Finished the game after 41 hours yesterday and I am so conflicted about it.
The father-son story in Ragnarok is absolutely perfected. I didn't know how they would continue the relationship between Kratos and Atreus after the beautiful ending of GoW 2018, but they managed to build upon that and deliver a deeply moving, realistic story that both develops Kratos and Atreus characters individually but also as a father and son. I teared up at every one of those emotional beats. It might have something to do with the fact that my dad passed away this year, but yeah this part absolutely resonated with me and it ended perfectly.
On the other hand, the story feels uneven, the pacing all over the place, the game branches off into unnecessary side paths that to me felt like padding (riding Jalla for the third time, exterminating the nest, getting misled by the Norns twice, etc.) even though this game is already LONG. And then suddenly the story goes into the fifth gear and speedruns towards the end.
Knowing a bit of Norse mythology, I was so psyched to find Gorm and I was speculating how this would tie to Odin. I thought maybe Odin had Gorm chained up because he foresaw himself getting eaten by a giant wolf. He lures Atreus towards Gorm with the mask piece, fully intending Atreus to free the wolf, and then gets upset at him so that he will run back to Kratos, and they will kill the wolf together, eliminating his death scenario. But instead, Atreus puts Fenrirs soul inside Gorm. I was so sure that Odin did not expect that to happen, and that Fenrir would play a big part at Ragnarok, possibly even killing Odin like in the mythology.
But instead, no explanation is offered as to why the mask was leading Atreus towards Gorm (why did the mask react, if it was a mistranslation?), and Fenrir is revived and then cast aside again, only to pop up once in the final battle with Angrboda.
I am convinced that the story went through multiple rewrites because so many things happen in the last half that go unexplained. I loved how Atreus put the soul of the Giant into the snake with Angrboda, as it's a clever way of making them the "parents" of Jörmungandr (the same goes for how he adopts Fenrir with her), but then Thor smashes the snake into the past in a background animation, with no explanation given how that is even possible. The truce between the Elves, something the game has been building towards since 2018, happens off-screen and within a manner of minutes. Surtr just stands at the gates of Asgard being awkward.
The raid on Asgard was definitely epic, and I kept thinking that this is what I wanted from Mass Effect 3, but ultimately it was hastily written and if you look back and think about it, a lot of it just doesn't make sense?
I also kinda hated the little Atreus victory lap, and found the transition from the battleground to waking up really weird (as well as Freyr's sacrifice which was so random?). At first I thought it was a dream or an illusion or something when Atreus woke up.
But to end on a more positive note: there's also so much stuff to love. I am heartbroken for Sindri and I find his spiraling well written and I was relieved that he didn't just magically forgive Atreus at the end. The Tyr reveal was well played, because there were so many hints, and yet I didn't see it coming. The optional areas of the game are fantastic and I love how their stories helped develop the character further. There's just so much great stuff packed into this game. But simultaneously, also a lot of questionable stuff.
