Hope you get better man. On a side note, will you be live streaming this game or just standard gameplay episodes? Cheers in advance and a speedy recovery!

[@FightinCowboy]

@@realslimshady6650 Gameplay, already got a buttload recorded.

[@LaimonasRimkus]

Which game for you was better Elden Ring or God of War Ragnarok? Just curious.

[@anthonymangiarciana]

@@LaimonasRimkus He said in another reply that he won't be able to answer that until he plays a lot more of Ragnarok.

[@Duckman8213]

I didn’t watch the video I just listened because I don’t want the visual spoilers.

[@ahsanshahrules]

That was a good choice

[@pradeepntg]

I did the same thing

[@voxploxx]

I'm just popping in cuz I like cowboy but I'm stopping after 3 mins lol. I dont need to see/hear anything else. Cannot wait for this!

[@jdgamer6327]

i did not do that and got spoiled of some stuff

[@Theautisticlibertarian]

Smart, I read your comment and thought “ehh, there won’t be anything too spoilery” oops….

[@anubrakahn2970]

"What the fuck ever." - Brock Probably one of my favorite quotes from a merchant in any video game when you don't walk away without buying something.

[@buraqdicaprio8862]

Also, Nanya. Nanya what?! Brok: Nanya fuckin business.😂 that was something else though😂😂

[@princean4482]

What’re ya buying

[@Xmanonly]

Looking forward to your playthrough. I don't own a PS5, so I'll experience the game vicariously through you! Awesome review.

[@signaljammed-3805]

It is on PS4 too. I got my copy pre-ordered.

[@ladyfox6705]

I'm going to be playing on my PS4 Pro!

[@superlativesultan6165]

YESSS I can't wait! I can't believe it's been 4 years already. Didn't see it coming!!

[@TizzmantineUK]

Yup! Just like I did with the first game years ago

[@jagj6478]

Makes me sad for you that you don’t have PS5… I don’t think I would play it either if I only had PS4

[@liquidyschitz4908]

I told myself I wouldn't watch anything for the last 2 weeks before release. But a cowboy review is always a must

[@justpassingby3409]

I almost spoiled myself the ending

[@jankogo]

I actually wasn´t a huge fan of the God of War reboot. I thought the fighting was super clunky compared to a lot of other action games and action RPG:s. I liked the first three games becasue they reminded me of DMC. This looks a bit better though...

[@anthonypolito9784]

I just came here to say 2022 goty: ELDEN RING!!!

[@justpassingby3409]

Yeah I kinda didn’t like the fact they Atreus play time is too much, I wanna kill enemies with kratos

[@yogendramisra9137]

SPOILERS AHEAD] Am I the only one who thought Ragarok, while still a good game, falters heavily? The most anticipated boss fights were underwhelming compared to Baldur. While performances were good, the use of modern dialogue was jarring and felt out of place. The Fenrir plot went nowhere. You'd think he'd be instrumental in defeating Odin. The Jormingandur plot went nowhere. You'd think he'd be instrumental in defeating Thor. The Sutr plot went nowhere. His selflessness and ultimate transformation was pursued so that they might break through the walls of Asgard. They did that without him. The destruction of asgard meant nothing, as the main antagonists were dead already and the other Aesir had joined the good guys. The mask plot went nowhere. It was merely a mccguffin with no pay off. Broks death, while sad, changed nothing. It's not like they wouldnt have gone to war, were he still alive. Nor was it as though Sindri wouldnt have helped with the destruction of the siege weapon. I still give the game a solid 8. However, my GOTY choice goes to Elden Ring.

[@AmirhoseinHerandy]

This doesn't sound or look good tbh.

[@Kingeptacon]

Something about how floaty it looks is off putting.

[@djangomaxfield]

the combat in this is WAY harder than dark souls, it punishes you so heavily for being in the center of the area, and then if you back in to a corner ur dead. It throws 4 enemies at you at once, and then doesn't really give you any tools to deal with that many foes. Probably wouldnt bother me as much if the healing system weren't so rigid.

[@djangomaxfield]

whats with the enemies running behind you and the camera not even moving fast enough to allow you to turn around and block, just frustrating stuff, again, wouldnt feel as bad if the game didn't feel like ur not supposed to get hit due to the scarcity of heals

[@pervognsen_bitwise]

Elden Ring was a landmark whereas Ragnarok sounds like a good sequel (refinement + more stuff) to a good game. While I enjoyed most of the other parts, I was personally a bit underwhelmed by God of War 2018's combat (the "chopping wood" feel, the camera, the enemy design, most bosses, etc) and didn't find any of the combat on GMGOW super engaging outside of the Valkyrie fights, so I'm hoping the enemy, encounter and boss design is more interesting this time around even if the core system is the same. I'm encouraged by you mentioning some of the accessibility features; I really hope they have some options setting the arrow firing to an auto-fire toggle or something like that because boy did it get annoying and even physically painful to have to spam that constantly while trying to focus on melee combat.

[@abdelrahmanalshamsi9331]

Pretty excited for it although I don't think it beats elden ring for the goty award. Also can someone confirm that this game can enter as a nominee for this year goty award?

[@murfeel1173]

Wishing you a speedy recovery, CB! I look forward to your gameplay; I can't believe it's been so long since 2018!

[@gangstadad8877]

I don’t know if I should watch it, I don’t want to spoil anything for myself but I’m so tempted 😅

[@UmbrageousZX]

watch the review or the playthrough? cause if we know anything about CB its that there is no way he is gonna spoil anything in the review considering how much he hates it!

[@hirakujup]

There are some minor spoilers in the gameplay footage.

[@snox8487]

Just listen without watching would be my suggestion.

[@watson3906]

@@UmbrageousZX well he spoiled that we play as Atreus lol

[@UmbrageousZX]

@@watson3906 i guess we got different definitions of spoiliers in a REVIEW ^^ i dont care for gameplay footage. spoilers is the story and what happens in it! u need to see the gameplay so u know what u want to play/buy

[@Jbswe]

You play as the boy for a few hours at a time? 😴😴😴 that’s all I needed to know

[@jaancarlo]

Fuck. I wish I could’ve had the Atreus gameplay reveal surprise me in my first playthrough. Love ya Cowboy but I’ll have to listen to the rest of your review post-game.

[@FightinCowboy]

Sorry, thought it was revealed prior 😅

[@anthonymangiarciana]

@@FightinCowboy It was the next logical step and I'm pretty sure I read about this on another gaming forum weeks ago that he would be playable.

[@Jbswe]

Lmao thank god he said that I don’t want to play this game anymore now that I know you play as Atreus for hours at a time that’s a big no from me

[@babayaga4320]

The way I play games is that I do literally everything I'm going to do in that play through, including all side quests etc. all content I'm going to do, and then I finish the game and see the credits roll. I never play a game after that point, if I do, it's because I'm starting a new play through. And I never play NG+'s, the struggle of starting with nothing and getting stronger is a big part of the fun for me. Sometimes I hold off on that last mission for a very long time, because I'm trying to complete all content first. I'm probably the only person that plays games like this.

[@backin80s]

I hope there is a good enemy variety, the first one was a bit lacking (drougr after drougr).

[@mrpopo5097]

The devs already said there is. Didn’t you pay attention to any of the trailers

[@dannymack8653]

I'm happy to report that it seems they have fixed the problem you had with the touchpad. I have just finished the story and had zero problems opening the map this way and I was checking it a lot. Great review by the way 👌

[@andyespinozam]

It’s incredible how confident is Sony / Santa Monica for letting us reviews this early. I hope it sells like crazy. Everyone is loving it.

[@Bludgeoned2DEATH2]

This and Elden Ring are gonna fight for GOTY lol. Ragnarok is expected to absolutely smash and I just know it will !

[@rednite__8427]

@@Bludgeoned2DEATH2 i think it will end up going down to whether voters care more about ER difficulty or Ragnarok’s exclusivity.

[@andyespinozam]

@@Roma-tp9nw lol

[@justinbergmans36]

I just think the unique nature of Elden ring, along with the absolute polish of the dark souls formula, makes it the game of the year.

[@vordt4139]

Elden Ring is not polished, lmfao

[@DoomsdayMayBeOkay]

Very different games but yeah, hard to top ER.

[@Lebreezy02]

@@vordt4139 bro what 😭

[@yummybutter8707]

Elden ring suffered from way too many reused content that keeps it from being GOTY imo

[@Marcorix2010]

Elden Ring was great but Polished it certainly was not and souls games have never been bar bloodborne. If anything they are known to be buggy/ dated but you deal with it as part of the charm & atmosphear of those games.

[@kieranblubaugh7863]

This was pretty filled with spoilers, with the “side characters” pictured. Come on man.

[@serjofcinder8925]

It looks really good, but some other reviewers made it sounds like it's the the holy grail ffs. From what I've seen , it's great, but definitely not a masterpiece. Looking forward to the story more than anything

[@GawdAcno]

Tbh God of war is in my opignion the best franchise ever made :p the story telling and combat mechanic are insane.

[@BTN454]

Referencing souls game was a good taste for me to hear from you even in god 👌

[@SaKu145]

This game is beautiful!!

[@keithcirwithen-howell9724]

Nothing compares to Elden Ring

[@tomkuzik7]

Can't wait for your let's play on this sooo fuckin hyped!!! 🙌 Hope your trip went well sorry to hear you're not feelin 100 God bless you and tha fam as always 🙏 lookin forward to all that's ahead!! I appreciate all you do!!

[@Temeturs]

Tom is here again

[@nandofl_]

I am excited about the game but exploring on my own and then getting stock on an area with a “mandatory” boss fight is not appealing at all. Aside from that, I am looking forward to play it. 😀

[@brandonkylemarks]

It's pretty odd design, especially when most of us want to hammer all side content to get skill tree unlocked as quick as possible. If the side missions are harder than story missions as you progress, why lock you into them?

[@signaljammed-3805]

Can't wait to get my hands on this game. Got mine on pre-order!

[@NoOne-fo1di]

The father son relationship you mentioned has me really excited. I wanted more in the first one

[@JohnnyBoy7267]

You play as Atreus multiple times for 2-3 hours !?? Oh no.. oh no, no :/ i don't think i like that at all man.

[@scotty20040]

As a Scotsman, please promise me FightinCowboy and my country that you'll never attempt a Scottish accent ever again? To say it was bad would be a understatement, it was worse than Mel Gibson's Braveheart, 10x worse, lol.

[@JDEdwards2331]

The other reviews i watched kept saying there are gameplay related things that they do not want to share. Four minutes into your review and i think i see what they were talking about lol. Wow.

[@tigercloud6945]

The first gow game is one of the top 10 games I've ever played as far as favorites go. I'm extremely excited to play this one. Thank you all involved in the creation of this wonderful experience. Woot!

[@bloody927]

First?

[@zerrierslizer1]

the 2018 one is not the first one, not by a long shot. it is in fact the 4th game in the installment. Ragnarok is the 5th.

[@samflood5631]

I actually played this game during the holiday season of 2022. I enjoyed exploring the nine realms even I kinda felt like they were a bid alien like such as Alfheim, Stravalheim, Vanaheim and Jotunheim, the most bizarre and strange looking of them all. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Kratos, Atreus and the 2 Dwarves. My favorite moments were the arrival the Asgard as well as Odin giving Atreus the tour of his kingdom, the Heimdall boss fight and Ragnarok itself. I would give this game a 10 out of 10.

[@Simply_Majestic]

Ok this video contains a pretty big gameplay spoiler imo. Unless it happens early on, but still.

[@FightinCowboy]

Atreus gameplay happens within the first few hours of the game and is a pretty significant part of the gameplay experience, it would have unrepresented the review if I failed to mention it.

[@Simply_Majestic]

@@FightinCowboy Ok that's fair. Good to know it's not a late game spoiler 👍

[@FightinCowboy]

@@Simply_Majestic I was only about 20-25 hrs at the time of review and game is estimated around 50+ for story, 80+ for everything.

[@trosai]

You couldn't end the review without mentioning elden ring 😅😅

[@Darkhorse12022]

Video just spoiled a major plot, warning in the middle. Thanks Cowboy....

[@FightinCowboy]

None of this is major, it's all within the first few hours.

[@Darkhorse12022]

@@FightinCowboy Ok, but it revealed a conclusion with Freya

[@FightinCowboy]

​@@Darkhorse12022 It didn't reveal anything other than her joining Kratos for a portion of gameplay. The subtitles even explicitly state "this is a temporary alliance" and I mentioned there were multiple temporary followers you'd have.

[@buddt222]

I come and go on your content, but goddamn do you deliver when I do watch. I had no idea how educated you were. I mean I knew you weren’t dumb, but having that different mindset when it comes to UI is awesome, because there’s some games where I can’t put my finger on it but the ui just feels bad

[@worriedfn9020]

I’m still watching sekiro walkthrough just killed owl

[@reginald9125]

Never disagreed with a review more. This game feels highly repetitive with unnecessary puzzles. A disappointing GoW game

[@Jay-Bee_NUFC]

Your Elden ring saved me a lot of time. Thank you good sir😉

[@Rizzbulla]

Oh shit reviews already?!

[@cripterion]

Game looks solid, I was a initially a bit miffed that there wasn't such a leap in graphics but it's seems everything as been refined and this sequel is a more complete package.

[@dr.pepper8865]

Honestly, the story and direction was my biggest positive from GoW 2018. If you say this one has even better story, I'm gonna keep my hopes up

[@denizalan7694]

I guess it is too late Cowboy but I would really like if you downloaded the game in PS4 and run it for like a half an hour or something to let us know how it performs in old gen.

[@impossiblemaestro2256]

That accessibility stuff he’s talking sounds it could be really convenient

[@shaheerfarooq7268]

Can we expect a 100% walkthrough series

[@shaheerfarooq7268]

@@atlantic_love Sekiro is about the same length.

[@septendecim7390]

I'm so looking forward to watching this my dude.

[@reddissonance3169]

erm actually 🤓🤓🤓🤓 the combat quicktime, events and boss fights makes this a interactive movie like all games🤓🤓🤓(technically all games are interactive movies)

[@ahsanshahrules]

Let’s goooooooo

[@manea7074]

CB who do you thing GOTY this or ER?

[@alamendoz]

I was a little worried the combat would be samey, good to hear they expanded on it!

[@marcosneves6146]

I HATE THE COMPANION SYSTEM... didn't need it before these two games and definitely won't need it now. With Atreus i can understand as it's his son and it's their adventure but sometimes i just wanna be goin through shit by myself and not having to babysit someone

[@Kingeptacon]

Big reason why I didn’t care for Resident Evil 5. I like to get paid when I have to babysit.

[@marcosneves6146]

@Mr.Sitallewal GAMING PS5 no bruh, i feel like it gets in a way. I know they changed the entire style of god of war, but some of these fights would've been Soo much harder and cooler to defeat, if we could send Atreus or Freya for a walk like in ghost recon Wildlands where u can disable your team and play by yourself, I'm not saying they aren't good or anything like that, I'm just saying sometimes i wish I could decide to be on my own. And I do agree with the resident evil 5 point, some of my best co-op experiences came from it, and army of two, masterpieces in their own terms when games were just games and had this diferent shine to them.

[@shubhamnipanikar2353]

14:52 and onwards might be spoilers if the companion is who I think it is

[@lukechalkley9390]

I have a feeling you are correct. I thought the exact same thing at around 11:30..

[@BelloShitu]

Uncle kratos FIGHTINCOWBOY

[@steveslenderman]

The game looks fantastic! GoW 2018 was my first plat and the first god of war game I’ve played. Looking forward to this.

[@jsands27]

Hard agree with most here, hard disagree on the music, shit is epic, maybe God of War mode makes it harder to focus on the boss music, but the rest of the music is insane, especially the emotional moments

[@deepak-ui5li]

I don’t want to play as Atreus with his bow and arrow combat. I hate bow and arrow combat. I want to play as Kratos. I am here to play God of War not Boy of War.

[@KuehneZoneify]

But the biggest question is what is your personal goty? God of war or elden ring? 😊

[@matsie3134]

Ah come on, we know.

[@shiny460]

@@matsie3134 Do we? He doesn't think Elden Ring is a 10/10

[@FightinCowboy]

@@shiny460 I need to finish this before I can make a decision.

[@anthonymangiarciana]

Don't forget Horizon 2 Forbidden West, that game deserves a lot of praise as well.

[@anthonymangiarciana]

@@jeetsidhu7912 I thought you were stupid with your other post to me. Now I know for sure.

[@IdanAbef]

Quick Question GOW Ragnarok or Elden Ring?

[@Moody.Smiruai]

Probably wont be playing this game but I'll definitely see your plathru of it

[@TommasoFirmini]

I really expected the entire game to just be kratos and Atreus. I was happily surprised to see all the companions come and go throughout the game.

[@zabenom]

will you play the game "The Last Hero of Nostalgaia"?

[@mouayang6772]

I literally just finished your walkthrough of God of War 2018. Great timing.

[@naterod]

It’s already downloaded on my PS5. Just two more days!

[@Rocksolid1613]

bro, i cant watch the footage i dont want to spoil myself, only audio sadly.

[@Jojo-nq3bp]

freya ai is wild question are you doing a walkthrough for your first playthrough or like a soulsborne game you will do a walkthrough playthrough after your first playthrough? edit: fromsoft hasn't really been good with optimization do you remember bloodborne day 1 loading screens?oh boy elden ring has a bit of pop in on the ps5 but i dint really care abit that glad my 2 most anticipated games this year reviewed well, looking forward to ragnarok

[@lucashouse9117]

Man I cannot wait for this game and your let's play!

[@pedrofreyre211]

I’ll give you a like on the video, but I can’t watch this.

[@marcusclark1339]

still woe to classic GoW style gone doubt some of those issues will be fixed at least on the core game design side, far too late to course correct those things than the bugs just gonna get the broad appeal for sure as last time

[@samloomis7364]

I hope the fast travel is better than the last GOW. It sucked.

[@Hero138abcd]

How hard is the "Give me God of War" difficulty?? Is is the same level as souls games or much harder than that?

[@boyxbreezy5698]

Congrats on the 1mil

[@DrownedInDarkness666]

I hope the impossible challenges are back but drop the one hit and restart all challenges bs lol

[@hellothere729]

i have to wait 2 more days to play, it’s too much to bear

[@nezukoclub652]

cowboy u can get out of them in setteings

[@nezukoclub652]

this happened to me in a library

[@danielcimei8198]

I wish I had cowboys voice. I would just say BEEFY all the day.

[@hitmanbarnes6335]

Im just hoping it will run well on my ps4 pro, cant wait play it.

[@ShakaKG]

As I am watching your review, I am on 15 minutes before I can play the game and I have to say that thank you for the review, we have been waiting for this game for far too long, and as for the episodes, yes three per day will do.

[@pena7049]

Great review. I’m hyped for the Let’s Play!

[@Temeturs]

Pena is here.

[@pena7049]

@@Temeturs Tem my guy!

[@PKLO9727]

The one good thing about being a big variety streamer is getting games early

[@jonathangoodwin5609]

How did you get this? It just came out.

[@vincevirtua]

This is me trying not to watch the screen.

[@brandonsims7822]

I love all your Elden Ring content and find it very valuable. I just wish you and others had been more careful about revealing additional playable characters. I know that's barely a drop in the bucket of what's in store with this game, but it wasn't in the promotional content for a reason. EDIT: I just saw your warning after posting that. I stand corrected, although I do consider that to be more than a "minor" spoiler. Thank you for all your work on all my favorite games.

[@FightinCowboy]

You start playing as him within the first few hours and it's a core part of the gameplay, probably a 3rd of the game is played as Atreus, it would have been disingenuous to tell you "You get an 80 hr game" without mentioning that 25 of those hours are not as Kratos.

[@CrazyxEnigma]

Man the fact they decided to do multiple playable characters is pretty cool, I'm excited to see how Atreus kicks ass without Daddy around.

[@Bavari90]

F*ck,I'm too broke these days...discount it is.😅

[@eddiefreakinmunson]

Yesssssssss!!

[@Ghostah]

I didn't know you did stuff like that for a second job. That's amazing. I love it.

[@BrutalSnuggles]

I don't even have a PS5 but I'm probably gonna watch a lot of your playthroughs because all I want in the world is Ragnarok

[@trza49er]

Damn, I guess I need to go back and finish the last one. 😂

[@bewee]

M son looks identical to Atreis. Made me feel wierd playing it and get super invested.

[@Ahriela]

I don't have a PS5 and I probably won't have time to play the game myself if they port it to PC like they did the previous one, so I'll more than likely watch you play it. ^^ Thanks for the review!

[@davidfortuin4146]

The internet is going to explode when this game drops. I can't wait to get my hands on this game.

[@karrarxiii6470]

1st

[@MARK111174]

My copy is on the way, cannot wait

[@zhengchen388]

12:01 is there a screen ratio problem? the enemies look so weird

[@Guitarmann-el6iz]

How do you get early access codes?

[@rugie6247]

Cowboy thanks for the review!