Ranking every God of War Game

It would seem the next Death Battle is Kratos vs Asura. That got me thinking about God of War and I wanted to make a blog ranking the God of War games. 

Before I start I wanted to say something about how I rank games. It's become a maxim about video game analysis that gameplay is the most important thing, if not everything, with a disdain towards games being "story-oriented" or towards people preferring games being story-oriented. I view this as a real false dichotomy as I think like with any parts of any series the key is in the way the parts connect to each other rather than focusing on one. 

That said, and it's totally valid to have a different preference than me, I personally am more interested in story than gameplay. This is because I'm broadly not very interested in elements of the medium a story is presented in. I am not interested in the prose a story is written, or the directing of a film, or similarly the gameplay of a game. I am more interested in universal elements to almost any story. I'm in characters, and more then them I'm interested in plot, and even more then them I'm interested in themes, symbolism, and atmosphere. 

Once again I wanna emphasize that this is just my preference and if you care more about gameplay than anything else that's totally fine. However in the same way you wouldn't want someone else to police your preferences, I ask that you don't disdain others.

So what do I look for in a God of War game. Well the things I like about a God of War game are the character of Kratos that I've become so fond of, the recreation of the world of Mythology in a plot and atmosphere that are over the top but serious, and the way the games' elements connect within themselves and to the rest of the series. 

So to rank the games:

9: God of War Betrayal: 

There are two kinds of God of War Game Rankings, ones that have Betrayal at the bottom of the list, and ones that don't even rank it because they don't think it should count. Betrayal is a 2007 mobile game and on some level it's impressive on both a gameplay and plot front that they were able to get any of that into a mobile game. That's the reason I chose to rank it, because it does feel like a God of War experience, it's just the most stripped down barebones God of War experience you can imagine.

I don't think I really need to justify it at the bottom, I can't really think of a dimension it can compete with the other games outside of quality for the console it was released on. Because this is probably great for a mobile game sure, but it's also kind of a clear example why Mobile Games get a lot of skepticism. I will say that what plot is here surprisingly does fit in fairly well. Its plot is not the least fitting in with the others in the series history, even if it is minimal due to necessity. 

8: God of War: Ragnarök:

Ragnarök is a game that evokes fairly strong reactions from people and while I'm very happy for you if it worked for you, the game just really didn't work for me. If I had to say what I didn't like about this game it's that God of War 4 was already easily the longest God of War game, and God of War Ragnarök DWARFS it in size, but the amount of things I liked about the game was at best comparable to the other games. There ARE things I enjoyed about the game. I enjoyed the part about Freya destroying her binds to Odin or some of the stuff between Kratos and Atreus. But so much of this game disappeared from my memory instantly. To me this betrays the lack of focus that came about from turning two games into one. What's the narrative throughline for God of War: Ragnarök? I genuinely couldn't tell you, the game has plenty of themes but I can't tell you what the game means or is trying to say or evoke because none are clearly the focus. As such when a scene comes I can kind of put it in the context of some other scenes but there are plenty of parts it has no connection to, and no central idea its presenting.

There are other things I didn't about this game. It doesn't do a great job following up the plot threads of God of War (2018), and tonally it doesn't feel connected to 4 or the Greek Saga. Instead to my chagrin, the game incorporates MCU style quippy-ness. This certainly does not feel connected to God of War 4 with its dark depiction of the Aesir Gods. I am NOT a fan of that kind of atmosphere and especially not in God of War, so contrasting the over the top but serious pathos the series is not for, a series that is a specific but compelling take on classical mythologies, especially not in a game that is about RAGNAROK the end of the world. Kratos is the only one that feels appropriately somber, that and Freya before her redemption. I don't hate Atreus but I feel pretty neutral on him, and having large sections of the game following him just feels like a drag to me. Once again it's when the game is focusing on Kratos that I am most fond of it. There are more minor things I didn't like, but these were the major ones. 

I don't hate Ragnarök or anything. There are good things in it which is why I put it above Betrayal, but they are buried few and far between with most of the game being relatively uninteresting to me. 

7: God of War: Chains of Olympus

I feel there's a pretty substantial gap between 8 and 7, moreso than most. I do like Chains, a fair deal in fact, but it is weaker than most games in the series for me. Starting with the good things about it though I really enjoy the atmosphere of Chains. This is something that I think almost all the God of War Games do well which is that they evoke a strong sense of atmosphere and a specific view of the Mythologies in their worldbuilding. I feel Chains has a pretty interesting and unique the focus on Morpheus the God of Dreams. The depiction of Charon I think is really compelling. Beyond that Chains is a game where I think there are some absolutely moments. The moment where Kratos has to pry Calliope off him to save her presented through a QTE that takes more effort that driving your blade through a Minotaur's mouth is such an excellent fusion of plot and gameplay showing how this action is harder for Kratos then any of the violence prior. Kratos' plea to Atlas that the promise of the Olympians is all he has left is also very compelling. 

Where this game loses me primarily is the contradiction with the other games. Kratos in this game is very aggressive and combative in personality, already cynical about the Gods, already angry about everything. I'll get to this when I get to the section about God of War 1 but that was not Kratos' initial personality. Beyond that he kills a god in this game. He kills Persephone. That both takes away from and is contradictory to God of War 1 where killing a God has a huge amount of weight. Chains of Olympus writes Kratos as though he was God of War 2 Kratos, even though he predates God of War 1. Ideally this game should have been set after God of War 1 and I think it would have made substantially more sense. 

These things aren't the end of the world and in isolation I do enjoy Chains of Olympus significantly. Whereas I don't like how both God of War: Ragnarök and Chains of Olympus connect to other parts of the series, the amount of positive qualities in both are similar despite Chains of Olympus being much shorter and having much less things I dislike about it in isolation.

6: God of War Ascension:

I feel like God of War Ascension is maybe the most critiqued games in the series, usually at the bottom of the list if Betrayal isn't in the ranking. And the thing is, assessing anything is a matter of its pros vs its cons and while I agree with the cons people say Ascension has, I also feel it has a number of pros that go unsung. Going over the common complaints the biggest one is about the gameplay which is considered basically just a worse version of God of War 3's prior, which is true. The plot is highly non linear with flashbacks in flashbacks and while I think it actually kinda adds to the atmosphere of the game, I recognize it can be annoying for most. The game is often critiqued for not being necessary. I have never liked the phrasing of that kind of critique, I think you could say anything outside God of War 1 is "unnecessary", but I get what sentiment that the game feels disconnected from other games. The one critique I really don't agree with is that the Furies are somehow just the Fates from God of War 2 again.  Yet both are Trios of Three Villainesses that start with F, but they seem entirely different to me. The Fates talk very sporadically to Kratos in God of War 2 until he confronts them at the very end, while the Furies are recurring antagonists across Ascension. The Fates are representations of Fate and their conflict with Kratos is basically just telling him repeatedly he can't defy fate. The Furies are Illusion Wielding Servants of Ares who sought to punish Kratos for breaking his vow of loyalty to Ares and return him to servitude. And design wise... I dare you to mistake any of the Furies for Clotho. Genuinely I don't see the similarity.

Going into what I liked about the game, like with Chains of Olympus, I really like the atmosphere of Ascension. With all the illusory enemies and battlefields corresponding with the themes of truth vs deception and imagery like the snakes that form the way to the Oracle of Delphi, it felt like the parts of the game (sans the gameplay) were meshing well. Unlike Chains I also really appreciate how this Kratos actually fits timeline wise. Ascension Kratos is the closest to God of War 1 Kratos. Ascension Kratos is actually not especially rageful yet and actually shows cooperation with and concern for others and even camaraderie with Orkos. Similarly while Kratos gradually more destructive, this Kratos is just as restorative as he is destructive, with the unique gameplay mechanic in this game using the Amulet of Ouroboros both to decay and to restore environments, building back structures for traversal. I like seeing this earlier side of Kratos that fits well with who he would become, a Kratos that is more heroic because it's earlier in his life. And I enjoyed the Furies as villains. Very campy and over the top sure but that's something I like God of War for and it's the only game in the Greek Saga where the primary villain is repeatedly encountered over and over which makes them feel like they have a lot of presence in the narrative. God of War Ascension tried a bunch of things and while its magic system was not so good, I do thing the mutliplayer was fun. I get it's not everyone's cup of tea but I liked the lore of it. 

Comparing it to Chains, the most emotional moments in Chains are more compelling but I felt like Chains really contradicted other God of War Games. Ascension did feel disconnected, but it didn't feel like it was contradicted, just giving more glimpses into the world of God of War we wouldn't otherwise seen. That's really what Ascension is to me, it's basically a God of War Lore book in video game form with a bunch of locales and characters and a period in Kratos' life we wouldn't otherwise have seen but fit in cohesively, and because I like Kratos and I like God of War's world I enjoyed seeing it. 

5: God of War: Ghost of Sparta:

Of the Side Stories in the Greek Saga, my favorite is Ghost of Sparta which I feel is probably the most popular choice. Set between 1 and 2, Ghost of Sparta acts to connect the games and n my opinion the only one that if you skip you're actually missing a bit of the main story of the three games. Chains contradicted 1 and while Ascension fit in neatly, it's really just about Kratos freeing himself from the illusions and madness of the Furies so he can even begin his quest. Ghost of Sparta on the other hand shows how Kratos went from begrudgingly taking the throne of the God of War in God of War 1 to hating the Gods in God of War 2, something you can infer and get just playing the main three but which Ghost of Sparta really adds a lot of context for. 

Ghost of Sparta is really about detailing the tragedy of Kratos' family, destroyed by the Gods, setting up the themes of Fate that have persisted through the end of the Norse Saga. This is where Kratos began to move from his God of War 1 characterization and narrative of the human trapped in the Gods schemes and becoming the revenge oriented god of war paradoxically fighting his fate caused by his own rage. Ghost of Sparta has a very interesting characterization for Kratos between the two. Beyond that I think the story of Kratos and Deimos is very compelling and Kratos' love for his brother is both very evident and very sweet. I do think the final act of the plot is a little fast. Deimos beats on Kratos who refuses to kill him, Kratos then saves Deimos who almost immediately joins Kratos' side but it was still pretty engaging I think and the death of his mother and brother gives so much more context for why Kratos is so protective of his extended family of Sparta in God of War 2 and why he hates the Gods for the destruction of his family. This game also sets up the Spartans serving the new God of War Kratos, a plot point in God of War 2. 

Like I said Ghost of Sparta compared to the other Greek Saga Side Stories feels much more connected to the plot and themes of God of War and to the characterization of Kratos. While Ascension had more ideas than Ghost of Sparta I would say, and I preferred the Furies to Thanatos, I think Ghost of Sparta's ideas better complement what God of War was and is, I think its depiction of Kratos is just as compelling and connection 1 as the sequal to 1 rather than the prequel, and I think a lot of the problems of Ascension, even if they didn't bother me that much personally, are absent from Ghost of Sparta. It FEELS like just another one of the mainline Games in the series, just smaller and more personal.

From here things gets tricky. All four games are left are games I regularly see people say are their favorite game in the series. Which you like says a lot about your tastes in games and also what you think God of War is and should be and there's no wrong answers in my opinion. But I would say that for me that while all these are High Tier, the weakest of the four would be

4: God of War 3 

One of the things about God of War 3 I think is both a positive and negative about it is that this is the Kratos that was in the public consciousness for most of God of War's time as a franchise due to it being the first game on the PS3 (and with a similar effect with God of War 4 being the first GOW on the PS4.) This is Kratos as he is presented in references and parodies and memes and surface analyses, the god-hating, god-murdering vengeful insane supervillain. I will say that if you start with God of War 3 you're missing a lot of context for how Kratos got here still I do think it is the logical tragical progression of the story of Kratos. God of War 3 is God of War at its most bombastic, its most over the top. The Presentation reached its height with things like Kratos murdering his way through an entire Pantheon of Gods bringing about the end of the world as he does do, bosses so big that they are the very level like Cronos, Kratos brutality brought to its zenith, and more. There is something fun about that but it does get a bit much at times for me. Kratos never becomes senselessly cruel, but his brutality does start to feel excessive beyond what is called for by atmosphere or plot. 

Something this game gets praised for a lot is possibly the being the best game in the series to play and yeah even as someone not super attuned to gameplay, I can feel it. The combat system of the Greek Saga was perfected in this game with a ton of options and with secondary weapons that finally each feel fun in their own way even if the Claws of Hades and Nemesis Whip do feel fairly same-y to the Blades of Exile. Another thing its praised for that I do really get is the sheer number of Major Mythological Figures in this game. Excessive though it might be this is a game with a ton of Olympian and Non-Olympian Deities all stylistically imagined in the God of War style which is a treat. The central narrative feels fairly on the nose (at times just blatantly saying what the moral is like the ending), but like a good end to the Greek Saga.

All Four of the subtitle-less games just so have much positives for me that they rank top 4, though I feel GOW 3 is the weakest for me. Still I would rank it as above Ghost of Sparta if for the sheer scale and magnitude it has, the way it defined Kratos and God of War for nearly a decade at least, and the way it concludes the Greek Saga. 

3: God of War 2

When I'm making a ranking I love to look at others peoples rankings and get some general opinions. When someone is really into God of War, God of War 2 is usually their favorite game and I think I can see why. God of War 3 may have been the public's perception of God of War but God of War 2 was what God of War actually was as a franchise. It was the conflux of everything in the franchise. It has some of Kratos being an unstoppable villain god and force of rage like in God of War 3 and some of Kratos being a rightfully angered and well-reasoned human fighting against impossible odds as in God of War 1. It has moments of empowerment and moments of beating the player down again like 3 and 1. It was what God of War 1 and Ghost of Sparta built up to in Characterization and what 3 took to extreme. The Temple of the Fates is a massively more sprawling area than Pandora's Temple in God of War 1, and Kratos after being stripped of his divinity feels like he's battling against the impossible, against Fate itself, yet with the increased scope of later games in the series. God of War 3 may have perfected the Greek Saga's fighting gameplay and had the most big names of Mythologies as bosses, but 2 is no slouch and certainly holds it own with some of the most creative and well remembered fights in the series. You have the fight against Alrik where Kratos faces the specter of his past (as well as humorous spectre from his past), the creativity of the fight with Perseus and finding the invisible enemy in his footsteps in the water, the gut punch fight in the dark and reveal of the Last Spartan Fight, the first Zeus encounter the game has been building up the entire time and of course the Sisters of Fate fight, considered one of the best in the entire series. 

And that's really scratching the surface, God of War 2 is arguably the most diverse of any of the games in terms of the types of challenges. Not all are amazing or will catch your fancy but they go by so fast and in such variety it's hard to knock. God of War 2 is the Greek Saga God of War because it has some of everything from every era and yet also has its own identity. I'd like to say there's some notable flaw that makes it only number 3, but there's not, it's just that the top 3 games are all really great to me and one has to be number 3. If I had to give flaws though it's that in comparison to the top 2 games which are somewhat in a league of their own for me, this game doesn't evoke a strong feeling for me. There are heartfelt moments in it and evocative things it but the top 2 games are both games that are special to me for one reason or another and 2 is just... a really good game to me. 

Comparing 2 to 3 I feel like while 3 definitely has scale and spectacle on 2 if only due to the increased capabilities of the Playstation 3 compared to the Playstation 2, I think 2 has a lot more tact and subtle as well as incorporates more of the earlier God of War Identity

2: God of War (2018):

I hardly think you need me to understand what made this game so special, this is one of the most praised games of the PS4 era, a game that appealed to old time fans and new fans, to the average gamer and the gaming critics. And yeah with good reason, I think GOW 4 is an amazing reinvention of the franchise, reverent to its roots but not afraid to change things and develop Kratos in a way that was risky yet inevitable. It's a good game if it's your first experience of God of War, and it's a great game if you understand what it's building on. There are plenty of things I think are amazing about this game. I feel fairly neutral on Atreus as a character, but I enjoy the development and range of emotions he brings out of Kratos. I think this game does a lot better job writing characters as having agency outside of Kratos, something hard to do in a spectacle fighter like this without literally switching the character you're controlling or using excessive cutscenes. God of War 4 introduced the characters who are outside of Kratos some of my favorites in the series: Mimir, Freya, Baldur, all competing with the best characters in the Greek Saga not named Kratos. 

There I admit some parts of the game that are a bit of a drag for me, God of War 4 while definitely not Ragnarök in terms of size, is much bigger than the games before it if only due to being partially open world now. I am not too interested in things like Alfheim and I think Atreus going power-mad is much too sharp and sudden given that Kratos is trying to emphasize discipline the entire time. However the difference between the Norse Saga games is that there's an increased moments I loved from 4 to corresponding with the size, well superseding the number of moments that dragged. God of War 4 has my favorite moments in the entire series, and in fact some of my favorite in gaming. Kratos reclaiming the Blades of Chaos and the monster he was for the sake of his son, Kratos telling Baldur he will find no peace on the path he walks, the ending where Kratos removes his bandages because he no longer has to hide his scars, Kratos telling Atreus that he is a God dreading this moment due to all the contextualization of what being a god means only for Atreus to ask if that means he can turn into an animal. There are so many fantastic moments in God of War 4. My favorite moment in the entire series comes right before the scene of Kratos reclaiming the axe as he's hurrying to Freya's house with Atreus in his arms, seemingly dying and Kratos nervously paces in the elevator unable to help his son. This moment is a moment of rare weakness for Kratos and seeing the paradox of this unstoppable force of rage fearing because he can't hit away the sickness inside Atreus, willing to even ask a God for help really moved me. Due to personal life experiences, it's a moment that really made the game special for me and it's followed immediately by the confrontation with Athena and the reclaiming the Blades of Chaos which is one of the most symbolically potent moments in the entire series.

I think God of War 2 is a great game but the emotions I feel in it are fun, tragedy, and coolness. God of War 4 evoked stronger emotions from me, ones I have almost never felt in gaming.

1: God of War (2005):

God of War 1 doesn't have as good gameplay or pace as 2 or 3 and it's high points are never as moving to me as God of War 4. What I like about God of War 1 however is broader then that and it encompasses the entire game. Something I have always loved is Mythology, and more than any other game in the series, God of War 1 doesn't just represent Mythology, it EVOKES it, it CHANNELS it, the Greek Tragedy is everywhere in God of War 1. From knowing the fate of the protagonist from the very beginning, to the Gods being elemental, unstoppable, and mysteriously working in the backdrop, all the way to small details like Kratos being enslaved to the Gods for "10 years" like the trials of Heracles and Odysseus, God of War is steeped in the Classical Greek Culture, Mythology, and Tragedy. What I love about Mythological Fantasy as a genre is the ability to revitalize the spirit of a culture of the past, forming connections through time. There is a sense some people have that God of War is disrespectful in its presentation, that classical culture must only be approached academically to be respectful, but such was from all accounts certainly not the spirit or culture of the time. The Olympians were the discussions of high philosophers and theologians but in their foibles and faults were just as much points of discussion for the common folks. The Theoi weren't just expressions of society's ideals, they were forces of nature that were encountered in the wine, in the revelry, in the fighting, in the work and in play. Greek Mythology can serve equally disparate purposes in modern culture, and God of War's is no less true or faithful. 

I love so much about this game but one of the things I love most is how everything in it comes towards towards the singular evocation it has towards emulating the Greek Tragedy. The game is about Kratos tasked by the gods with an utterly impossible mission, the killing of a god, paradoxical and impossible a goal till Chains of Olympus said he did it already. The thing I most hear people complain about is how absolutely brutal and unfair this game can be, but to me that is part of the point. This is what I meant about gameplay and story should be working together in evocation. The game is deliberately cruel and brutal reflecting the impossibility of what Kratos is trying to do. Kratos is on a doomed failed mission to do the impossible, to kill a God, only able to do so due to the background interference of other gods and the whims of fate. Contrary to games after, Fate in Greek Mythology was subtle and omnipotent, and God of War evokes that perfectly. Kratos was not trying initially to kill Ares, only to free himself from the nightmares of what he had done but surely it was Fate's subtle hand that the man who would bring about Ares' end was the perfect warrior Ares himself had made. I love Kratos in this game, this may be my favorite Kratos. He's far from the Kratos people know, not being that full of rage, more reasonable, actually saving people, while still being the dreaded Ghost of Sparta. I love the role of the Gods in this game, elemental and knowing in a way that the Gods aren't presented in the other games. What I love most is probably how all these elements tie together. The Characterization of Kratos as a warrior seemingly chosen by Fate to be the one to slay the God of War yet we know is doomed to failure, the characterization of the other Gods as Strange and Otherworldly, the plot of raiding an Impossible Labyrinthian Temple to get a power to slay a god before having it ripped from you and having to take it back, The atmosphere of immensity and brutality, the similarly brutal and unforgiving gameplay: all of this comes together to recreate the experience of a Classical Greek Tragedy: of a Warrior fighting an impossible fight against his doomed fate.

God of War 4 has my favorite moments in the series but no other game in the series and few other games I've seen have everything come together for me so well as the original God of War. Many of the God of War Games have moments I enjoy but God of War "personifies" so to speak a feeling and a part of life to me, the clash of fate vs impossibility, of a person struggling against the impossible because of the subtle hands of the divine manipulating them to be the perfect one to do so, as well as recreating at least a very compelling perspective of the Classical Greek world.