In 2017, the game to play was "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" — a sweeping epic that set a standard for the entire year.
In 2018, that game is the new "God of War" — an incredible, similarly epic journey that I just spent two weeks playing more or less non-stop.
It's hard to overstate how impressive "God of War" is. It is the high water mark of 2018 thus far — the game by which all others will be measured. Whether you've played games in the series before or not is unimportant. Even if you've outright disliked previous "God of War" games, there's something here for you.
Simply put: If you own a PlayStation 4 (and over 70 million of you do!), "God of War" is a must-own, must-play game.
A quick briefer on the "God of War" series:
The "God of War" series goes way back to the PlayStation 2.
Players controlled Kratos, the God of War himself, as he struggled with the Greek pantheon. His struggle was often told through fighting off hordes of monsters (based in Greek mythology), often in small arenas — you enter an area, the exits are sealed, and you must fight your way through groups of enemies until they're all dead and you can progress.
The games focused on stylish, third-person, action-adventure gameplay. There was some light puzzle solving, and the occasional cutscene involving Kratos getting super mad at how the Gods had played him once again, and some pretty massive boss fights where you literally climbed up giants (and sometimes became giant yourself). It was fun, if a bit overdramatic and silly at times.
The last game in the previous series was "God of War: Ascension" back in 2013 on the PlayStation 3.
The new game — simply named "God of War," like the original — is a reboot.
On paper, the "God of War" reboot is very similar to the original series: It's a third-person, action-adventure game that's focused on stylish combat.
But in reality, there are some huge changes right off the bat. For one, Kratos now has a son that he's taking care of (seen above). His name is Atreus (uh-tray-us), and he's with you for the entire journey.
And the journey, rather than a tale of revenge, is one of grief: Kratos' wife / Atreus' mother has died, and her last request was to have her ashes released at the tallest peak in the land. It's a subtle re-focus that, unbelievably, turns Kratos into a complex, interesting character for the first time ever.
How he handles grieving while teaching his son valuable lessons — all while dealing with the tremendous psychological baggage from his previous life as a Greek god — is what elevates "God of War" from an impressive, gorgeous action game to a memorable, meaningful game. All other games could take a page (or fifty) from the subtlety of dialog and voice acting and storytelling in the new "God of War."
Kratos conveys more emotion with the occasional gruff affirmation than most game characters do with hours of exposition.
The first thing I was struck by is how incredibly gorgeous it is. Outside of racing games, "God of War" is likely the best looking game on the PlayStation 4.
Every image in this review was captured on my personal PlayStation 4 Pro from a retail version of "God of War."
It really looks this good:
Between the level of detail in everything, the incredibly impressive shadow work, and the fact that the game runs smoothly 99% of the time, "God of War" is a technical triumph.
Games rarely look this good, and they rarely run as smoothly as "God of War" does when they are this attractive. It's clear that Sony is pushing the PlayStation 4 to its limits with "God of War" — my PlayStation 4 Pro's fans were screaming the entire time I played the game.
Good news: It was worth it, as there are countless moments while playing "God of War" where I stopped to take in the incredible world that Sony's Santa Monica Studio built.
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