Just finished. So they talk up Thor and Odin so much and they just......don't show up? Like fighting Magni and Modi felt like the most overt foreshadowing for at least one of the two to be fought later, even if nobody wins and they save a rematch for the sequel.
The game has way too many MacGuffin hunts that sort of become a parody. I was floored when Mimir revealed we had to go in the world serpent's mouth to get his other eye WHILE THE REALM TRANSPORTATION PROCESS HAD ALREADY STARTED. Then there's the bilight, the search for the black rune, the chisel, the troll's heart...stuff like this in a story just doesn't feel good. It feels like stalling, even if they do make some headway between Kratos and Atreus' relationship in the meantime. Also just never really cared much for the two? Like they're not terrible but it feels like there was more opening up to happen between the two that never does. I had a huge grin on my face when Brok and Sindri made up, can't say the same for Kratos and Atreus.
There's really only one woman character in the whole game, huh? (No, Athena does not count)
Combat was mostly pretty great, even if it could have done with more enemy variety. Game definitely needed more great boss fights then it had; by my count it had 3, and two of those were against the same person (Balder).
Visually, it was pretty hit or miss? Giant monsters like the dragons, that crazy Bloodborne-ass raven thing in Helheim, the world serpent, the turtle house all looked incredible. But then you've got Freya who looks like she was acceptable for Santa Monica's initial pitch video but never iterated upon after, and the water....frankly, it looks really bad and flat, especially when in direct juxtaposition to the other visual elements in the game right next to it.
The side cast were really the emotional meat of this game to me. Loved Brok, Sindri, and Freya (until she had her turn at the end there, really wish that didn't happen). ADORED Mimir, definitely going to be this game's Sully (Uncharted) going forward.
Have a lot more side stuff to tackle (haven't even gone to Nilfheim yet) but what I've played of it I've mostly really enjoyed.
Even though I knew it was coming, the stuff around getting the Blades of Chaos back all felt really great and a smart nod back to the original series.
This game made me want to read a lot more about Norse mythology. Its portrayal of the mythos is really excellent and nuanced. I was getting tired of the ways in which it felt like Atreus was a walking dictionary on the subject (reminded me a lot of Nathan Drake in Uncharted), but eventually you hit a point where his knowledgebase has a lot of gaps which is where Mimir comes in. On that note, the game does a lot of really smart things in regards to integrating AAA video game tropes in such a way that fit with the world and mythology.
I liked the game overall but I definitely do not think it was this all-time masterpiece that it was hyped up to be. I think a sequel where they're not spending so much time working on an engine / figuring out exactly what the game is going to be and instead spend more time with developing cool boss fights and deepening the relationship between Kratos and Atreus (please for the love of god keep Mimir around) could be really fascinating.
