• God of War Laufey has been announced as the next God of War game
• Laufey will star Kratos' wife Faye as its protagonist
• Faye will battle through the afterlife of the gods and encounter mythological deities from various cultures

Sony Santa Monica has revealed God of War Laufey, the next game in its mainline God of War series starring Kratos' wife Faye.

The announcement closed out Sony's State of Play for June 2 with 20 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay, confirming that Faye, played by actress Deborah Ann Woll, who died before the events of the 2018 game, will be the playable protagonist as she battles through the afterlife of the gods.

"Death was supposed to be the end, but for Laufey (Faye), warrior and wife to Kratos, a new adventure is just beginning. Awakening unexpectedly in a strange land after her funeral, Faye discovers the plans she put in place to protect Kratos and Atreus are now at risk," the studio said in a PlayStation Blog post.

"To save the ones she loves, Faye must fight through the afterlife of the gods — the Everywhen — where ruthless gods from across mythology vie for power in a land overflowing with dangerous magic."

Like the past God of War games, combat looks fast and brutal, and Faye, who was a warrior in her past life, can also wield magic and can clearly take a hit just like her husband.

In the gameplay walkthrough, Faye encounters two mythological gods in the Everwhen, Sekhmet and Begtse, who have seemingly disrupted the natural flow of magic in the afterlife, and Faye must navigate the new realm while ensuring Kratos and her son Atreus stay on their path.

On her journey, Faye will also be joined by companions Phranque, a cosmic cube played by Jack Quaid, and Rue, played by Perlina Lau, who is the enchanted ribbon guardian tasked with safeguarding a powerful sword that Faye can wield.

Ariel Lawrence, who has worked at Sony Santa Monica since 2003, will be leading the project as game director, alongside narrative director Jimmie Myers and lead writer Elize Morgan.

God of War Laufey will also explore "the humanity, strengths, and flaws of the person whose legacy was beloved in the minds of many," as well as "What happens to the gods when they die?"

Sony Santa Monica has confirmed that Laufey is not a prequel but its own single-player adventure that takes place concurrently alongside the events of the first God of War game.

God of War Laufey will launch exclusively for PlayStation 5, but a release date hasn't been announced just yet.

• Sony has been conducting a dynamic pricing experiment on the PlayStation Store
• The system has been running since November 2025 and affects Sony's own first-party games
• Users in certain regions are being offered discounts of up to 27.8%

Sony has been reportedly testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store for months.

That's according to PSPrices, which claims that Sony has been running an A/B testing experiment that shows different prices to different users since November 2025.

In the first four months, the experiment grew from just 50 games in 30 regions to now over 190 games in more than 70 regions.

Sony is allegedly testing the prices for its own first-party titles, like Astro Bot, and launched "a new IPT_LTM program with elastic pricing", which PSPrices said it spotted because it "tracks PlayStation Store prices in more than 50 regions."

"Our system detected unusual offer structures containing experiment identifiers (IPT_PILOT, IPT_OPR_TESTING) in PlayStation API responses," the website explained. "These experimental prices are shown only to certain segments of users selected by Sony."

PlayStation Store users have seemingly been seeing differing prices that are actually lower than the standard retail rates on games like The Last of Us Part 2, God of War, Spider-Man, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, and more.

The reports add that "personalized discounts have appeared during sales" offering discounts as high as 12.6% on the aforementioned titles.

Though initially it was thought that the US was exempt from the experiment, as of March, PSPrices claims that "this is no longer true" and discovered Sony had since included PlayStation's largest market.

"In March 2026 we discovered that the US was included in the experiment — and discounts there are significantly deeper than in Europe," it said. "While discounts in Europe are 10–17%, in the US they reach 27.8%."

Some third-party games have also received discounts, including WWE 2K25, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and more.

In addition to regular discounts, during the February PlayStation Store sales PSPrices reports that it found that experiment participants received a different discount compared to regular users, as well.

"For example, Helldivers 2 was sold to regular users at -25%, while experiment participants saw -56%," it said.

Dynamic pricing is a method businesses use to adjust the cost of its products in real time based on demand, and is often seen as a rather unfair practice; the UK Government has previously launched an investigation into Ticketmaster for the same thing.

If you're a God of War fan, you've likely noticed Sony's iconic, deity-destroying action series has been dominating the spotlight as of late. Following an announcement that the franchise's original trilogy is being remade, we got a first-look at Kratos and Atreus in Prime Video's upcoming live-action TV series adaptation.

But before a collective "Boy!" could be bellowed in celebration of all this news, we also got word that a new series' spin-off game is rumored to be in the works. Given that you'd need a Leviathan Axe to cut through all these recent reveals and rumors, you could be excused for overlooking God of War Sons of Sparta, a brand-new prequel entry that was shadow-dropped shortly after the Greek trilogy remake reveal.

A retro-flavored 2D action-platformer starring a teenage Kratos, Sons of Sparta is a far cry from what the franchise has previously delivered. Borrowing heavily from the Metroidvania genre, the smaller-scale game has also earned the ire of some players – including series' creator David Jaffe – who've been less than impressed by this fresh direction for the franchise.

But while the game never reaches the epic highs of its predecessors, I've mostly had a good time stabbing, puzzle-solving, and exploring the would-be god-slayer's early stomping grounds, especially when braving its land of Laconia on my PlayStation Portal.

A slow start, but stellar story

Admittedly, Sons of Sparta doesn't make a fantastic first impression. Its action is slow to start, and its early environments sport a muted tone that can come off a bit drab on a large display, like the 65" 4K TV I started my journey on.

The game's combat and world didn't immediately grab me, but its characters and narrative did. A collaboration between Sony Santa Monica Studio, who penned the story, and Mega Cat Studios, Sons of Sparta is cleverly framed as a tale adult Kratos – voiced by the protagonist's first performer, TC Carson – tells his young daughter Calliope.

Narration from the older Kratos, as well as some fun exchanges between him and his little girl, are peppered throughout the lengthy campaign. But the bulk of the storytelling is delivered by young Kratos and his brother Deimos. The siblings, who are enduring the agoge in hopes of becoming Spartan soldiers, are richly realized with top-notch writing and quality voice acting.

In fact, it's the brothers' engaging, evolving dynamic that drew me to revisit the game on my PlayStation Portal after all but abandoning it following a short session on my PS5 Pro. And I'm so glad I returned to it, as Sons of Sparta is not only a perfect fit for the portable platform, but investing more time in it allowed me to appreciate what it had to offer after its subpar start.

Combat that ultimately clicks

The game's combat, which feels a bit plodding in the opening hours, really finds its footing a few hours in. Kratos can't do a whole lot with his equipped sword and shield initially, but it's not long before your inventory is brimming with abilities, upgrades, and skills. The franchise's familiar red orbs, as well as other collected resources, can be invested in a variety of offensive and defensive skills, while a number of weapon attachments can be acquired and upgraded.

The gods also get in on the action, gifting Kratos with a number of cool tools – like a fire-spewing tree branch – that can combat baddies, assist with puzzle-solving, and open previously obstructed parts of the map.

Speaking of the game's sprawling navigational interface, viewing and using the tool on the Portal's 8-inch, rectangular display immediately struck me with a satisfying sense of nostalgia. Having spent my youth studying maps in Metroid and Castlevania entries – as well as other classic side-scrollers – on Nintendo's many handhelds and Sony's own PlayStation Portable and Vita, it was a blast witnessing Sons of Sparta's map blossom in all directions on the more diminutive screen.

Playing with PlayStation Portal Power

But playing on the Portal did more than recall my favorite map-navigating memories. The prequel's painterly, hand-drawn pixel art style really pops on the portable hardware's 1080p HD display. Where the game felt a bit small and swallowed up by my TV's 65" screen, its varied, vibrant environments arguably presented much better on the smaller LED screen.

Of course, the innate intimacy of playing on a portable platform also deserves credit for putting the game in its best light; I was able to appreciate far more detail playing Sons of Sparta a few inches from my face rather than squinting at it from across my living room.

It also doesn't hurt that the Portal's handgrips deliver the same immersion-ratcheting features as the PS5's DualSense Wireless Controller. From feeling the rhythmic cadence of Kratos readying his Solar Sling – another fun gift from the gods – to the intense, sustained pulse that builds when opening a treasure chest, the handheld's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers are easily on par with the standard DualSense controller.

And speaking again to that more intimate portable experience, seeing Sons of Sparta's action unfold directly between those rumbling, vibrating handgrips adds a level of immersion and immediacy that playing on a console just can't match.

Godlike audio

I further complemented my time behind Kratos' spear and shield by pairing Sony's PlayStation Pulse Elite headset with the Portal. As expected, this allowed me to absorb every detail of the game's dynamic soundscape, from ear-rattling boss encounters to the nuanced echo of water dripping in the game's atmospheric Grand Cistern environment.

Sons of Sparta is undoubtedly a smaller-scale entry in a series known for making big, bold, blood-soaked splashes with each release. But while the stakes of its story are lower, and it lacks some of the epic set pieces, cinema-rivaling effects, and adrenaline-pumping action of its predecessors, it still delivers a solid, albeit quite different, God of War action-adventure.

If you're expecting a 2D take on Kratos' previous god-slaying exploits, Sons of Sparta will likely disappoint. But if you're craving a fresh, canon story supported by a serviceable metroidvania structure, deep combat, and plenty of fan-pleasing call-outs to the larger franchise, this unconventional prequel's got you covered…especially when enjoyed on the PlayStation Portal.

Should you play God of War Sons of Sparta?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

God of War Sons of Sparta includes an impressive suite of accessibility features, from various audio adjustments and visuals assists – including options for customizing color filters, text sizes, and blood and gore effects – to motion reduction aids and gameplay settings for decreasing difficulty.

In addition to including a number of presets for accessibility features, the game also offers plenty of individual selections for a more tailored experience.

How I reviewed God of War Sons of Sparta

I played a few hours of God of War Sons of Sparta on my PlayStation 5 Pro, on my 65" 4K display, before fully committing to it – and enjoying it much more – on my PlayStation Portal, streamed from the Pro.

I tested Sons of Sparta's audio with both the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds and PlayStation Pulse Elite headset, with the bulk of my 25-hour playtime using the latter. I paid particular attention to how the game looked and played on the portable device versus the console, and noted the various ways it incorporated the handheld's DualSense features.

First reviewed February-March 2026

• Bluepoint Games, the studio behind the modern remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls, has been shuttered by PlayStation
• The company acquired Bluepoint in 2021
• Sony CEO Hermen Hulst has suggested "rising development costs" was a factor in the studio's closure

PlayStation has shut down Bluepoint Games, the studio responsible for the modern remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls, five years after acquiring it.

That's according to Bloomberg, which confirmed the closure with PlayStation, and reported that an estimated 70 employees will be affected when the studio officially closes next month.

"Bluepoint Games is an incredibly talented team and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community,” a PlayStation spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg. "We thank them for their passion, creativity and craftmanship."

The shutdown comes after PlayStation canceled Bluepoint's live-service God of War project, which it had been working on until January 2025, and reportedly spent the last year pitching new ideas before it was closed down.

Bluepoint Games was behind the terrific remakes of several PlayStation titles, including the aforementioned 2018 remake of Shadow of the Colossus and the 2020 Demon's Souls remake, after which the studio was acquired in 2021.

It also developed the God of War Collection, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hermen Hulst has since released an internal statement regarding the studio closure (via Stealth40k), suggesting that "rising development costs" were a factor in Bluepoint's shutdown.

"As I mentioned in the December Town Hall, 2025 had some strong highlights within PlayStation Studios. Ghost of Yotei launched to critical and commercial success, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach further showcased our commitment to narrative excellence, and Helldivers 2 and MLB The Show continue to drive on-going player engagement and revenue," Hulst said.

"At the same time, we're operating in an increasingly challenging industry environment. Rising development costs, slowed industry growth, changing player behaviour, and broader economic headwinds are making it harder to build games sustainably.

"To navigate this reality, we need to continue adapting and evolving. We've taken a close look at our business to ensure we're delivering today while still well-positioned for the future. As a result, we will be closing Bluepoint Games in March."

Hulst continued: "This decision was not made lightly. Bluepoint is an incredibly talented team, and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community. I want to thank everyone at Bluepoint for their creativity, craftsmanship, and commitment to quality. Where possible, we will work to find opportunities for some impacted employees within our global network of studios."

The Sony CEO goes on to say that the company is "confident in the direction" it's headed, and it has a "robust roadmap for FY26, with much to look forward to in the months ahead."

• Actor Christopher Judge has seemingly teased the next Santa Monica Studio's game
• Judge, who plays Kratos in the studio's games, says fans will hear about "what we're doing in late summer"
• The Kratos actor also revealed that the God of War Trilogy Remake features a new fighting system

God of War actor Christopher Judge has reportedly teased Santa Monica Studio's next major project, which he suggests will be revealed this summer.

As reported by VGC, a fan streaming at the Fan Expo in Vancouver, Canada, approached the Judge to discuss the recently announced God of War Trilogy Remake and asked whether he was going to be involved.

Judge, who plays Kratos in Santa Monica's God of War and God of War Ragnarok, confirmed he wasn't because the original voice behind the character, T.C. Carson, is returning, which we already knew.

It's unclear if the actor is aware that the conversation is being recorded, and then goes on to say the remake will feature a new fighting system, but didn't offer any further details.

Judge then adds, "And then you’ll be hearing about what we’re doing probably in late summer."

The actor doesn't elaborate on what he's talking about, but it seems like he's referring to Santa Monica Studio's and its next game, which Judge may be starring in. The third God of War game? We'll have to wait and see.

God of War Ragnarok launched in 2022, almost four years after God of War, so the timing for an announcement sounds about right.

In the meantime, you can now play Gods of War Sons of Sparta, a 2D sidescrolling spin-off featuring Kratos as a young boy, which Sony shadowdropped during last week's State of Play presentation.

• God of War franchise creator David Jaffe has heavily criticized God of War Sons of Sparta
• Jaffe played the first hour of the game after it shadow dropped and doesn't like it, and doesn't recommend it to fans
• He adds that he initially liked the 2.5D sidescrolling idea but has slammed the narrative concept

God of War franchise creator David Jaffe has bashed God of War Sons of Sparta, calling the spin-off "crap", "dumb", and "stupid", and doesn't recommend it to fans of the series.

Sony announced and shadow dropped Gods of War Sons of Sparta, a 2D sidescrolling spin-off featuring Kratos as a young boy, in last week's State of Play presentation.

After playing an hour of the game, Jaffe put out a YouTube video to express his thoughts, criticizing the narrative concept of the game, even though he was initially "super into" the side-scrolling concept.

"This is the kind of game I've always wanted in terms of 2.5D God of War, super into it - but this, to me, is not what I was talking about," Jaffe said. "I bought this game, it's a $30 game, I don't like it, I don't recommend it."

Jaffe went on to criticize the Sony executive who greenlit the project.

"I wanted to make a video more about what are they thinking, like what the f*** were they thinking? It's not a bad game by any means, it's fine, it controls decently... but to me the more fascinating part of this is, why is this in existence? I don't understand."

He then discussed how he stopped playing after one hour because the characters kept "stopping over and over [to] talk and talk," adding, "this is not God of War."

He also disliked the idea of a young Kratos, calling the version of a character a "generic f****** kid."

"It's probably some b******* writer going, 'Oh people want to know why, how did people become this way?' No one cares," he said. "it's a dumb idea," he argued, as fans "wanted something like Blasphemous, in terms of it's violent, it's bloody, it's serious, it has the tone of the early God of War games."

"If you pulled God of War out of it, and you just said, 'hey, we're making a game about this kid,' most people would say 'that doesn't sound like a very compelling idea for a video game character,' because it's not."

Despite only playing the first hour or so at the time the video was posted, Jaffe was willing to say, "Maybe it gets better, I'm sure it does," adding that "there's nothing offensive about it".

"The only thing offensive about it is its genericism," he continued. "The only thing offensive about it is its inability to reflect the license, the brand. It's like you get the John Wick license and you make a movie where he's just sitting in a coffee shop talking. Now that might work when you have Keanu Reeves as he's so compelling, and the character's interesting."

Later in the video, he expanded on this, saying he was interested in a 2.5D God of War game similar to Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, Neon Inferno, or Shinobi.

"Why would you even put this out? All it does is leave a bad taste in God of War fans' mouths, in my assumption," Jaffe said, before going on to critique the narrative concept again.

"Every time you make a new game, you don't have to go, 'You know what? Let's not go back to the great character that people love that built this franchise. Let's see him as a little kid, some generic boring little f****** kid,'" the creator said. "It's just insulting to the fans. It's insulting to people who worked on the games that they would think this character right here is what people want. It's crap. It's dumb. It's stupid. I would say avoid this f****** thing."

The video is pretty scathing, but Jaffe did go on to play three more hours of the game and posted another lengthy video where he critiqued the game further, including some technical issues he came across, and determined that the game was "not ready for release".

• Santa Monica Studio has confirmed that the God of War Trilogy Remake is in very early development
• The trilogy comprises the three original Greek mythology-based games of God of War, God of War II, and God of War III
• God of War Sons of Sparta is out now from the studio, offering a Kratos origin story in 2D action game form

PlayStation's Santa Monica Studio has confirmed that the original God of War trilogy is getting the remake treatment - and I am hyped for it.

Sadly, though, we don't know anything apart from the fact that the game is "still very early in development" according to the official PS Blog post. However, Sony does promise a "big" update next time something is shared about the game, and TC Carlson himself in the reveal video stated that "next time we're coming back, we're coming with something big."

While folks have been ruminating about where the series could go next after 2022's God of War Ragnarök, whispers of - and wishes for - the original games from the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 have floated about for a while, too.

Who knows if these remade games will shift perspectives and adopt the over-the-shoulder perspective that the recent Norse-series games do, but I get the impression that this is a big re-look at the iconic PlayStation series.

If that got your juices flowing, like me, and you're now champing at the bit for more God of War, then Santa Monica Studio had something else just for you — and I've already played some.

God of War Sons of Sparta was a surprise instant release as of yesterday's State of Play presentation. It's a new take on the behemoth series, but the change of perspective to be a 2D one, and the big step to a pixel art-y kind of aesthetic, brings freshness and a new way to engage with the series.

The writing is done by those who produced the fantastic stories and narratives in God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok, so I'm holding out hope that there'll be something memorable there while I go about my business of smashing up monsters with a Spartan spear.

Having replayed all of the original God of War games that got a PlayStation 3 release on that console back in 2023, Sons of Sparta is the perfect new game to help tide me over - along with a playthrough of God of War 3 Remastered. It'll be the perfect mix of the new and the old to get those Greek mythology juices flowing, and I'm already committed and excited to see how the story sets up one of the most iconic and famous of PlayStation characters.

However, being a PlayStation gamer of a... certain age, it's the OG trilogy getting the remake treatment that's really the main attraction here. How deep will that go? Will there be a focus on PS5 Pro performance? Remasters only go so far, and if these really are getting fully remade, then we could be in for a huge treat.

God of War 20th Anniversary controller pre-orders are live, and the controller is readily available at multiple retailers in the US and the UK.

Continuing a steady stream of limited edition DualSenses, the God of War 20th Anniversary controller features an immediately recognizable Kratos-inspired design. It's a strong play on the contrasting colors of his scarlet red tattoo (a color also present on the face and D-pad buttons) and his grey-wite ashen skin.

I, for one, think it's a striking and cool design language draped over the pad, but, to be devil's avocado, it is a little simple, and it certainly could have been more bombastic like the DualShock 3 God of War controller, and even the slick silver God of War DualShock 4 had a bit about it.

Riffing on one of PlayStation's greatest icons of all time is likely to make this DualSense - whatever you make of the design - very hot stuff. Pre-orders are live now, and the controller will launch (and thus, be delivered to you) on October 23.

God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller pre-orders: quick links

US pre-order links

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at PS Direct
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84 at Walmart
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Best Buy
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at GameStop
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Target

UK pre-order links

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at PS Direct
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Amazon
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Currys
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Very
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.85 at ShopTo
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at HMV
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.95 at The Game Collection (sold out)
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: Check for stock at Argos
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: Check for stock at AO

God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller complete US pre-orders

God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller complete UK pre-orders

God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller: cut to the chase

• Price: $84.99 / £74.99
• Pre-order date: October 3, 2025
• Release date: October 23, 2025
• Design: Focusing on the contrast between Kratos' grey-white ashen skin and his iconic red, angular tattoo, this gamepad has a restrained, limited edition design, but one that is instantly recognisable

Should you pre-order the God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller?

Simply put, in the context of committing to a pre-order or considering waiting until release date - something currently unknown, remember - then I recommend wholeheartedly you commit to a pre-order just to be safe in the knowledge of securing your unit.

Even though the most recent launches of the Ghost of Yotei and Astro Bot Joyful DualSense controllers had strong stock levels and have lasted, there's simply no guarantee with any PlayStation 5 limited edition hardware release - many have simply sold out, and fast, and with no word of any restocks come launch.

Given God of War's place among the PlayStation pantheon, and the immense following it has too, I can only predict this DualSense controller being hot stuff and incredibly popular, so I wholeheartedly recommend committing to a pre-order if you can. At least that way you'll have secured your unit and bought a bit more thinking time at the very least!

Hello!

Or should I say, BOY!

Welcome to my live coverage of the build-up to tomorrow's God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller pre-orders. Yup, another limited edition controller aimed squarely at fans and collectors is here, hot off the back of the Ghost of Yotei hardware that launched today (October 2).

I'll be going over all the key bits of information about the controller, start times, and the best retailers for where you might nail down your pre-order.

However, I have to start with some incredible news for UK fans!

HMV goes early in the UK

While I was expecting all the action to come tomorrow, as is usually the case, it appears one UK retailer has gone early!

HMV currently has pre-orders for the controller open and live - I just placed a pre-order there to test it out, and it has all gone through as normal! An unexpected chance to bag your unit early - though there's always a chance HMV could back out, remember.

Anyway, worth a pop!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at HMV

I'll keep a close eye on the HMV listing for UK fans given it's so early - will the retailer be getting a slap on the wrist from Sony followed by the page suddenly disappearing? Maybe!

Anywayyy...

Right, anyway, that wasn't quite how I planned this build-up coverage, but I'll take it!

Ignoring the rogue UK retailer, the headline on timing is that the God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller pre-orders will go live at 10am tomorrow local time. That's BST for UK shoppers, and ET for US folks.

Other key info

As well as pre-orders starting at 10am local time, the other key bit of information is the price. The controller will be $84.99 in the US and £74.99 in the UK which is bang on what I'd expect to see and what has been the pricing of previous limited edition DualSense. So no surprises there.

Sony has said that the controller will be available in 'limited quantities' again but I'm not sure how far to read into that as the recent Astro Bot Joyful controller is still available, as are the Ghost of Yotei ones so there might be some serious stock behind these products.

Uh oh, HMV's page disappears...

Looks like the folks at HMV have realised their mistake by going live early and now pulled the page down.

Wonder what that means for me and others who did successfully place pre-orders there?

Good morning!

Or should I say 'God morning'? Geddit?

Welcome to pre-order day for the God of War 20th Anniversary DualSense controller!

Less than 90 minutes to go in the UK

We're now less than 90 minutes away from stock dropping in the UK so start to get ready everybody!

ShopTo is live!

In more unbelievable, retailer-going-early news, ShopTo has opened its preorders already!

You can head over there right now and save a few whole pence in the process too!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.85 at ShopTo

Currys is also live!

What is happening? There's usually such a tight lid on these pre-orders that I wouldn't expect to see any action before 10am local time as Sony dictates.

However, we've got another UK retailer live before the start time!

This time, it's Currys who are now taking pre-orders.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Currys

Looks like all the other UK retailers I'd recommend are behaving right now, but I'll keep checking.

My own early pre-order at HMV yesterday has survived too though, interestingly - well, so far.

30 minutes to go until the official start time

If you've been holding off for another retailer or want to shop at the source with PlayStation Direct then we've now only get (just under) 30 minutes to go until proper pre-order time.

Less than 15 minutes to go now! Get ready, log in, and ensure your payment details are correct.

Remember to also try and have the page up on mobile and desktop where you can - I've had more luck on mobile with recent pre-orders.

PlayStation Direct UK has its listing page up and ready now - though it's not live just yet.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at PS Direct

Less than five minutes to go!

Nope scratch that PlayStation Direct is live!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at PS Direct

I have secure a pre-order at PS Direct too. I had to use Firefox thought this time as the PS Direct store page was playing games with me on Chrome and Mobile when it came to paying...

Right, come on lads (UK retailers), you can genuinely go live now - where are you all at?

HMV are back!

Huzzah! Here's another UK retailer - HMV, perhaps sheepishly, re-enter the fray!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at HMV

In the absence of more retailers joining the party, here's where we're at, and what our current options are.

It's a motley crew of retailers but they are all legit and reliable so have at them!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at PS Direct
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Currys
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.85 at ShopTo
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at HMV

Amazon joins the party!

Quite quickly for Amazon compared to the previous pre-orders, it is now live with its God of War 20th Anniversary pre-orders!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Amazon

The Game Collection are now live

The Game Collection are now here to play too, so our UK options widen further still - nice.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.95 at The Game Collection

Umm, US pre-orders are also available

In waht' seems to be tunring into a free for all, Amazon US is also live now too. Which is hours and hours ahead of the supposed start time there of 10am ET.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon

Never fear, Very are here

Finally, Very are live too in the UK!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Very

Argos is the only UK retailer that I really would have expected to see stock the controller, but it's still empty and not showing anywhere on its site.

US options are still only the early Amazon bird

I've done a sweep of the US retailers, and no one else has gone early, so it's just Amazon US if there are any early shoppers on that side of the Atlantic.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon

It's calm out there now

It all looks nice and calm out there now after the initial rush in the UK - and the rogueish Amazon US coming through too. I reckon we're now as we are until the US pre-orders go live 'properly' later at 10am ET / 3pm BST.

Here are the best links right now on both sides of that Atlantic for convenience.

UK pre-order links

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at PS Direct
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Amazon
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Currys
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at Very
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.95 at The Game Collection
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.85 at ShopTo
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: £74.99 at HMV

US pre-order links

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon

90 minutes until US go time

Right, we're only 90 or so minutes from the 'proper pre-order' time in the US now, with retailers officially listing stock from 7am PT / 10am ET - aside from Amazon US who went rogue...

45 minutes until go time in the US

OK, with only 45 minutes left until US pre-orders go live, I'm going to shuffle this page around to help out the incoming US shoppers!

UK folk, fear not as I'll be regularly checking those links too.

30 minute warning!

Best to start getting into position if you're looking to shop at a particular retailer! Log in, make sure your payment and shipping details are correct and then strap in for go time!

Alternatively, US folk, you could just head to Amazon US and place a pre-order right now and be done with it!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon

10-minute klaxon!

Just 10 minutes to go now until the US floodgates open on this pre-order (hopefully)!

PS Direct's listing page is here!

As with the UK earlier today, PlayStation Direct has got its listing page for the controller live now!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at PS Direct (listing page live but not open yet)

Action stations! Walmart is a go!

Walmart is quickest out of the blocks as far as I can tell and is live now!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Walmart

Best Buy's page is live, but while you can see a thumbnail here, the page itself fails - for now. Surely this is only a temporary thing though...

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Best Buy

Best Buy is live now!

OK, Best Buy is properly live now and you can pre-order right now!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Best Buy

There's a short waiting queue at PS Direct US

Looks like there's a short queue at PS Direct that you'll have to sit through to get your unit from there.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at PS Direct

Looks like US PS Direct is live!

After refreshing again I now have an 'Add' button on the PS Direct website for the controller - go go go!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at PS Direct

GameStop's listing page is live but pre-orders haven't opened just yet...

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at GameStop

Having said that, clicking on the 'Not Available' button does still add it to my basket as normal so I think we're safe to say we're live at GameStop!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at GameStop

Target is the only one we're missing in terms of the big boy US retailers...

With US pre-orders fully open, we have a bunch of options open and nearly all the big retailers have come to play.

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Amazon
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at PS Direct
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84 at Walmart
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Best Buy
• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at GameStop

Finally Target has joined the party in the US!

• God of War 20th Anniversary controller: $84.99 at Target

Summary time

All in all, this has been an exciting but pretty straightforward pre-order process for a cool PS5 item!

On both sides of the Atlantic, we've had retailers go early, but mostly on time and all seem to have plenty of stock! Absolutely wonderful stuff.

I'll be stepping away from the live coverage shortly but this page will stay up and live for everyone to use as a resource as I'll make sure all the links are correct and get you to where you need to be quickly.

Goodbye!

With availability being excellent on both sides of the Atlantic - only one UK retailer has sold out of stock - I'm putting this live coverage down now.

It's still an ideal resource for any folks that need a bank of the best links and information, so it'll remain live and eventually revert to a chronological order of how the day panned out. The links at the top of the page are the most important ones though, and at the time of my signing off here, they are all accurate and correct.

• Sony has unveiled yet another new Limited Edition DualSense controller
• Celebrating God of War's 20th Anniversary, it has a simple yet striking design inspired by Kratos
• Pre-orders start next week, on October 12, at PlayStation Direct and other retailers

Editor's note: We now know the controller will launch on October 23, 2025, which was revealed after this article originally went live.

Hot off the heels of a second Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense that's out now, Sony has revealed a new Kratos-inspired limited edition controller to bolster the DualSense ranks even further.

The God of War 20th Anniversary Limited Edition DualSense goes up for pre-order at PlayStation Direct and other participating retailers on October 3, but the launch date has not been fully disclosed as of yet.

- With pre-orders beginning tomorrow, join my live coverage of the God of War 20th Anniversary controller pre-orders here

Revealed as part of the September 24 State of Play presentation, it's immediately recognizable as a God of War-inspired controller with Kratos' trademark red tattoo covering a white-to-light grey background with other elements of both colors on the thumbsticks and D-pad buttons.

As some returning readers may have gathered by now, I'm a massive cheerleader for the DualSense Wireless Controller. It's a superb controller in any form or design, given its excellent ergonomic symmetrical design, features and buttons, and performance. The same returning readers might also remember that I'm a big controller collector, so I'll be looking to lock this one down too when pre-orders go live - especially, as it's inspired by a series I love.

We know it'll cost $84.99 / £74.99 as per the official PlayStation Blog post, but in terms of exactly where to get it, we don't know quite yet.

PlayStation Direct's DualSense page has to be your first port of call so I've included a handy link to that below, as well as some of the best links to other retailers likely to get involved.

To be brutally honest, I think this is a relatively tame Limited Edition controller from Sony. I'm a collector, so I will be tempted, of course, but it does appear that it's only a few licks of red paint different from the standard white DualSense controller...

As a result, it's a design which might make the controller only for the biggest - but be that as it may, or not, I'll be covering the latest stock.

Remember, if you want this pad, pre-orders go live on October 3 so remember to check back here.

Will you be getting the God of War 20th Anniversary Limited Edition DualSense? Let us know in the comments!

You might also like...

• Astro Bot has reminded me why I fell in love with the DualSense controller
• Ghost of Yotei is one of the best games I’ve played this year, with beauty, style, and visceral action running through its veins
• Yakuza Kiwami 3 might not be a surprise, but Kiryu’s new Ryukyu move set certainly is

Prime Video’s live-action God of War series will officially begin filming in 2026 and will adapt the Norse era of the video games, showrunner Ronald D Moore confirmed to Collider at San Diego Comic-Con. The focus will be on Kratos and Atreus, although scripts for season 1 are still being written at this stage. There will be 10 episodes to binge, which the game’s creative director Cory Barlog is “actively involved” in, Moore said.

We’re not likely to see any completed episodes until 2027 at the earliest, but for now, any concrete details are good progress. Amazon initially announced that the project was greenlit back in 2022, but pre-production slowed to a halt for unconfirmed reasons. Allegedly, scripts needed reworking (via KitGuru), adding another three years onto the development process.

I’m not sure whether the fact that the scripts still aren’t complete is a good or bad thing, but I know exactly what I want to see from the new Prime Video TV series regardless. Just like me, fans have a set vision for how God of War should look on screen, and that means not negotiating on three essential details that could turn brutal into boring.

Prime Video’s God of War series needs more co-creators who have obsessively played the games

Among the clarity of essential details (which is great), one new development sticks out in my mind as a potential red flag. On an episode of The Sackhoff Show with Katee Sackhoff, showrunner Ronald D Moore admitted that he’s never played any of the video games because they’re “too complicated”. “Press R1. Which one’s R1? Oh, I’m dead! I can’t quite get a hold of that,” he explained. It doesn’t take a genius to see why alarm bells are ringing here. How do you understand the bones of something you’ve never properly experienced?

Obviously, it’s great news that Barlog is somehow involved, but I worry this is akin to how often Superintendent Chalmers visits Springfield Elementary in The Simpsons (read: not much). In order to be a surefire success, God of War’s adaptation needs an on-the-ground team that lives and breathes its gameplay, understanding what happens in its lore better than anybody on the internet. We’re not looking for a scene-by-scene recreation here, and nor should we. But it’s not too much to ask for a consistent presence of creators who just get what they need to do.

There should be a nod to the Greek era

Take a quick look online and you’ll see an outcry of fans who can’t believe that the Norse games like God of War Ragnarok have been chosen over the Greek era. This is arguably where the franchise packs its biggest punch, operating on a much bigger scale with its gore, violence and basically everything explicit that the Greeks would deem as a normal day out. It’s a much cooler setting, but Prime Video has played it safe by sticking with the Norse era, which is basically devoid of scandal (and not to mention, likely a lot cheaper to replicate).

Sure, this makes the franchise much more family-friendly and appealing to commercial producers who might now be on board. But is God of War missing the point of why we love it so much? At the very least, I want to see the live-action series honor the games that came before Norseology, whether it be through flashbacks or simply word of mouth myths. If you’re not giving fans the Greek era outright, make sure it’s appreciated in a roundabout way at the very least.

Kratos’ casting needs to be a slam dunk

If I’m being flippantly honest, any young little thing can come along and play an extremely convincing Atreus, but Kratos has a lot more riding on him. Prime Video could go one of two ways: bring in a heavyweight A-lister like Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us, or go for someone nobody has ever heard of. I’d say a smart idea is to cast Kratos’ voice actor Christopher Judge, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

So, if God of War won’t go with a pre-existing Kratos expert, they need to pick someone who looks exactly like him. Names like Alan Ritchson, Henry Cavil and Jason Momoa have all been tossed around the internet, but nobody can seem to agree on a talented actor who also looks enough like Kratos, and that’s before we even get to this distinctive voice. If you’re asking me, I think Dave Bautista has an outside chance (he was brilliant in Glass Onion but totally won me over in The Last Showgirl).

You might also like

• The next Sony Santa Monica game reportedly won't be a new IP 'but it might feel like one', says industry insider
• God of War Ragnarok at 8K makes me question the point of the PS5 Pro and RTX 5090
• The new Prime Video trailer for War of the Worlds is already a Gen Z disaster waiting to happen

• Sony Santa Monica's next game is reportedly the studio's "next big thing"
• Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier responded to speculation, claiming that the studio's new game isn't a new IP, "but might feel like one"
• Schreier also claimed that the sci-fi game rumors are not true

The next game from God of War developer Sony Santa Monica reportedly won't be a new IP, "but might feel like one".

That's according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier (via Eurogamer), who responded to speculation on ResetEra after initially writing about the studio's next project.

"Cory Barlog’s game is Sony Santa Monica’s next big thing," Schreier said. "Last time I spoke to anyone about it (a month or two ago) it was going well."

After sharing this tidbit, fans went on to theorize that the game could be a new IP, which Schreier has now denied.

"I'll put it this way: it's not a new IP but it might feel like one," Schreier explained. "Maybe that's why people are confused. Please don't ask me more questions about this - if I wind up reporting more information at any point in the future it'll be in an article, not on a forum."

There's also been speculation over the years that Cory Barlog, the director of God of War, will be making a sci-fi game next at Sony Santa Monica, but Schreier claims that this isn't correct

"And that the sci-fi stuff (that people have apparently believed for years now?) is nonsense," he said.

Rumors of Sony Santa Monica developing a new IP sprang up last year, but there's no official word from the studio on what it's currently working on.

A third God of War game is also a possibility, but the studio hasn't confirmed if it plans on continuing the series after launching God of War Ragnarok in 2022.

You might also like...

• The Nintendo Switch 2 is the company’s least ambitious console to date, but its improvements are astronomical
• I’ve spent 40 hours exploring Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and it’s an incredible sequel that builds upon its unique predecessor to become a masterpiece
• I’ve spent 150 hours with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the Switch 2 Edition is an incredible upgrade

• A Reddit user has installed a PSP emulator on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
• They use Bugjaeger to sideload APKs
• It now runs GTA at 60fps, and even works with a Bluetooth gamepad

A scientist, who was so preoccupied with whether or not they could, and didn't stop to think if they should, has revealed how they installed a PSP emulator on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5.

A few weeks ago, I spotted a post in the Galaxy Watch subreddit that caught me so off-guard that I had to know more. The post, from 'ZenonDesingk', featured images of a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 running God of War and GTA, and even what appears to be Forza Horizon 4 via Steam Link.

I was so enthralled that I reached out to the mind behind the madness – and I wasn't disappointed.

"One day at school, I noticed that one of my friends was using a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5," 'Zenon' told me. So taken by the capabilities of the Samsung Watch, and its inclusion of Google Play, they immediately went and bought their own the following day, but was initially met with disappointment.

"I was surprised to find that the games were uninteresting and pretty bad," they said. Undeterred, they set about improving the experience. "But I didn’t let that get me down because, after all, this is Android! You can do anything you want," they continued. What unfolded next led to the creation of the coolest and niftiest gaming gadget I've ever seen.

The Samsung Galaxy WatchStation 5

At first, Zenon tried to download APKs through the built-in watch browser or transfer apps via Bluetooth, neither of which worked. "Just when I was about to lose hope, I remembered that I could transfer apps via ADB (Android Debug Bridge)," they told me.

Android Debug Bridge is a programming tool that does exactly what it says on the tin, and one such example is Bugjaeger, a do-it-all multitool that lets you hack and slash your way through the code behind your Android device's operating system. "I immediately installed Bugjaeger on my phone, enabled wireless ADB in the Watch 5’s developer settings, and connected the watch and phone (they need to be on the same Wi-Fi network)."

After that, Zenon started loading APKs onto the watch, a process that likely involved playing fast and loose with some copyright laws, so I won't share the details here. After tweaking the watch's DPI settings, the apps could be opened and worked just fine.

"At first, I only tried simple games like Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride, but this wasn’t satisfying enough for me," they said. "I thought the most advanced game that could be played on the watch would be GTA, so I attempted to install GTA: Vice City, but it didn’t work."

That's when Zenon hit upon the idea of installing a PSP emulator directly onto the Watch (again a shady area, copyright-wise). "Using the PSP emulator, I managed to load GTA: Vice City, God of War, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Mortal Kombat onto the watch," they said. Naturally, playing the games on the tiny screen was "torture", Zenon tells me. The solution? "I bought a Bluetooth gamepad from AliExpress. With the gamepad, I could comfortably play all the PSP games." Seems obvious I suppose.

More surprising than the compatibility issues Zenon managed to overcome during the process is the fact that most of these games ran smoothly at 60fps, God of War being the only title that would occasionally drop to 30fps.

Satisfied that they'd completed the Galaxy Watch 5, and life itself, Zenon went back to being a regular smartwatch owner. "Naturally, all of this was just a temporary enthusiasm that lasted a few days. After a couple of weeks, I reset the watch and started using it as a normal watch again."

While Zenon's achievements are pretty impressive, for reasons pertaining to copyright law and to protect the integrity of your own best Android smartwatch, please don't try this at home.

Please note that the use of emulators may be in violation of the game developer and publisher terms and conditions, as well as applicable intellectual property laws. These will vary, so please check. Emulators should only ever be used with your own purchased game copy. TechRadar does not condone or encourage the illegal downloading of games or actions infringing copyright.

You may also like

• I've spent 10 years with Apple Watch, and after 10 minutes with the Galaxy Watch Ultra, I can't believe Samsung skipped this feature
• Garmin outage FIXED: What to do if your device still isn't working
• Ditching your Garmin watch after the outage? Samsung will give you up to $325 for it if you switch to a Galaxy Watch Ultra

• God of War Ragnarok's former art director Raf Grassetti has joined Naughty Dog
• Grassetti was at Sony Santa Monica for 10 years before leaving to work at Netflix Games' Team Blue, which shut down in October
• Grassetti will likely be working on Naughty Dog's next, as yet unannounced, game

Ex-Sony Santa Monica developer Raf Grassetti has joined Naughty Dog to presumably work on the studio's new game.

The announcement comes from Grassetti himself over on X / Twitter, where he simply wrote "New chapter" accompanied by an image of the Naughty Dog logo.

Grassetti has previously worked as the principal art director on Sony Santa Monica's God of War and then the art director on God of War Ragnarok.

The developer left the studio in 2023 after 10 years to lead the art department on a AAA game at Netflix Games studio codenamed Team Blue, alongside industry members like Halo Infinite's creative director Joe Staten and Chacko Sonny, who previously worked as an executive producer on Overwatch.

In October, Team Blue was shut down following a wave of layoffs, ultimately killing the mystery AAA project.

It's unclear at this time what game Grassetti will be working on for Naughty Dog, or in what role he will be serving.

Naughty Dog co-president and The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann confirmed earlier this year that there are "multiple single-player" projects in development at the studio.

Development remains quiet, however, new insider information about the secret project was reported by MinnMax founder Ben Hanson in October who claimed that a source "very in the know, who worked on the game" told him that the game will feature "a lot of player freedom".

The studio was also expected to release a new The Last of Us Online game, a multiplayer spin-off that was in development for four years, but it was canceled in December 2023 following concerns that it would impact the studio’s future single-player games.

You might also like...

• Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country are expected to make an appearance at The Game Awards 2024
• Lego Fortnite Brick Life is an all-new, social roleplaying game mode arriving this week
• Activision announces a 7-day free trial for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 with access to multiplayer and Zombies

Prime Video has already seen huge success with their adaptation of Fallout, and now a TV adaptation of God of War is coming to the streaming service. It seems the beloved video game series is in good hands too, with Ronald D. Moore attached as showrunner.

You might know Moore from his work on For All Mankind, which is considered to be one of the best Apple TV shows. He's no stranger to the sci-fi genre, having worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Battlestar Galactica, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches God of War.

What do we know about Prime Video's God of War TV show?

So far, we don't have much to go off when it comes to the planned God of War TV series. It's been in the works for a while, though, with Prime Video first announcing it back in December 2022. During that time, we were teased what the plot might entail.

The streaming service reported that the show would follow Kratos' "dangerous journey with his estranged son" to fulfil his wife's final wish to "spread [her] ashes from the highest peak". "Kratos soon realises the journey is an epic quest in disguise" and one which "will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new gods and monsters for the fate of the world".

However, there have been some changes to the team and it is unknown if the plot will change now that Moore is on board as showrunner. He takes over from predecessor Rafe Judkins, so there could well be some changes heading our way.

Now that the show is back on track, it'll be interesting to see if it joins our best Prime Video shows line-up, which is already packed with some great entries. In a world where videogame adaptations are, thankfully, getting better, I do have high hopes for this one.

You might also like

• Fallout season 2: Prime Video release date prediction, likely cast, possible plot, and more news and rumors
• Arcane season 2: Netflix release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more news and rumors
• The Last of Us season 2: HBO Max release date prediction, trailer, confirmed cast, plot details, and more news and rumors

Sony has announced PlayStation: The Concert, a world tour kicking off next year and featuring music from some of its biggest games.

In collaboration with RoadCo Entertainment, GEA Live, Senbla, and RG Live, PlayStation: The Concert will tour UK arenas in April 2025, calling at Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, and London.

The global tour will begin with its premiere on April 15, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland, before heading to over 200 cities across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and further.

The live music event will feature a state-of-the-art production, merging music and visual technology, and showcase soundtracks from multiple Sony titles, including God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, and the Horizon series.

Scores from the games' respective composers - Bear McCreary, Gustavo Santaolalla, Ilan Eshkeri, and Joris De Man - will "reach new heights, offering fans a unique, deeply immersive live concert experience."

Attendees will be faced with a multi-screen design, combining advanced LED and projection technologies that will enhance the event's music and imagery.

"Coupled with surround sound, the show delivers breathtaking visual and audio depth, creating an immersive experience that will allow the audience to relive their gaming adventures like never before," Sony said.

Tickets for PlayStation: The Concert are set to go on sale on October 18, 2024, at 3pm BST here. VIP packages will also be available. You can check out the UK Tour dates below.

PlayStation: The Concert - UK Tour Dates:

• Birmingham Utilita Arena - April 21, 2025
• Manchester Co-op Live - April 22, 2025
• Leeds First Direct Arena - April 23, 2025
• Newcastle Utilita Arena - April 24, 2025
• Glasgow OVO Hydro - April 25, 2025
• London OVO Arena Wembley - April 27, 2025

You might also like...

• PS5 Pro: everything you need to know
• PS5 Pro vs PS5: comparing specs, design, dimensions, features, and more
• Ghost of Yōtei: everything we know so far

God of War Ragnarok is now available on PC, and with other PlayStation 5 games that have made the leap to the best gaming laptops and gaming desktop PCs, the latest installment in Kratos' epic adventure comes with some excellent PC-exclusive features.

Unlike the previous game, which I played on the PS4 Pro before going through it again on PC, I've not had a chance to play God of War Ragnarok ahead of its PC release, as I've been holding off buying a PS5 in the hope that the almost-inevitable PS5 Pro announcement would get me to jump back into console gaming.

So, with God of War Ragnarok now in my Steam library, I was keen to see if it could live up to its excellent predecessor, while also seeing how well it could run at 8K on our Stormforce Gaming test system.

Considering that the PC is a few years old, the results were extremely impressive - so much so that it's killed any interest I had in a PS5 Pro - or even the rumored Nvidia RTX 5090, which will likely be announced soon.

Instead, it reminded me just how much of a beast the RTX 4090 graphics card remains, two years on from its announcement. 

Coupled with software improvements, thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment and Santa Monica Studio teams behind the game getting more adept at developing the title for PS4 and PS5 hardware, along with Jetpack Interactive, the team that ported God of War Ragnarok to PC (they also ported the previous game) getting more experienced, and the constant evolution of upscaling tech like Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR, it really feels like there's little need to upgrade, especially if you have a high-end rig.

Playable 8K out of the box

Back when I started testing the possibilities of 8K gaming in 2019, it felt like we might never see games at  7680 × 4320 resolution running at remotely playable frame rates. Any kind of 8K future certainly seemed a long way off as I struggled to get Red Dead Redemption 2 running at ultra-ultra high resolutions with a $2,499 Nvidia Titan RTX graphics card and a $3,000 Dell UltraSharp UP3218K monitor.

Back then, artificial intelligence still felt like a sci-fi concept, and DLSS was just a twinkle in Jensen Huang's eye.

In the five years since, we've come a heck of a long way, with hardware getting more powerful - and even more affordable. 

While the RTX 4090 will never be considered a cheap GPU, its launch price of $1,599 (about £1,359, AU$2,300) was still a lot less than its RTX Titan grandparent. Meanwhile, 8K TVs may still be far from mainstream, but they do exist, and can cost a lot less than the specialist Dell monitor we used to rely on.

Perhaps the biggest sign of how far technology has come is that right out of the box, at native 8K resolution and graphics settings set to 'Ultra', God of War Ragnarok averaged 35fps (frames per second). Even a few years ago, with the advent of DLSS and armed with an RTX 3090, getting to a playable minimum of 30fps felt like a distant goal.

So, to have such a graphically-impressive and ambitious game such as God of War Ragnarok running at above 30fps at 8K (which is four times the resolution of 4K) without any tweaking is very impressive.

Still, 35fps isn't ideal, and the game comes with a lot of tools to help bump that up, so I was keen to see how much tweaking would be required to hit 60fps.

AMD FSR 3.1

When turning on upscaling, the first tech option is for AMD's FSR 3.1 technology. This is the latest version, with AMD putting a lot of effort into improving image quality through this release, with particular focus on reducing shimmering and blurry ghosting graphical artifacts that had been a distracting presence in previous versions.

Unlike Nvidia's rival DLSS technology, FSR 3.1 doesn't use AI (though there's rumors that's coming in FSR 4), and while that means I've found it doesn't quite match DLSS when it comes to results, it also means that it's less stringent on the kind of hardware it runs on. FSR doesn't need an AMD graphics card to run - Intel and Nvidia cards can make use of it as well.

This is particularly good news for people with older Nvidia cards that have missed out on DLSS goodness.

Even better news is that with God of War Ragnarok, AMD FSR 3.1 offers up some excellent results. Setting the FSR preset to 'Quality', which minimizes the amount of upscaling performed (in this case, a native resolution of 5120 x 2880 gets upscaled to  7680 × 4320) to preserve image quality, the game hit 55fps on average - tantalizingly close to the 60fps goal. Image quality was indeed very good - and there certainly was less noticeable artifacts.

Switching to 'Balanced' dropped the native resolution to 4512 x 2536, which means the hardware has to do more work upscaling the image to 8K, and it was here that I hit 59fps - essentially the 60fps I was after (at the moment 8K screens and HDMI 2.1 can only do 8K at 60fps maximum, and that sometimes results in 59fps being recorded as the average frame rate by the benchmarking software we use).

The game still looked great (graphical presets remained on 'Ultra'), and the leap from 35fps to 60fps meant the game felt much smoother and more responsive - which is particularly important in a game like this, where quick reactions are essential.

By already hitting the 60fps milestone, I was ready to try out the other upscaling options, but out of curiosity, I gave the 'Ultra Performance' mode a go. Again, this maxed out the framerate at 59fps, but image quality was noticeably impacted, with a very washed out look. It's not too surprising, as the native resolution the game is rendering at is 2560 x 1440. These days, the 1440p resolution is considered quite low, and with FSR working hard to upscale that to 7680 × 4320, it's inevitable that image quality will be impacted.

Still, it shows that with a mid-range graphics card, you could feasibly play God of War Ragnarok at 8K and 60fps. I'd suggest you don't try it, but it's nevertheless impressive.

Intel XeSS

Next up was Intel's XeSS. While this is designed to run with Intel Arc graphics cards, it is not exclusive to Intel hardware, which like FSR is a big plus for people who don't have the latest Nvidia GPUs.

Since its launch, I've been impressed with XeSS, and it once again did a great job with God of War Ragnarok. It offers 'Ultra Quality+' as a preset, which renders the image at 5904 x 3320 before upscaling it to 8K. This is higher than the Quality preset of AMD FSR 3.1 and that means less upscaling is needed.

Image quality was excellent, but the performance boost was more muted, with the game hitting an average of 45fps. That's a decent 10fps bump over native 8K gaming, but when set to 'Ultra Quality', which lowers the native resolution to 5120 x 2880, the same as FSR's 'Quality' preset, the game managed 57fps on average. Basically the same as FSR 'Quality', if a tiny bit faster.

Going down to 'Quality' on XeSS got me to that magic 60fps (well, 59fps) average. Image quality still looked very good, with a native resolution of 4512 x 2536. Interestingly, this is essentially the 'Balanced' setting on AMD FSR with the same resolution and performance. One could argue that Intel is overselling XeSS by having three levels of 'Quality', but I do like having the option of the additional Ultra Quality+ preset that AMD lacks. However, I do think AMD is being more honest when it describes this resolution and level of upscaling as being balanced between image quality and performance.

DLSS

Finally, we get to Nvidia's DLSS 3. This is the most mature of the upscaling options, and traditionally it's the one I've found to offer the best results. However, unlike AMD and Intel's offerings, DLSS is only compatible with Nvidia's recent RTX graphics cards (and DLSS 3 is exclusive to the very latest RTX 4000 series of GPUs).

While this isn't a problem for RTX 4090-toting PCs like our test rig, it does limit the availability of this exciting tech.

As if to prove DLSS' supremacy, I only had to turn on its first preset, 'Quality', to hit 59fps on average. It uses the same native resolution of 5120 x 2880 that XeSS and AMD FSR's 'Quality' settings use, but offers a higher and more stable frame rate.

Conclusion: DLSS works its magic again

As with previous recent 8K tests, DLSS has come out on top, offering excellent performance and image quality, effectively doubling the frame rate the RTX 4090 is capable of when running God of War Ragnarok at a demanding resolution of 7680 × 4320.

I didn't even need to touch the lower DLSS presets, nor drop the graphics setting below 'Ultra', or enable frame generation (another bit of AI-powered goodness that can help smooth out frame rates).

That said, if you can't get DLSS 3, both XeSS and AMD FSR 3.1 both did really well, with Intel's tech just edging out AMD's thanks to slightly more resolution options.

With any of the three upscaling technologies turned on, God of War Ragnarok looked incredible at 8K.

The game's impressive performance at such high resolutions does have a few caveats. For a start, God of War Ragnarok was a cross generation game, launching on both the PS5 and the PS4 - which is now 11 years old.

It also doesn't feature advanced lighting effects such as ray tracing. But don't get me wrong: this is still a gorgeous-looking game. And, when you play it on PC at the more achievable 4K resolution, it runs even better at a native resolution that means image quality isn't compromised.

Still, the power of these upscaling tools leaves me - and many other gamers - with a bit of a quandary when new hardware comes out. Is it worth upgrading? It's clear that backed by DLSS, the RTX 4090 remains an astounding GPU that will continue to handle new games at high resolutions for years to come.

It also means that if I want the very best experience when playing PlayStation games, I don't need to buy a PS5 Pro, all I need to do is be patient as Sony's exclusives finally make their way to PC.

You might also like

• Best PC games 2024: the must-play titles you don’t want to miss
• Horizon Forbidden West at 8K shows how powerful Nvidia DLSS is compared to AMD and Intel’s tech
• DLSS vs FSR: which is best?

I'm a big fan of Netflix's Love, Death and Robots. I'm also a big fan of videogames. So, when a new Prime Video anthology series, based on some of the world's most famous gaming franchises, was announced at gamescom last night (August 20), it not only had my curiosity, but also my attention.

Step forward Secret Level, the latest adult animated anthology show from Tim Miller and his production company Blur Studio that's set to debut on Amazon's primary streaming service on December 10. It'll comprise 15 episodes, with each installment telling an original short story set in a variety of iconic videogame universes, including God of War and Pac-Man. Oh, and we were also treated to a first look at the various art and animation styles that'll be on display in the series via Secret Level's official trailer, which premiered at last night's gamescom Opening Night Live event.

Miller, who co-created Love, Death and Robots with famed film auteur David Fincher, and Blur Studio have led development on the series alongside supervising director Dave Wilson. Speaking to Deadline, Amazon MGM Studios' Head of Television Vernon Sanders explained why Prime Video's creative team were so eager to work with Miller, Wilson, and Blur to create a show inspired by some of gaming's most noteworthy franchises.

"Secret Level weaves a tapestry of iconic games across multiple mediums, to tell a series of unique and captivating stories," he gushed. "Created and led by Tim Miller, Blur Studio, and Supervising Director Dave Wilson, each episode will take our global Prime Video customers on a brand new journey with breath-taking animation and imaginative storytelling."

Secret Level won't focus solely on legendary videogame series, mind you. Indeed, it'll also contain tales that take place in relatively new game franchises, such as the brand-new team-based shooter Concord, which is available on PlayStation 5 and PC. Here's the full list of games that'll be part of Secret Level's 15-strong haul, as confirmed by an Amazon press release:

• Armored Core
• Concord
• Crossfire
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Exodus
• Honor of Kings
• Mega Man
• New World: Aeternum
• The Outer Worlds 2
• Pac-Man
• PlayStation (Highlighting various PlayStation Studios beloved entities)
• Sifu
• Spelunky
• Unreal Tournament
• Warhammer 40K

Pushing the right buttons

In the wake of Secret Level's announcement, I've seen all kinds of reactions to the R-rated animated anthology series' reveal across social media. Indeed, some people are clearly excited to watch new stories set in their favorite game universes, while other bemused observers have wondered why Prime Video, one of the world's best streaming services, has created what's essentially a show based around glorified videogame cutscenes.

The latter opinion is certainly a valid one, but this isn't the first time that the entertainment industry has looked to its gaming cousin for narrative and creative inspiration. It hasn't shied away from adapting some of the world's most popular game franchises for the big and small screens, either. Just look at the recent explosion of critically-acclaimed and/or money-spinning movie and TV adaptations, including The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Fallout, and Sonic the Hedgehog for proof of that. (Just maybe don't look in the direction of Borderlands.)

Heck, videogame studios, such as Riot Games, have even created their own animated short stories that take place in their own franchises. Indeed, its most successful videogame property League of Legends has not only received a number of animated tie-ins – music videos and shorts centered around some of its most famous characters – but also spawned its own original series Arcane, whose first season is available on Netflix. Arcane season 2 is also set to land on the streamer in November, too.

Why, then, should eyebrows be raised at Amazon for creating an anthology series influenced by other popular games? As long as they don't contradict the narratives, franchise canon, and/or specific lore in their source material, I don't see the problem. And, frankly, if any or all of Secret Level's episodes introduce their game series to a wider audience, that can only be a good thing. We've already seen Amazon's Fallout TV show significantly increase interest in Bethesda's role-playing first-person shooter games of the same name. I, for one, expect Secret Level to do likewise with some of its lesser-known titles in due course.

You might also like

• Find out everything we know about Fallout season 2 before its Prime Video debut
• These are the best Prime Video shows to stream today
• Or get the lowdown on The Rings of Power season 2 ahead of its August 29 launch

A Santa Monica Studio developer has confirmed that the studio is currently working on a new intellectual property.

As spotted by a ResetEra user, God of War developer Glauco Longhi recently took to LinkedIn to share that he has been acting as a supervisor at the Sony owned studio looking at character development on a "new IP".

"Santa Monica Studios presented the opportunity of coming back as Character Supervisor, looking after the entire Character Development pipeline, on their new IP, so here I am, thrilled to be back, working again with the crew and pushing Characters in videogames together," the full post reads.

According to Longhi's "about" section on his LinkedIn profile, he has worked as a senior character artist on Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4, as well as on Santa Monica Studio's 2016 God of War. 

The developer has also worked as a lead character artist on God of War Ragnarok, which launched in 2022, but left the studio later to work on The Calisto Protocol as a character and art director at Striking Distance Studios.

He re-joined Santa Monica Studio earlier this year after working for less than a year as an art director at the Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment. 

At the moment, we don't have any information about this "new IP", however, there have been rumors that the studio is potentially looking to produce a space-themed game following cryptic posts from Santa Monica Studio's creative director, Cory Barlog back in 2019.

Although currently unannounced, a third God of War game is also a possibility. Following Ragnarok's launch, the Santa Monica went on to release the free Valhalla downloadable content (DLC), an extended epilogue roguelike that takes place after the events of the sequel. 

You might also like...

• Best RPGs 2024 - top role-playing games for PC and consoles
• Star Wars Outlaws' roadmap has been revealed and will see the return of two fan-favorite characters in future DLC
• BioWare announces plans to share Dragon Age The Veilguard release date and roadmap this month

A range of new official PlayStation figures have been announced, including characters from Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West, and God of War Ragnarok. Created in collaboration with toy company Spin Master, The Shapes Collection is a new line of collectibles based on top PlayStation Studios games.

The first to launch will be a deluxe 6-inch Aloy action figure, painstakingly modeled after the protagonist of Horizon Forbidden West. It will feature 42 points of articulation, allowing for a huge range of possibilities, and comes bundled with 15 accessories. 

This includes five interchangeable face plates (letting you change her expression), six alternate hands, her trademark bow, arrows, a quiver, and a spear. It is currently available to pre-order for $49.99 / £48 at Amazon and the PlayStation Gear store with shipping expected to begin in August.

Other figures include Aloy's companion Varl, the legendary samurai Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima, and Kratos and Atreus from God of War Ragnarok. These will cost $29.99 / £28.80 each and come with two to four accessories depending on your choice of character.

They're pretty cool little models on the whole and look like quite good value collectibles if the quality of the finished product is on par with the promotional material. Interestingly, each figure is actually based on one of the digital sculpts used in the production of their respective games - which might be the reason for their excellent level of detail.

Arno Schmitz, lead character artist at Horizon developer Guerrilla Games, explained some more about the creation of these figures. "It was a great pleasure to work on the Aloy and Varl figurines together with Spin Master," they said. "They are based on the actual digital sculpts used for the game, something you can really see in the final result. We made sure the many articulation points made sense and even the finest textural detail shows up on the figures."

"A personal highlight was the ability to provide different facial expressions for Aloy, which, together with those many articulation points (even her hair has some!), make her a very poseable figure," they continued. "Also, the technique used to apply color to the faces meant we were really able to maintain the likeness of actual models, something that was very important and adds a lot to the appeal of these figures.”

Jason Connel, creative director at Ghost of Tsushima studio Sucker Punch Productions, echoed a similar sentiment. "We’re excited to have a new action figure version of Jin that fans can keep on their shelf to protect their home," they said. "Jin’s Ghost armor has so many beautiful details, including intricate fabric patterns and overlapping armor plates that are integral to the design of his character. In addition to his katana, it’s also always important to us to see all of his various Ghost tools represented to capture his different fighting techniques.”

Hopefully, this is just the beginning and there are even more figures on the way. We might not be getting that rumored PlayStation 5 version of Bloodborne any time soon, but a highly detailed miniature version of The Hunter could be the next best thing.

You might also like...

• Latest Honkai: Star Rail collaboration brings us an adorable gaming PC inspired by our favorite intergalactic gamer
• Beyerdynamic unveils a new high-end gaming headset with studio-grade drivers
• The latest custom Xbox Series X is a collaboration with a Formula 1 team

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla releases today (December 12), but before you adventure into this new story, the game directors have a couple of need-to-know tips. 

This free DLC for God of War Ragnarok was first announced in a short trailer at The Game Awards, and as if by magic, we're already on its release date. However, before you jump in, these are a few things that you should know, and the game directors Bruno Velazquez and Mihir Sheth spelled them out in a short YouTube video. 

"Valhalla is a location that we never got to explore in Ragnarok," Velazquez explains. "In true Santa Monica Studio fashion, we had a lot of fun creating a new take on Vahalla for you to explore."

According to Sheth, Vahalla is set to be an "unraveling adventure" that will "reframe God of War." No one run will be the same, with players never knowing what will happen next. "We are excited for you to play this new spin on God of War," Sheth says. 

This ever-changing landscape will encourage players to try new builds and skills. "You'll battle against combinations of enemies you haven't faced before and maybe a few new surprises," Sheth admits. Fans will have to be decisive in their choice of which weapon to take, perks to use, and runic attacks to master. Each one will be useful at some point; you just won't know when. However, after a few runs, here's hoping you start to notice patterns and solutions. 

This free DLC will also carry straight on from the ending of God of War Ragnarok, so if you want to experience the story more linearly, now is the best time to give the old adventure game another spin. Kratos will now face off against new trials which "will challenge his abilities and resolve," according to Sheth. 

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is free to download for any players who already have God of War Ragnarok on the PS5 or PS4. 

For more fantastic titles check out the best PS5 games and the best story games which are available to play right now.

The art director from PlayStation 5 blockbuster God of War Ragnarok has revealed that he is moving to Netflix Games to join up with Halo Infinite veteran Joseph Staten.

When two titans of the games industry join forces and collaborate on something, it's always noteworthy, but with these two also being backed by Netflix's cash, the unannounced "AAA multiplatform" in the works there has the (potential) makings of something great.

Grasetti had been at Santa Monica Studio for a full 10 years, joining in 2013 after working in art at both PlayStation and Bioware previously. He was then the principal artist on God of War 2018, then the art director on Ragnarok. That's quite the CV. But after 10 years, Grasetti tweeted that he was leaving the company for something else, and now we know what.

As to what exactly the folks at Netflix Games are working on, we know very little indeed. The move into mobile games is more concrete, with the platform offering more than 50 mobile games currently. The move to the AAA market shows a greater ambition, though, and, combined with attracting the top talent from the industry, clearly demonstrates a move to bigger, more high-profile games is well underway. 

Having the pedigree of the art director from one of the best PS5 games in existence currently, is only going to excite folks and automatically inject a level of quality into whatever Netflix Games is cooking. Throw in the fact that Staten and Grasetti are joining others at Netflix Games such as Jerry Edsall and Chacko Sonny of Gears and Overwatch fame respectively, and the potential potency of what's being made enhances only further still. It's all a bit mysterious and hush-hush right now, but consider our curiosity piqued.

Remember, God of War Ragnarok is also on PlayStation 4 offering one of the best PS4 games going, and Halo Infinite is an absolute must-have among the best Xbox Series X games too!

Shuhei Yoshida, former PlayStation boss, discussed just how much time and effort goes into making the smash hit games that Sony is known for. 

On the outside, it may look like PlayStation is incapable of producing anything that doesn’t hit the grand heights of God of War and The Last of Us Part 1, but in actuality, there are a lot more games that fans don’t see. Yoshida said in an interview with The Guardian PlayStation tends to axe “so many games” to “save” developers from experiencing a creative block and getting stuck on one game for too long. 

While PlayStation takes on a significant amount of new ideas, the publisher doesn’t hesitate to put ideas to the test early on. “We do a prototype, we evaluate, we decide whether to spend more time and resources, or we just stop”, Yoshida said. “We cancel so many games”. 

Risky business  

While cancelling liabilities may seem like a good mantra for ensuring an almost perfect report card, it’s not without risks. In the same interview, Yoshida explained that God of War cost PlayStation around $44m to make and God of War Ragnarok cost an eye-watering $200m. So thanks to the sunken cost fallacy cancelling big-budget games tend to be slightly harder. 

That being said, PlayStation has had its fair share of big-name cancellations. Back in 2015, the Silent Hill title that was to be published by Konami ended up getting cancelled after three years of development. While the exact reasons for the cancellation are unknown creative differences are widely believed to be the reason behind Kojima and Konami parting ways. As a fan of the franchise and someone who loved every horrific moment of P.T., I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt, but it was probably for the best. 

For fans of long-running franchises, there’s nothing worse than getting a title in a series that you’d probably rather forget; I’m looking at you, Resident Evil 5. I’d rather have fewer games that are well thought out rather than a flood of sub-par titles that seem like filler. Couple this with PlayStation’s outstanding track record, and I think it's safe to say that the publisher knows what it’s doing. 

• Silent Hill 2 looks in safe hands, but is the franchise?

Sony has quietly raised the price of several of its biggest games on Steam in certain regions, and the new prices are nothing to scoff at. 

Multiple top titles such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, God of War, and Returnal have been swept up in the price hike, with the new cost having different ranges in various countries. While there hasn’t been any official blog post concerning this news released by Sony, the new prices were confirmed by PlayStation LifeStyle. 

• Argentina: 4199-5999 Pesos to 8499-9999 Pesos 
• Canada: $59.99-69.99 CAD to $64.99-79.99 CAD 
• Chile: 32000-39500 CLP to 35000-42000 CLP 
• China: 279-379 RMB to 345-414 RMB 
• Colombia: 159000-194000 Pesos to 184000-219000 Pesos 
• Japan: 4900-6490 Yen to 6490-7590 Yen 
• South Korea: 45880-58800 Won to 52800-62800 Won 

The older titles have had less of a price hike than some of the more recent ones. However, it’s still a blow to PC fans that games as old as God of War is more expensive five years after release.  

Tough luck  

Unfortunately, this is just the next mishap in a long line for PC players. The Last of Us Part 1 finally became available on Steam, unfortunately leaving many users less than impressed. 

Many users have been plagued with crashing games and excruciatingly long loading times for shaders, which take one to two hours every time you start the action-adventure zombie game. 

I hadn’t played The Last of Us since 2013, and since I no longer have a PS4, I thought looking at the Steam remake would be a great way to refamiliarize myself with the excellent story. Sadly, I didn’t have as much fun this time around. Stuck with ridiculous wait times, I was discouraged almost immediately. I also found that not even my RTX 3070 helped matters, as I was stuck on 30fps for most of the time and plagued with constant crashing. 

It’s upsetting to see such a brilliant game have such an awful port to PC, but when you look at this mishap and the price hikes, it seems like Sony doesn’t care too much about players who don’t have a PS5.  

• God of War Ragnarok doesn't shy away from ugly family truths

The best PS4 games are still well worth playing, even if you're the owner of a PS5. Given that almost all of the PS4 game library can be played and enjoyed on the PS5 console, the selection of experiences the PS4 platform can offer is vast and also more accessible than ever. From gripping adventures and beautiful visuals, to unforgettable stories and high-octane action, there are a host of PS4 games worth committing time to in the year 2026

And despite the PS5 being in its sixth year now, we are still seeing PlayStation 4 games being released - though, truthfully, this number is declining with each year. Nonetheless, what that means is that we're continuing to experience a PS4 game library that's bigger than ever. If you play these on a PS5 too, you'll get a boost in performance as well, thanks to the magic of backward compatibility. If you're looking for the best PS5 games, however, we do have you covered there too.

We have curated a list of games from different genres to show that no matter what you enjoy, the PS4 offers something right in your wheelhouse. From shooters and sports to action-adventure and RPGs, here are the best PS4 games you can play right now.

The best PS4 games

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance comes from the team behind Streets of Rage 4, and it's a brilliant return to form for a long running and beloved action series. You play as Joe Musashi, on a quest for revenge across several vibrant stages. You'll deal out lightning fast attacks, engage in some truly spectacular platforming, and solve puzzles as you go.

This one is perfect for fans of classic game design, albeit with a modern coat of paint. Executing special attacks is satisfying and visually dazzling, and the combat is easy to learn but difficult to master. You'll be able to enjoy a solid version of the game on PS4, with a bumping soundtrack to boot.

Hollow Knight: Silksong gracefully sidesteps the unbearable weight of its predecessor and lands as a pitch-perfect follow-up. It's much more than just more Hollow Knight, adding in a whole new combat feel thanks to the acrobatic and confident fighting style of Hornet. She's a better rounded protagonist, with her own dialogue and opinions to share on the world that she's thrust into. The land of Pharloom is both beautiful, and horrifying, with a huge map to explore, and tons of secrets to uncover.

While some players may struggle with Silksong's difficulty, there's always an opportunity to head away from a challenge and go out in another direction. Side quests help guide the player to new optional areas, many of which contain upgrades that'll help you in any fights you're struggling with. Pound for pound, Silksong has the best suite of boss fights I've ever played in a game. They're all well worth seeking out, and many can show up multiple times throughout your adventure.

Ghost of Tsushima was one of the final exclusives made for PS4 only. It was a fitting swan song, offering up a truly impressive open-world that's still gorgeous to behold. In many ways, the Director's Cut is the definitive version, adding in a DLC that expands upon the lore of the base game. It's a great time for fans of stealth action, but can also be played more action-heavy if you prefer to go in loud.

The world of Tsushima is one of the prettiest gaming worlds ever, with plenty of side activities to complete. Some have you writing Haikus, while others involve tense one on one sword fights with mythical warriors. As you play, you'll slowly unlock a whole host of assassin abilities, opening up the game into a true stealth sandbox.

Fortnite continues to impress, with Chapter 6 running at full speed currently, adding superhero abilities and weapons into the mix. Every few months, Fortnite updates to refresh the loot pool, map and meta. This means it is constantly evolving, and it's still running great on PS4. You can even carry your profile across platforms, hopping onto mobile or Nintendo Switch 2, safe in the knowledge that all of your hard-earned skins are still accessible.

Whether you're wanting to jump into the rain Battle Royale Mode, or hang out with friends while exploring Lego Fortnite Odyssey, there's just so much included in Fortnite's growing catalogue of free experiences. There's a racing game, a rhythm game, a GTA-style city-sim game. Simply put, Fortnite is the best bang for your buck game to load up on your PS4.

Elden Ring launched in poor shape on PS4, but since then it's been patched and updated, offering up a brilliant Souls experience that's truly unmatched. What sets Elden Ring apart from other FromSoftware games is its interconnected open world, which can be explored and tackled any way you wish. There's a ton of build variety, allowing you to put together your Tarnished warrior as a magical archer, hulking hand-to-hand combat master, or even a chaos magic-casting bloodmage.

You'll be able to check out Shadow of the Erdtree too, the massive DLC that adds in a whole new map, new bosses, and over 70 new weapons. There's hundreds of hours of fun to be had here, and a much more lenient approach to leveling up when compared to harder Souls games.

Resident Evil Village continues the modern games' switch to first person horror action, and does it very well indeed. This time, poor Ethan Winters is combing a mysterious village in hope of rescuing his kidnapped daughter. Things go predictably sideways, as he faces off against tall vampiric ladies, snarling wolf-men and other nasties.

The village setting of Resident Evil Village is the real star of the show here, managing to give off vibes of the original Resident Evil 4, while keeping things fresh. There's twists and turns galore, and you'll likely be absolutely terrified at points, even if this one is a bit more action-packed than its predecessors.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii isn't the weirdest spin-off for the series, surprisingly, but it is one that even the most die-hard Yakuza fans would have had trouble predicting before it was announced. Thankfully, this high-seas adventure is probably the best game in the franchise for a while. Against all odds, the oddball humor often peppered throughout Like a Dragon matches perfectly with epic ship battles, sword-fighting, and treasure hunting.

Fan-favorite Goro Majima returns, and he's on a quest to build up his very own pirate crew, as he builds a reputation as an unstoppable pirate lord. Along the way, there's treasure to be found, chimpanzee Gods to summon, and multiple combat styles to master. Don your eyepatch, gather your allies and set sail on this quirky yet heartwarming adventure.

The Sniper Elite series really hit its stride with 2022's excellent fifth mainline entry. It's back, with Sniper Elite: Resistance, which, if nothing else, is just more of what we loved about its predecessor. There are some changes here, however, namely in the game's new protagonist. Players will recognize Harry Hawker from other campaigns but now, you step into the shoes of the gruff, Statham-esque agent.

Levels play out as before, with open and expansive mini open-zones to explore and work through. Each one hides multiple ways to take down your main target, some great side-content, and even collectibles that unlock mini missions. Essentially, this is a more action-focused Hitman setup, with sniping and stealth being the main ways to progress. Really though, these sandboxes can be tackled in a wide variety of ways. You could go in guns blazing, sabotage enemy defenses before infiltrating, or just find a great sniping spot and pick away at the opposition using environmental hazards and well-placed bullets.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is essentially a fantasy-themed Persona game, sharing many of its systems, while elevating certain aspects like combat. It's also very much its own thing, with Atlas clearly putting a lot behind this new series, resulting in an RPG that's immediately proven itself to be one of the very best this decade.

What makes Metaphor: ReFantazio stand out is its dark fantasy story, which centres around an election. It's clearly drawing from some very relevant, real-life themes, and is all the more impactful for it. Better yet, you can play this 2024 RPG on PS4, and still get the full experience, and given that it takes 60+ hours to complete, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck.

Ratchet & Clank (2016) reimagines the very first game, remaking it from the ground up, while completely retooling it in the process. It's accompanied by the movie, which means that the presentation is absolutely off the charts, especially in cutscenes. When it launched, it was easily one of the best looking games around, and even to this day still holds up very nicely indeed.

There's a reason why Ratchet and his mechanical pal have stood the test of time, with new entries still being released recently. They're excellent mascots, deeply rooted in PlayStation's history, great for kids and adults alike. The main reason to try out the game is its wide suite of wacky weapons. One makes enemies stop and dance, while another fires bolts like bullets. As you slowly upgrade your arsenal, you'll unlock new ways to shoot, glide and pummel. Definitely worth checking out before heading into the sequel on the PS5.

Horizon Zero Dawn wowed players when it launched, proving that the studio behind the Killzone series certainly aren't one-trick ponies. Much of the positive critical and fan reception can be attributed to the look and feel of the game, with it still being one of the best looking games you can pick up on PlayStation consoles. You'll get to explore a living, breathing world as Aloy, a new character who now sits as one of Sony's most recognizable mascots.

As you ride across lush plains and Rocky Mountains, you'll encounter robotic creatures, some of which can be battled for resources. Shoot off specific parts to dislodge weapons, which can then be picked up and turned back on your enemy. Each of these hulking monsters behaves differently, and there's a good deal of variety in the enemies you'll face while out adventuring. Give Horizon Zero Dawn a try if you're into fast action and expansive open worlds.

Hideo Kojima's first game as an independent designer is Death Stranding, an action-adventure many players also affectionately call the Postman Pat simulator. You play Sam Porter-Bridges, a courier brave enough to walk across a post-apocalyptic America to deliver goods to people.

Death Stranding is essentially a wayfinding simulation that may test your patience – rappelling down a mountain with a swaying stack of boxes on Sam's back is a genuine challenge, and it's unlike anything we've ever played before.

Not only is Death Stranding unique, it's also often very beautiful. Sam, played by The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus, is rendered perfectly, the snow-capped mountains and grassy fields you travel through can exude an uncanny calm. But Death Stranding can be tense, too – you will have some run-ins with monsters, leading to some tense stealth. Add to this incredibly detailed worldbuilding in Kojima's signature style, and you've got yourself one of the best PS4 games, a game truly like no other. Read more in our Death Stranding review.

The latest game in the Doom series is a crunchy shooter that will excite old and new series fans alike – it's a speedy, loud shooter that feels like a real power trip. As Doom Guy, you're slashing and shooting your way through battle arenas filled with hordes of monsters, all set to a pumping heavy metal soundtrack.

With Doom Eternal, shooter fans get a smooth, stylish adventure that's still distinctively Doom, heavy metal attitude, and all – read our full Doom Eternal review for more details.

Doom Eternal renders its kills with a degree of gory detail that should excite any horror fan, pushing the PS4 hardware and producing some astounding visuals. The frantic gameplay is so smooth that you just want to keep going – this is a game that makes you feel powerful while still offering a decent challenge. You can enhance and adapt Doom Guy in several ways so that there is plenty of reason to keep playing Doom Eternal even when you have completed its story.

Disco Elysium wowed players when it originally released on PC, but found even more acclaim once it was ported to consoles. While it's definitely a game that caters to keyboard and mouse, the Final Cut streamlines its controls and UI wonderfully to those playing with a controller.

What makes Disco Elysium stand out is its painstakingly realised world. There's lore galore, different political factions, and even some TTRPG mechanics thrown in to spice everything up. As you explore the district of Martinaise, you'll interrogate union workers, pick up on clues, and work with your partner Kim to solve a murder case.

Disco Elysium is easily one of the best written games ever made, and with the Final Cut, all of its characters are fully voiced. There's multiple ways to approach its narrative, which unfolds over the course of several in-game days. If you're a fan of RPGs, particularly ones with a tabletop slant, you really can't do much better than Disco Elysium.

Dreams isn't really a game, it's more of a creation platform. As the currently only game development tools for consoles with this breadth of features, it shows that the best PS4 games aren't just there to be played, they also inspire you to get creative.

Dreams is a tool for you to create your own games. It teaches you game development with its toolset in a playful way, and you also get to play the games its large community of creators has made, a seemingly infinite pool of ideas and gameplay experiences for you to peruse. That's why Dreams is great if you're an artist, but it's even better if you're not.

Dreams' game development tools are powerful, intuitive and made for the PlayStation. It will take some time to learn, but if you've always wanted to make your own game, this is an option only the PS4 offers.

As the name suggests, this game lets you journey through New York City as one of Marvel's most popular superheroes. This is Spider-Man's first outing since the PS2 era, and controlling Spider-Man just feels phenomenal. Whether you swing around buildings or whack enemies with an acrobatic attack, in this open-world action adventure you get to enjoy some of the tightest gameplay the genre has to offer.

Marvel's Spider-Man combines good storytelling and fun combat with an open world that doesn't overdo it with optional content, making it one of the best PS4 games to play if you enjoy open-world games but always get too busy to finish them.

Make sure to play Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5 if you have one, too, alongside the newest release in the story: Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Persona 5 follows Joker, a student who has transferred to a new school in modern-day Tokyo. Over the course of the school year, Joker and some of his fellow students begin to awaken special powers, resulting in those affected forming a vigilante group called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. The group travels through the mysterious Metaverse (not the Facebook one), forcing adults to have a "change of heart", in an effort to reform the city. There's so much more to it than that, but we don't want to spoil it for you.

Persona 5 is considered one of the best JRPGS of all time and it's not hard to see why. It's a stylish game, packed with over 100 hours of content and a story that is sure to keep you invested, all while tugging on your heartstrings at the same time. While Persona 5 also released on the PS3, the PS4 is truly the Persona 5 console – more people played the game than ever before, and it even got a sequel called Persona 5 Strikers.

If you buy it now, make sure to buy Persona 5 Royal over the original version. If Western RPGs are more your thing, head over to our best RPGs list.

Since God of War's 2018 reboot of the action-adventure series, the series has won over many new fans, thanks to satisfying combat, and an emotional story told completely without the camera cutting away even once, which is both a large technical achievement and fascinating to see.

As our God of War Ragnarok review will tell you, the sequel brings back all these elements, but it also comes with some choice improvements and new parts. For one, while the beloved Leviathan axe is certainly back to fight and solve puzzles with, Ragnarok also introduces a few new weapons and environmental puzzles. You get to experience the story from many other perspectives than Kratos', thanks to a much larger cast and plenty of side missions, and now that Atreus is older, he has an even more active role to play in events, too.

God of War Ragnarok is one of the best PS4 games and must-play for players who loved Kratos and Atreus' adventure and want to see it end, but it's also a game that draws you in with incredibly beautiful graphics both on PS4 and PS5, and a manageable amount of side content that will teach more Norse mythology if you're so inclined. God of War Ragnarok is currently still exclusive to PlayStation consoles, and its genuinely the kind of game you should get the console for.

The Last of Us Part 2 is not a particularly easy game to play. It's an extended look at the follies of revenge, the effect of grief on an individual, and is undoubtedly Naughty Dog's most divisive game yet. Beneath the surface, some of the best third-person action combat this side of the millennium combines with masterful storytelling to create something that's both beautiful and monstrous.

Ellie is older, and having grown up in a broken world filled with terror, she's been hardened to a point where she's barely recognizable as the little girl from the first game. Over its runtime, TLOU2 puts Ellie through the wringer, throwing absolutely everything it has at her.

Somehow, the game manages to compel you to keep playing, despite the doom, gloom and misery that punctuates each of the chapters that you'll play through. Part of this is down to the excellent game design, the way opponents feel like real people, and another part comes down to just how high the game swings. It's impressive, intoxicating, and deeply upsetting. A real modern classic.

The Witcher roleplaying game series has been around for a long time, but the Witcher's 3's release during the PS4 era made Witcher Geralt and the world he lives in more popular than ever. As witcher Geralt, you make your way through the world in search of your adoptive daughter, a powerful magic user just like you, is being hunted by a group called The Wild Hunt. But the journey isn't straightforward, as you get involved in war, political intrigue, and plenty of personal problems, which will require your decision-making skills, your sword, and some magic.

For a long time, there was no game on the PS4 that looked better, but The Witcher 3 is one of the best PS4 games because Geralt's story will take you through a fascinating fantasy world free of the usual character tropes such as dwarves living underground and wizened magic users with long, white beards.

The Witcher 3 is huge, and it's one of the few open-world games where no task and no sidequest feels superfluous, it's simply all part of a large, interesting tapestry that you get to explore. This is a game stuffed with memorable moments, headed by one of gaming's most beloved protagonists – if you are a fan of RPGs, you'd do well not to miss it.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is the last part in the saga of Nathan Drake, another enduringly popular PlayStation protagonist. When we meet him this time around, Nathan is married and has sworn off the treasure-hunting lifestyle, but when his long-lost brother asks him for help, Nathan can't turn him down. This action-adventure series combines third-person cover shooting with climbing sequences.

The Uncharted series is one of the best in games for cinematic presentation, and Uncharted 4 is no exception. Nowhere but on PlayStation do you get to enjoy an Indiana Jones-type game with a hero that quips with the best of them.

Uncharted is truly the game for anyone who enjoys large setpieces, whether that's a giant bell smashing through a clocktower Nathan has just climbed or a tense chase sequence. This is a great sendoff for Nathan Drake fans, and you can also pick up remastered versions of the previous four games for PS4. Check out our full Uncharted 4: A Thief's End review.

FromSoftware's Bloodborne is an action-roleplaying game that sees you explore the Gothic world of Yharnam as a character simply called the Hunter. Your goal is to explore Yharnam, or, to put it more simply, survive it – its dark streets are full of powerful monsters that can't be taken down with a few simple button presses.

Bloodborne shares a lot of similarities with FromSoftware's Souls games as well as Elden Ring – you will face difficult combat, find your way around with no help, and connect the dots of the world's lore yourself. However, Bloodborne's combat is quick, monsters often attack in large hordes and the game's RPG elements give you enough freedom to customize your fighting style.

This is the perfect game for players who find Souls combat too slow and restrictive, and Bloodborne's visual design, music, and worldbuilding are highly distinct and memorable. Bloodborne is a Lovecraftian nightmare that will keep you coming back for more, thanks to a satisfying degree of mystery and player freedom, and you should experience it at least once.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is absolutely a once in a generation game. Not only does it build upon the lofty legacy left by its predecessor, it manages to push the RPG genre forward, with a sprawling Western that places players into the road-worn boots of a great new protagonist. Despite having released nearly six years ago, Red Dead Redemption 2 is still one of the best looking games you can play in 2024. Its world is teeming with wildlife, from a diverse range of birds to large beasts like bears and bulls. There are few open worlds in gaming that can match Red Dead Redemption 2's attention to detail in this sense.

While RDR2 is indeed a prequel, there's plenty in its epic story to keep players guessing. For one, you play as an entirely new character: Arthur Morgan. He's part of John Marston's crew, and thanks to an excellent performance by actor Roger Clark, is a real standout. You'll grow to love the cast of rogues that cross paths with Morgan over the game's runtime, as the gang goes from good times to bad times, and everything in between.

Best PS4 games - FAQs

Is a PS4 still worth it in 2026?

This question has been repeatedly asked every year since the PS5 launched, and with growing intensity. Which is fair enough, given it represents the last generation and is no longer the most up-to-date machine made by Sony. However, the PS4 player base is still enormous, active, and vibrant.

Even in 2026, there are still games coming out for the console too, so if you own a PS4 or are keen on a second-hand one to see what all the fuss is about, then a PS4 can absolutely prove enjoyable and worthwhile in 2026.

Are PS4 games worth collecting?

Every generation of gaming has produced games and editions of games that end up being super collectible, and the PS4 generation is no different. There are super rare games from the generation, and ones that can prove quite valuable, too. Games such as Rez Infinite, Godzilla, and Blue Reflection are examples of PS4 games that are certainly worth snapping up if you see them going cheap. Heck, if you find a PS4 console with the short horror game P.T. installed on it, then that game makes the machine rocket up in value, too.

From a more general perspective, and one that I share, there's nothing better than making a physical game collection. A shelf filled with the best memory-givers and experiences makes for a conversation point, a great feature in a room, and there's just nothing quite like media that you can tangibly touch. Well, that's what I think anyway...

How we made our best PS4 games list

We at TechRadar Gaming are an experienced team of gaming and tech experts, who have committed 100s and 1000s of hours into the best PS4 games to make, and continually curate, this list for you. We've played hundreds of PS4 games across loads of genres to be able to be in a position to recommend something for almost everyone with this list. What's more, we're always reviewing more games, and by extension, our recommendations on these lists too so you can be sure we take it seriously and only want to give you the best and our top picks for PS4.

I remember the first time I saw my dad cry. I was a teenager, in the midst of a bad patch, and he was driving me home. As we danced around what was going on with me, as he always did, his eyes began to well up. He was worried – and I was stunned. I didn’t quite understand then what had sparked this emotional seepage, my dad had been a military man and we rarely spoke about feelings but, on this occasion, he couldn’t contain his concern. I felt for him.

I buried that memory. Yet, God of War Ragnarok brought it to the surface. It made me have more than a couple of emotional seepages of my own. Perhaps that’s because my journey with Kratos and Atreus to the highest peak in the Nine Realms had made me emotionally invested in their turbulent and often heartwrenching relationship. Maybe it’s because I saw the same expression my dad had on his face that day on Kratos’ throughout Ragnarok and I finally understood it. It’s probably both.

God of War Ragnarok’s exploration of parental themes is nothing new. God of War sowed the seeds of stormy father/son relationships with poignancy. Ragnarok, however, expands upon this by exploring how the bonds between parents and children can make or break us and how trauma can seep through a family. But, this time, the focus isn’t simply on Kratos and Atreus.

Spoilers for God of War and God of War Ragnarok ahead.

The sins of the father

When we pick up with Kratos and Atreus in Ragnarok, there’s a noticeable difference in the pair’s relationship. The scared, often annoying, Atreus we once knew has been replaced by a confident, competent teenager, who no longer needs his father’s help in the way he once did – or so he thinks. Kratos, too, has undergone a change. Having grown more empathetic towards his son on their journey to the Nine Realms, Kratos’ trust in Atreus seems only to have grown. At times, even he seems taken aback by how his once center-stage role has been sidelined somewhat by Atreus’ newfound capability.

The events of God of War Ragnarok put that relationship to the ultimate test. There’s a constant back and forth between the two throughout the game as the adolescent Atreus strives to prove he is a man now – while Kratos must remind him that he still has much to learn. This tension grows to an eventual breaking point, with Atreus ultimately running away to Asgard when Kratos’ desire to protect his offspring against Odin overrides his ability to trust him. Both father and son are right and wrong.

It’s achingly familiar. I too remember, in my early teens, the constant fights with my mother as I began to push the boundaries. I was convinced that I was old enough to do things that I absolutely wasn’t and the result was me lying about where I had been. I felt she was stifling me, she knew a 14-year-old shouldn’t be drinking under a bridge like a pubescent troll. 

Like my mother, Kratos’ desire is to protect his son from an unkind world. Where he once was too harsh with his boy, he has now gone to the other extreme, wrapping him in cotton wool in fear. It’s understandable, too. Kratos himself didn’t exactly have the best upbringing. By his own admission, life as a young Spartan was challenging and violent. After all, warriors aren’t born, they’re built. 

In Ragnarok, it’s clear Kratos looks back on his old life as a series of mistakes – and they hang like a millstone around his neck. His thirst for blood back in Sparta ultimately saw him accidentally slaughtering his first wife and child. When he later got remarried to Faye and had Atreus, flashbacks show that he was reluctant to become attached to his infant son out of fear of hurting him, but promised his wife before her death that he would protect him. 

It’s understandable then that, when Kratos finally let his emotions for Atreus in, they aren’t exactly measured. But while his swaddling parenting intends to prevent history from repeating itself, it instead ultimately pushes him away – and sows some less-than-healthy seeds in his son around having feelings in general. 

Keep it in the family,

But it’s not just Kratos dealing with parental troubles in Ragnarok. The thundering Thor also struggles with raising his teenage daughter Thrúd, who desires to become a Valkyrie. Thor, and his wife Sif, however, are less than thrilled with the prospect. Thor has already lost two children, Magni and Modi – slain by Kratos in God of War.

We get the sense that Thor and Sif weren’t great parents, with storyteller Mimir telling Atreus that Magni and Modi were raised “brutally” by the pair. According to the Mimir, Thor “thrashed” discipline into Magni and Modi time and time again, as his father did to him, passing a “poisonous notion of manhood” down through generations. When Atreus responds that both Sif and Thor have stopped drinking, likely due to the love they have for their daughter, Mimir replies the explanation for Sif going “straight” is probably “in hopes that raising a good daughter will redeem their past failures”, while Thor likely “struggles” with it. 

This conversation is quietly one of the most poignant scenes in Ragnarok and once again taps into the theme of parents trying to rectify their past mistakes. And, like Kratos, we certainly do see Thor struggle with sobriety and coming to terms with his past mistakes, with Thrúd having to drag her drunken father out of the longhouse at one point. He’s a grieving parent but is making a whole new host of mistakes, with his daughter this time, based on the guilt he feels about the death of his sons. No one said being a parent was easy.

Making matters all the more challenging, Thor has his own toxic father to contend with, who berates him constantly and isn’t squeamish about putting the heads of his own family members on the chopping block to fulfill his whims. Thor is Odin’s attack dog, poisoned with the toxic notion of manhood Mimir spoke about. It’s this the god of thunder passed on to his own sons, never truly breaking the cycle. It’s “a grim inheritance, leaving them all the poorer,” as Mimir tells Atreus.

Reconciliation

While Odin never quite redeems himself, both Kratos and Thor ultimately find a way to come to terms with their past mistakes to become better parents. Kratos learns through his own actions that tightening the reins on Atreus only causes him to struggle more while Thor learns, through his journeys with Atreus, that his family shouldn’t have to bear the weight of his past mistakes and that he can be the one to end toxicity passed down by Odin.

Ultimately, it’s the children of Ragnarok that see the world with the most clarity – with a clean, unjaded slate. While they’re not always right, Thrúd and Atreus are the catalysts for the growth of these battle-hardened warriors. Ragnarok’s journey to break these generational cycles isn’t always pretty, but that’s families for you.

• These are the best PS5 games you can play right now

The action-adventure video game series God of War is getting a Prime Video TV adaptation from the makers of The Expanse and Uncharted.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the live-action series will be based on events seen in the critically-acclaimed God of War (2018). Rafe Judkins (The Wheel of Time, Uncharted) acts as showrunner and will be joined by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (The Expanse) in writing and producing the show alongside PlayStation Studios for Prime Video.

“God of War is a compelling, character-driven franchise that we believe will captivate our global customers as much with its expansive and immersive worlds as its rich storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios head of global television, said. “We are honored to share in the adventure of exploring the God of War mythology in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Santa Monica Studio.” Here’s hoping it’s one of the best Prime Video shows ever made.

Adaptation nation

Little else is known about God of War’s TV adaptation, but we know it’ll follow the premise set out in the 2018 hit, with Kratos and his estranged son Atreus journeying to spread his late wife’s ashes from the highest peak of the Nine Realms. 

The first God of War was released back in 2005, with the videogame series now boasting five games in total. God of War (2018) is the fourth game in the hit franchise, but its release saw developer Sony Santa Monica shaking things up. In particular, the game developer moved the franchise from its traditional Ancient Greek setting to one focused on Norse mythology. It’s unclear if Amazon’s God of War TV will also explore the story set out in the game’s sequel, God of War Ragnarök, which takes place three years after 2018’s God of War and was released earlier this year.

Amazon’s God of War series isn’t the only PlayStation-inspired TV show in the works. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is getting a live-action TV adaptation, which debuts on HBO Max on January 15, 2023. Meanwhile, live-action adaptations of Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, and Gran Turismo have also been greenlit. Amazon Studios is also developing a live-action Fallout series for its streaming service, with Arcane and Yellowjackets star Ella Purnell set to feature.

There’s no official date for Amazon’s God of War yet, let alone any casting announcements. Whichever direction in which the show steers its course, though it’s sure to be in solidly good company.

• Loved God of War? Here are the best PS5 games to try next.

God of War Ragnarok is a dramatic and emotive piece of storytelling that doesn’t shy away from exploring themes including relationships, identity, and death. 

These themes culminate in Ragnarok’s epic ending, which sees the seeds planted by developer Sony Santa Monica throughout both Ragnarok and God of War coming to fruition, bringing God of War’s Norse Saga to an epic yet poignant close.

A lot was packed into God of War Ragnarok’s dramatic ending and, as a result, there are a lot of threads to unravel. So we’re going to dig into what exactly happened at the end of Ragnarok, what the events mean for the characters involved, and what they mean for the future of the God of War franchise. Make sure to check out how to unlock the God of War Ragnarok true ending after this, to get the game’s final cutscene. 

Be warned, there are major spoilers for God of War Ragnarok ahead. So proceed with caution.

God of War Ragnarok ending: what happened?

God of War Ragnarok’s ending really begins when you start The Realms at War chapter. Ahead of the battle of Ragnarok, Kratos and his closest allies set up camp at Týr’s temple in Midgard. Knowing what lies ahead, Kratos and Atreus retire to their tents for the night, leaving Mimir with former Valkyrie Queen and lover Sigrun. 

As Kratos attempts to drift off, he has a visitor. Atreus, while much more mature than he once was, crawls into his tent to sleep, clearly frightened by what’s to come and in need of his father’s support. He asks Kratos to tell him a story to help him fall asleep. Kratos begins the tell the tale of an old man who had to carry heavy logs of wood every day. The logs were so heavy, Kratos says, that the man wished for death. And then, one day, Death arrived. Kratos cuts his story short as he realizes Atreus is asleep. In the quiet tent, he starts to cry as he watches his son sleep. If the seer Groa’s prophecy is true, Kratos will die at Ragnarok, leaving Atreus alone.

Finally drifting off to sleep, Kratos’ dream seems to be a memory. In it, he follows his late wife Faye around Midgard as she dips her hands in yellow paint and puts them on trees – explaining the yellow handprints we see in God of War. As she does so, Faye expresses her last wishes to Kratos. She explains that when she dies, she is to be burned on a pyre, and then Kratos and Atreus must spread her ashes from the highest peak in the Nine Realms, the premise of the previous game. 

Upon waking, Kratos knows the time has come – it’s up to him to set the epic series of events into motion and defeat Odin once and for all. After a rousing speech to his allies in the Realm Travel Room of the temple, Kratos blows Gjallarhorn, the horn he procured when he killed the cocky god Heimdall, summoning his allies across the realms to Asgard for the ultimate battle against Odin and the Aesir. In Norse mythology, Heimdall himself is meant to blow the horn when he sees the Giants approaching Asgard, signaling to the gods that the great battle of Ragnarok has arrived at their door. 

From the moment Kratos and his closest allies arrive in Asgard, it’s chaos. God of War Ragnarok’s war of the realms is the epic crescendo the whole game has been building towards. It’s not Týr, however, serving as the general in this battle but Kratos – with us finding out earlier that Týr has been Odin in disguise all along. There’s no time to spare and Kratos heads straight for Odin’s war machines, the ones built by the Dwarves, with Freya at his side. 

In the background, we see the great snake Jörmungandr falling in battle, while Fenrir (now in the body of Gorm) pounces on Hel-Walkers and Valkyries dart through the air. 

Atreus quickly realizes the horrors of war, worrying about the innocent Asgardians Odin’s placed in his front line to slow the charge against him – he wants to help them but remembers what his father always tells him: “close your heart to it”. Surprisingly, Kratos admits he was wrong to teach Atreus that. He must open his heart to it and all things, as that is what Faye wanted. “We did not come to sacrifice the innocent,” he tells Atreus. “We will die seeking justice, not vengeance.” At his command, the Asgardians are taken to safety.

With the Dwarves refusing to join the battle, a sultry Sindri takes it upon himself to tackle the war machine. With one hit of a hammer, they go down, and he (still blind with anger over Brok’s death) runs off into battle in search of a fight – followed by a very apologetic and worried Atreus. 

After keeping Sindri safe, Atreus has another angry friend to worry about: Thrúd. Thor’s daughter isn’t happy that Loki has betrayed them and that he’s hellbent on bringing down her grandfather who, in her eyes, can do no wrong. Just as Thrúd is ready to unleash Hel on Atreus, her mother, Sif, steps in to set the record straight. The only reason Sif had tried to stop Thrúd from becoming a Valkyrie, she explains, was that she didn’t want her daughter to fight for Odin. Thrúd is convinced by her mother’s pleas and joins Atreus, Kratos, and Mimir on the hunt for the All-Father.

There’s just one problem: her father. Thor isn’t best pleased with Atreus or Kratos for luring his daughter over to their side. He’s got a chip on his shoulder about his own father, Odin, who treats him like an attack dog – and Kratos is the one he wants to pay the price. After a tough battle against the God of Thunder, Kratos decides to spare him “No more,” Kratos says. “For the sake of our children, we must be better.” Thor agrees.

Odin’s not very happy that his son no longer does his bidding, not killing who he wants him to kill. So unhappy, in fact, that he thrusts a spear through Thor, killing him. 

Then begins another difficult battle, this time against Odin. When Kratos takes Odin down, Freya appears and wraps a binding spell around the All-Father’s neck. She’s got a bone to pick with her ex-husband and has waited some time for her revenge. Right now, however, she simply wants him to bow to her. Odin throws a raven at Freya, freeing himself from her spell. Once defeated, Odin desperately asks Atreus to put on the mask he had him searching for – the one that will allow him to look through the world tear and find infinite knowledge. 

Torn, Atreus looks to Kratos, who tells him that ultimately it is his choice what he does. Atreus breaks the mask and, after much pleading from Odin, places his soul into the Loki Giant marble Angrboda gave him earlier. Keeping to his promise to let her be the one to kill Odin, Kratos hands the marble to Freya, who decides she doesn’t want it. Someone else does, though: Sindri grabs the marble and smashes it with his hammer before disappearing. 

But it’s not quite over yet. Ragnarok, the monster fire giant Surtr transformed into, is still rampaging. Fenrir appears from a tear he’s ripped in the realm, with Angrboda at his side. To allow time for everyone to escape, Freya’s brother Freyr sacrifices himself by holding back Ragnarok. Not wanting to see Freyr left behind, Atreus pushes Kratos through the tear to stay with Freyr. It’s unclear exactly what happens. 

Atreus is then woken up by Valkyrie Eir. He’s in Hoddmimis Holt and must find his father. As he looks for Kratos, he passes his surviving allies, including Thrúd, Sif, Lúnda, and Mimir. He can’t stop too long with any of them, his father is looking for him, they say. 

Upon reaching Angrboda and Fenrir, Kratos finds Atreus. Great, because she has something she wants to show them both. As the father and son follow her, Atreus asks for the ending of the story Kratos was telling him as he was falling asleep. Kratos explains that though the old man wanted death, when Death finally arrived, he realized he did not want it. Instead, the man asked Death to help him lift the heavy logs onto his back. 

They finally reach what Angrboda wanted to show them. It’s another Giant shrine, but this prophecy is a bit different than the one they saw before. This one shows what actually came to be: their victory at Ragnarok.

It’s time for Atreus to come clean to his father about the Giants. He wants to go in search of them, but it’s something he has to do alone. “Does it frighten you?,” Kratos asks his son. “Yeah,” Atreus responds. “That is why you must do it,” his father tells him. “Like you taught me, yeah.” Kratos tells his son that it was his decisions that allowed them to survive Ragnarok and that he believes he is ready to go solo. “Loki will go,” Kratos states. “But Atreus remains.”

Atreus sets off on his own, leaving Kratos with the shrine Behind it, he finds another panel that shows a large depiction of him, being worshipped as a god. He breaks down in tears, telling Mimir and Freya that he has seen “a path he never imagined”.

“There is much to do, much to rebuild,” he tells the other two. Will you join me?” With that, the credits roll, as you set off to clean up the remaining side quests and collectibles.

God of War Ragnarok ending: what does it all mean?

There’s a lot to dissect there but if you have been paying attention to the breadcrumbs Sony Santa Monica laid down throughout both God of War and God of War Ragnarok, things make a bit more sense.

The hidden prophecy

The main takeaway from Ragnarok’s ending is that Kratos was The Champion all along, not Atreus – and Faye knew it. In fact, to stop Atreus and Kratos from finding the real prophecy, and therefore protect them, she went against her people and destroyed the shrine in Jotunheim. Why? Because she wanted them to forge their own fate. 

It’s a theme that’s come up again and again in Ragnarok: prophecy isn’t everything, we decide our own fate. Whether it’s with Thrúd trying to become a Valkyrie against her parents' wishes, Angrboda continuing to help Atreus after her role was seemingly complete, or Týr ultimately playing no role in the battle of Ragnarok, not all prophecies come to pass, and so we shouldn’t be beholden to them. 

Kratos is emotional about the hidden prophecy because, by his own admission, it’s not a path he saw for himself  – but Faye knew what he was capable of all along.

Kratos and Atreus

Kratos and Atreus’ relationship has been through a lot. The father and son shared largely tense exchanges in God of War as they essentially got to know one another, before establishing a bond by the time they spread Faye’s ashes. At the start of God of War Ragnarok, a few years after the end of God of War, we find the pair have a much stronger relationship, with Kratos grumblingly trusting Atreus and allowing him to stretch his wings. 

Throughout Ragnarok, however, we see that newly strengthened relationship being seriously tested as Atreus pushes the boundaries (as all teenagers do) in an attempt to discover how his role as Loki fits into his identity. Atreus’ determination to prove he no longer needs his father’s guidance, alongside Kratos’ overly cautious attempts to protect his son, takes their relationship to breaking point. But it’s something that ultimately brings them closer together, allowing them to appreciate each other more. 

By the end of God of War Ragnarok, the two have mutual respect and understanding for one another. Kratos has admitted his prior faults and embraced the sentimental aspects of Atreus that he previously felt contempt for, while Atreus appreciates the teachings of his father that he once resisted.

This culminates in the final scene of the main storyline, when Atreus knows it’s time for him to set off on his own  – and Kratos supports him. Kratos finally has trust in his parenting capabilities, he’s raised a warrior who is as fierce as he is empathetic. He’s done a better job than he probably ever expected. It’s now time to trust that what he taught Atreus will keep him safe when Kratos isn’t there. 

The flashback with Faye

While it takes Kratos time to come to terms with the fact he is a good father, it’s something that his late wife Faye never seemed to doubt. During the flashback where she puts her handprints on the trees, it seems Faye may know something Kratos doesn’t  – that she’s going to die sooner than he might think. “The culmination of love is grief,” she tells her grumbling husband, before asking him to keep Atreus protected and safe. Kratos is visibly uncomfortable with the conversation, having explained in an earlier flashback that he fears for Atreus and thinks it's better his son does not know him, but agrees anyway. 

Faye never seemed to doubt Kratos would be a good parent. She seemed to know that he would have the evolution that we see through God of War and Ragnarok, perhaps because of the prophecy shine revealed at the end of the game or maybe simply because she knew her husband wasn’t simply the grumbly warrior that everyone else saw. 

The old man story

The tale Kratos tells Atreus to help him fall asleep isn’t simply a bedtime story but is almost a premonition of coming events. The old man in the story represents Kratos, with the heavy logs representing his past mistakes – which haunt him every day.

Regretting mistakes is a big theme in Ragnarok. Kratos expresses to Faye, in flashbacks, that his past mistakes make him reluctant to get close to his son, while Atreus beats himself up over the mistakes he made as a young warrior. “Mistakes are impossible to sail away from or to forget,” Kratos tells Atreus earlier in the game, when his son talks about sailing away from his own mistakes on Freyr’s paper boat. “I have tried,” Kratos tells Atreus. “If you sail, do it towards somewhere.”

The old man wishing for death is an important element of this story, particularly at the time in which it’s told. At this point in Ragnarok, we don’t know whether Kratos will survive the ultimate battle or not. Groa’s prophecy suggests that the Spartan may not make it out of the war alive and Kratos seems very aware of that. There seems to be a mix of emotions on his face as he tells the first part of the story: regret, relief, fear, and, most importantly, concern for Atreus. It’s a side of Kratos that’s rarely seen and one that’s heartbreaking to watch.

The first part of the tale ending on a cliffhanger leaves us on edge too. What happens when Death comes? Does the man (in other words Kratos) die? Fortunately, that’s not all of the story.

After Ragnarok, when we see that Kratos has made it through the war of the realms, he finishes the story. Death arrives and the old man realizes he doesn’t want to die but instead asks Death to help him lift the logs onto his back. Kratos’ past mistakes are heavy logs to bear, sure, but being faced with Death has helped him to make peace with them and has given him the fuel to keep going  – even if it’s hard. 

Other characters

Ragnarok's ending not only explored the relationships between Kratos and Atreus, but brought to a head the connections between the game’s other key characters.

Thor, Sif and Thrúd

Let’s start with Thor, Sif, and Thrúd. From the moment Atreus lands in Asgard, we see how Thor and Sif’s daughter Thrúd struggles against her parents to pursue her dream of becoming a Valyrkie. Thrus and Atreus relate to one another, both have somewhat overbearing parents that are trying to shove them into a mold they don’t feel like they fit.

There are some key similarities between Thor and Kratos too. Both are warriors who have grown up around much bloodshed, turning them into harsh parents. While Kratos isn’t the stoic father he was in God of War, Thor also seems to be trying to be a better father. We learn throughout Ragnarok that he was particularly brutal with his late sons Magni and Modi and, as a result, stopped drinking and became more protective over his daughter Thrúd. Like Kratos, however, he became almost too protective. 

By the end of Ragnarok, Thor realizes (with Kratos and Atreus’ assistance) that his remaining child is more important than the anger and grief he clings to. Thrúd is capable of becoming a Valkyrie, and it’s up to him to protect both her and his wife from Odin’s tyranny. It’s a move that costs him his life, but it’s heartwarming to see him stand up for what he believes in. What’s more, if you explore a bit after the game’s ending, you’ll find Thrúd taking up Mjölnir herself.

Freya

It’s not just Thor who learns to let go of anger. When we first start Ragnarok, Freya is hellbent on revenge against Kratos for killing her son Baldur (even though he was going to kill her first). Eventually, she agrees to let go of her vendetta temporarily to work with Kratos and Atreus to take down their real enemy: her ex-husband Odin. She calls a truce with Kratos until Odin is dead, agreeing she can kill the Spartan afterward if she so chooses. She doesn’t, however, nor does she choose to kill Odin when it comes to the crunch. More death won’t bring back Baldur. Instead, Freya chooses to join Kratos on his adventures and she seems much happier for it. 

Mimir

Mimir mostly provides comic relief in God of War but, in Ragnarok, we find out about some of his (quite dark) past mistakes. Back when his head was still attached to his body, the smartest man alive assisted Odin in some pretty atrocious acts, including chaining up an innocent creature and majorly screwing over the dwarves. While Mimir’s story isn’t the focus of the main story, several of Ragnarok’s side quests delve into Mimir’s mistakes. Unfortunately, they can’t all be fixed. It’s nice, then, to see him reunited with his love before Ragnarok before continuing to journey with his friends.

Sindri

Oh Sindri. Poor Sindri. Ragnarok wasn’t particularly kind to our favorite nervous dwarf. Ragnarok began with Sindri assisting Atreus in his sneaky adventures, with the pair becoming extremely close. But after Brok is killed by Odin, the dwarf’s grief fills him with fury towards his teenage friend. Brok’s death wasn’t necessarily Atreus’ fault, but try telling Sindri that. Even after the game’s true ending, it’s unclear what the future holds for Sindri, who now isolates himself in Týr’s abandoned temple.

Angrboda

We’re pretty sure we’re going to see Angrboda again. After all, in Norse mythology, she’s Loki’s wife. Ragnarok certainly seems to set her up as a romantic interest with the hormone-fuelled Atreus, so we imagine that she’ll make an appearance in his future adventures.

God of War Ragnarok ending: what's next?

We know that God of War Ragnarok marks the end of the series’ Norse saga but what isn’t clear is where it goes next. God of War has already explored both Greek and Norse mythology but, with so many mythoi out there, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the theme might be next – if there is one. 

What the end of Ragnarok does hint at, however, is that Atreus could be the main protagonist of a future entry. After all, when we see him last he is heading off to find the giants by himself. Perhaps he is the next God of War? Kratos’ journey does seem to have come to a conclusion at the end of Ragnarok. This is just speculation, however, and we could well see us picking up with Kratos another few years down the line when an adult Atreus has returned from his journey. With Death not having earned Kratos quite yet, anything is possible.

• These are the best PS5 games you can play right now

Wondering if there’s a God of War Ragnarok true ending to unlock? There absolutely is and it’s not one you’ll want to miss.

God of War had a secret ending that saw Kratos and Atreus visited by the electrifying Thor after returning to their home in Midgard – hinting at what was to come in the sequel. So we expected God of War Ragnarok would have one too. And we weren’t disappointed. 

God of War Ragnarok’s true ending takes place after the initial credits scroll you see when Ragnarok’s main questline is finished. This first credit scroll appears over gameplay, but the real ending cutscene is followed by a proper credits screen. 

Read on for how to unlock the God of War Ragnarok true ending, and make sure to check out our God of War Ragnarok ending explainer for an in-depth look at the main questline’s final chapter.

There are major spoilers for God of War Ragnarok ahead, so proceed with caution.

 How to unlock the God of War Ragnarok true ending 

Once you finish The Realms at War chapter, and watch what appears to be the final cutscene, credits will begin to roll over gameplay as Kratos, Freya, and Mimir make their way back through Hoddmimis Holt. 

Like me, you may be tempted to head back to Midgard, to Kratos and Atreus’ house, in search of the true ending – after all, that’s where it was in God of War. However, all you’ll find there are some mementos Atreus left on the table from his own journey.

Instead, visit Lúnda at a dwarven workshop in any of the realms (she’s taken over from Brok and Sindri). She tells Kratos that there’s a memorial planned for Brok at Raeb’s tavern in Svartalfheim if he, Mimir, and Freya wish to pay their respects to the late dwarf. This starts the Favor ‘ A Viking Funeral’.

Head to the tavern in Svartalfheim, the closest mystic gateways are Niðavellir or Niðavellir West. When you get there, you’ll see Brok laid out on a table while Lúnda (she moves fast), Durlin, and others reminisce about him – Sindri, Brok’s brother, is notably absent. After listening to the others tell their stories, a cutscene will trigger that sees Kratos, Mimir, and Freya individually paying their respects to the slain dwarf. 

Final goodbyes will be said to Brok at Sverd Sands, so make your way over there next. Take one of the nearby mystic gateways to Aurvangar Wetlands and then take the pully ferry nearby (not a boat) across the water. It’s the same ferry you used when you broke pretend Týr out of his prison earlier in the game. 

Meet up with the party and the God of War Ragnarok true ending cutscene will begin (I won’t spoil exactly what happens here). When it’s over, you will get the real credits screen, after which you’re able to continue exploring the realms.

• These are the best PS5 games available right now

2022 hasn’t been an especially great year for AAA games, with many of the year’s most anticipated releases delayed into 2023 or beyond. Two notable exceptions, however, came by way of PlayStation exclusives Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok – debuting in February and November, respectively. Predictably for new releases in such popular, acclaimed franchises, both games were met with considerable excitement from gamers and sales results to match.

But for me, Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok do more than just sit at opposite ends of 2022’s release calendar, with the pair also sitting on opposite sides of a particularly thorny problem that continues to plague so many modern AAA games – an overabundance of ‘content’.  

We’ve all heard the expression 'size isn’t everything'. More than just a saying though, these three words are a particularly handy lesson that many of today’s AAA game developers would do well to learn – and a lesson Horizon: Forbidden West in particular failed to heed.

The size problem

Loading into Horizon: Forbidden West, it doesn’t take long for players to take note of how exceptionally expansive this world is. As an ambitious imagining of a post-apocalyptic Western United States, there is a lot of setting you’re tasked with digesting when stepping into Aloy’s shoes for her latest adventure. 

To the credit of developer Guerrilla Games, the setting of Horizon: Forbidden West looks undeniably gorgeous. From swamps to deserts, ruined cities to tropical beaches, Forbidden West does a valiant job of catching the eye. And if a game were judged solely on the way it looked, this year’s discussion of candidates for Game of the Year would almost certainly look a little different than it currently does.

But for all its size, Forbidden West suffers due to its falling into a problematic habit increasingly found almost everywhere you look with modern AAA game releases. In theory, the idea that a game is bigger and therefore longer to play through sounds good, but in reality bigger and longer are not efficient measures of quality when it comes to video games. If a game’s size is prioritized over substance that is worth remembering or sticking around for, that game will ultimately become repetitive, predictable and ultimately boring.

Unfortunately for Horizon: Forbidden West, it ticks all of these boxes, and by the time it ends it feels as though it has far outstayed its welcome.

Horizon isn’t alone in suffering this problem, of course, with the preoccupation of size over substance having become a recurring problem for AAA games over at least the last decade. Franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry have become particularly notorious for it, while recent releases like Dying Light 2 and Saints Row are other examples of games to suffer from the issue. 

Even the latest Halo game fell prey to the size over substance issue, with the single-player campaign for Halo Infinite arguably the most forgettable experience of the entire franchise even as it dipped its toes in the waters of open-world (and despite reportedly cutting its original world size by two thirds).

The substance solution

As a direct example of how to avoid the size problem plaguing AAA games, newly released GOTY candidate God of War: Ragnarok has emerged as a valuable demonstration of how to populate a game world in a way that provides a more fulfilling overall playthrough. The way that Ragnarok manages to commit itself to prioritizing substance over size alone allows it to present players with what is a balanced and ultimately memorable experience.

It isn’t that Ragnarok especially lacks size, either. It's not the kind of tight, linear game of yesteryear which might take only 8-10 total hours to complete, even when accounting for side quests and collectibles. The world of Ragnarok is generously sized and features a diverse variety of biomes not all too different to what Horizon: Forbidden West does. The crucial difference between Ragnarok and Horizon, however, is how the Kratos-led adventure populates its game world compared to its PlayStation stablemate.

The characters of God of War: Ragnarok are probably the most meaningful place to start when discussing the substance that allows the game to so effectively stand out. Kratos and Atreus as primary leads carry on with the winning dynamic that they demonstrated in the franchise’s previous title – even if there is much less “boy” this time around. And as with its predecessor, at any moment when it seems as if Kratos’ gruffness might tip over into the territories of feeling forced or needlessly annoying, Kratos’ supporting cast (or even one of his many mythical foes) will step in to right the ship. 

Naturally for a title with such memorable and enjoyable characters, the story of God of War is also a highlight (as it has truthfully been with most of the franchise’s titles). Drawing on the mysticism and drama of authentic mythology, Ragnarok’s story is well-developed and thought out, in turn encouraging players to see the story through. The game’s main and side quests never feel overly repetitive, the puzzles are varied enough to not outstay their welcome (even if sometimes too simplistic) and there’s layers of additional non-essential lore that a player can choose to engage or not engage with at their leisure.

The combined might of all of these elements is what allows God of War: Ragnarok to stand out, with a game world that players actually want to exist in. The comparative lack of substance like this, meanwhile, is what leads Horizon: Forbidden West and the many other games guilty of similar sins to become forgettable at best – or frustratingly dull at worst.

Another of 2022’s Game of the Year candidates, Elden Ring, is yet another example of how substance can allow a game to stand out both through a first playthrough and long afterwards. That FromSoftware’s latest manages to achieve this while providing players with such a generously sized game world might be what allows it to ultimately edge out God of War: Ragnarok for Game of the Year honors, but both should serve as valuable examples for AAA game developers to learn from.

Following the map to AAA treasure island

To say it plainly, a game’s size is rarely – if ever – what makes a game memorable, let alone good. In fact, one might argue that the larger a game is in size, the greater chance there is that it will fail to deliver on sufficient substance. That’s certainly the case with Horizon: Forbidden West, where in-game fields of empty desert so often feel like rendered reminders of how little the game offers in terms of memorability and overall value.

Every corner of the world in God of War: Ragnarok, by comparison, feels genuinely vibrant and worthwhile. Even the unplayable areas I’ve encountered manage to capture the attention and spark a curiosity to know what it is that I might be missing. This is because the world of Ragnarok feels alive with substance, benefitting from how it has been populated with variety, character and an overall commitment to understanding what makes a game truly great.

I know which game I’ll remember most fondly a year from now, and it’s certainly not the one with the bigger package.

• Catch up on our pick for 2022's gaming tech of the year award

God of War Ragnarok is a masterclass in perfectly pitched ambition. The highly anticipated sequel to 2018’s God of War takes the threads from its predecessor and weaves them into a layered tapestry of emotive storytelling and brutality befitting the next chapter of Kratos and Atreus’ journey. 

But it’s in its subtleties that Ragnarok truly shines. Whether it’s in the subtext that’s carefully laid throughout the narrative like breadcrumbs or the understated, but welcome, advancements to combat and gameplay, Ragnarok proves that a sequel doesn’t need to be excessive to be compelling.

God of War Ragnarok firmly embedded its blades into me, leaving me enraptured from start to finish and desperate to talk about when it ended – and probably for some time to come.

Fire and ice

God of War Ragnarok picks up several years after the events of its predecessor. Where Fimbulwinter’s icy grasp was creeping in at the end of God of War, now it has firmly taken hold of Midgard, leaving a blanket of heavy snow draped across Kratos and Atreus’ home realm. This harsh winter forbodes the coming of Ragnarok, a great battle that is prophesized to bring about the destruction of the Nine Realms.

But it’s not just Midgard that has changed since God of War. Atreus is now a teenager, more self-sufficient and confident than he was as the boy we knew. Kratos, too, is more trusting of his half-giant son, though he has ramped up Atreus’ training in recent years in preparation for the prophesized war of the realms. As with all teenagers, however, Atreus is on a mission to explore his identity. In particular, how his role as Loki of the Giants fits into it. In his search, he comes across a prophecy that could tilt the outcome of the looming Ragnarok in their favor. With the wise-cracking Mimir at Kratos’ hip, and his father’s newfound trust putting fuel in Atreus’ belly, they begin a journey that will put their relationship to the ultimate test.

Ragnarok builds on the narrative foundations laid by God of War with finesse, capturing the intricacies of the (often turbulent) relationships between parents and children and the struggle of finding your own place in the world. It never batters you over the head with its themes, however, instead giving them room to breathe throughout the course of the game’s roughly 25+ hour main story path before building to an epic conclusion that is the culmination of every sprinkled breadcrumb along the way. 

Draugr demolishing duo

It’s not simply in the narrative that Kratos and Atreus’ relationship is reflected, it’s in the gameplay and combat too. In Ragnarok, the father and son are partners. Throughout their journey, Atreus’ input is critical. Kratos will require him to shoot a runic arrow at a particularly dense bush concealing a chest, for example, so that the Spartan can then sink his Blades of Chaos into the runic-enhancing purple ring it leaves, burning away the troublesome foliage. 

In battle, while Atreus will get stuck into Draugrs and Hel-Walkers by himself, you can also command him to shoot arrows at specific enemies and even have him unleash animal-related special abilities, such as summoning a rampaging Ibex to thrash through enemies. If you’re lucky, the long-horned goat will stun an enemy, allowing you to unleash a devastating attack that sees you tear off one of their limbs. 

Both Atreus and Kratos have a range of new abilities, and their skill trees feel thoroughly fleshed out. The demi-god teenager no longer feels like an add-on, he has a wide range of skills at his disposal. Likewise, Kratos' skill trees for his Blades of Chaos and Leviathan Axe have been expanded, though there is no longer a skill tree available for his shield.

Evolution

The removal of the shield skill tree is an example of Sony Santa Monica elegantly streamlining God of War’s systems. Sequels can often become overwhelmed with new systems and features, but God of War Ragnarok’s feel like an organic evolution of what came before.

For example, Ragnarok introduces the Amulet of Yggdrasil to Kratos’ arsenal, which can hold up to nine different enchantments, each offering a different type of buff. While some improve the Spartan's runic abilities, others may improve stats like vitality, it’s up to you what you slot in. With so many slots, you can construct starkly different builds to fit your combat style. This seemingly replaces the armor runes feature from the previous game, which is no longer available but is quickly forgotten thanks to the new system.

This doesn’t mean that weapon runes have been disposed of. All weapons and armor can still be upgraded by the dwarves Brok and Sindri, and you can add an attachment to each weapon as well as separate runes for a light and heavy runic attack – all of which are upgradeable, too. Atreus doesn’t get access to these runes, and his armor choice is solely cosmetic, but he does have his own buffs in the form of accessories, which allow you to hone his playstyle more to your own.

That really seems to be the purpose of these evolutions: to carve out your Kratos and Atreus. Every player is given the same weapons, but it’s the enchantments, runes, and accessories that hold the nuance. I just wish that traveling between realms had been given the same treatment. Unfortunately, running along the path between the realms remains irritating as it slows the game’s pace and almost feels like a hidden loading screen – not even the chit chats between characters can make it more tolerable.

House of Axe

God of War Ragnarok made me laugh, smile, and cry – the latter was especially true when I encountered two game-breaking bugs during my playthrough (which Sony has since addressed in a chunky pre-launch patch). 

Ragnarok wouldn’t have had this effect on me had it not been for how its predecessor painted the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. After journeying to the highest point in the Nine Realms with the pair, I’m absorbed in them, oftentimes recognizing my own teenage frustrations in Atreus, yet being old enough to relate with Kratos’ fears for his son.

Sony Santa Monica had its own peak to climb in making the sequel to one of PlayStation’s most revered releases. Fortunately, smart decisions, riveting characters, and subtle but discernible improvements make for an almost perfect sequel. 

With God of War Ragnarok, Sony Santa Monica seamlessly weaves together the brutality of the original series with the emotive threads spun by its own revival. It’s done so beautifully, never letting ambition exceed the needs of its story  – and what a story it is. God of War Ragnarok is a fitting end to the series’ Norse saga and one I’ll be thinking about for some time.

• These are the best PS5 games you can play right now

He hasn’t said it yet. The seconds roll into minutes into hours, and at just over seven hours in, I hit the stop button on my iPhone’s timer. My God of War Ragnarok preview period has drawn to a close, and not once in that time did Kratos say the word I’d been expecting to hear. Not once has he called his son Atreus, “Boy”. 

The grumbling God of War’s insistence on referring to Atreus by the infantilizing term became a meme when Sony released God of War back in 2018, so the TRG team thought it would be funny for me to run a ‘Time to Boy’ stopwatch as part of my early impressions playthrough of the sequel. Its purpose was simple: how long does it take for Kratos to say “Boy”. 

I expected to run the timer for maybe about 30 minutes, an hour at a push, but after a few hours with Ragnarok, Kratos’ silence speaks volumes – it’s purposeful and marks a meaningful change: Atreus isn’t a ‘Boy’ anymore. 

Spoilers for God of War (2018) and the first few hours of God of War Ragnarok ahead.

Reaping the fruits

In God of War (2018), Sony Santa Monica beautifully captures the turbulent relationship between demigod Kratos and his young son Atreus, as both struggle to come to terms with the death of wife and mother Faye. The cold, battle-hardened Kratos grapples with the balance between his past as a rage-filled warrior and his new role as a father, and Atreus is caught in the middle.

At the start of God of War, Kratos parents as if he’s training a soldier, he gives orders and expects them to be followed without question. Through the story, we see Kratos soften, and find a balance between who he was and who he is as a parent. By the time the pair scatter Faye’s ashes at the end of the game, father and son have a mutual respect that seemed unachievable when they began their journey.

God of War Ragnarok sees Kratos and Atreus’ relationship reap the fruits of that journey. Picking up a few years after the events of the previous game, Ragnarok presents a more mature and capable Atreus alongside what appears to be a considerably more laid-back Kratos. The short-tempered dad even lets his son lead some of the game’s early missions, such as tracking down Norse God of War Tyr, hoping he can aid them when Ragnarok comes. In these early examples, Kratos places his skepticism of the expeditions, and Atreus’ reasoning for them, to one side: he trusts his son.

Where Atreus once needed help with damn near everything, he’s now pretty self-sufficient and a valuable asset to Kratos rather than a hindrance. Previously shying away from battle, Atreus now enthusiastically gets stuck in alongside his father, allowing you to tag team enemies in a meaningful way. As in the first game, he will fire arrows at your request, but now he’s more inclined to get up close and personal with Draugrs, and he can even fire stunning Sonic arrows that allow Kratos to deliver a devastating final blow. The pair are more of a team this time.

L8er Boi

With Atreus now a teenager, the respect built between father and son in the previous game has grown. Kratos knows Atreus isn’t a young boy anymore and so, in what is perhaps the greatest mark of respect this particular father could give his son, he now refers to him by his name rather than simply as “Boy”. 

Emphasizing the change, while Kratos doesn’t say the word “Boy” in the early hours of God of War Ragnarok, it is said by a multitude of other characters. However, when Mimir and other characters say it, “boy” is a term of endearment. The word has taken on a new meaning, one of affection rather than humiliation.

In fact, it’s Atreus himself who first uses the word (around 10 minutes in) when soothing his pet wolf Fenrir. It’s a touching moment, seeing Atreus use it as a term of affection, but it takes on even greater significance when you consider the Norse myths Sony Santa Monica weaves into God of War.

At the end of the last game, we learn that Atreus is part giant and that his mother wanted to call him Loki. In Norse mythology, Fenrir the wolf is the son of trickster god Loki. And while Fenrir isn’t literally Atreus’ son, it’s significant that Atreus uses the term for his figurative son that his father Kratos used with him. Themes of parenting are central to God of War, with Kratos acutely aware (and often afraid) of what he is teaching Atreus. This moment with Fenrir confirms for us and Kratos that he taught his son to be a loving parent, like he himself is below all the bluster.

Like father, like son

Respect, however, is earned and unfortunately for our grizzly demigod, teenage Atreus is going through his mandatory rebellious phase. He’s testing the limits, sneaking out to shrines without Kratos’ knowledge and mocking his father with a cockiness reserved for teenage boys in locker rooms. 

We see then, this push and pull between Kratos and Atreus once more. Like any adolescent, Atreus is trying to grow up too fast, he’s carving out his place in the world and how he feels about it. He’s working out who he is and what he wants. And what he wants, it seems, is war with Asgard. Like father like son I guess. 

Atreus may not be a boy anymore, but he’s certainly not a man yet – and it’s up to Kratos to make sure he knows it.

• These are the best PS5 games you can play right now

The God of War Ragnarok Collector's Edition looks luxurious, especially the Mjolnir replica you can put on your desk. However, what exactly can we expect from the box set, and how much will it set you back? If you're planning to splash out on the collector's edition, we'll let you know exactly what you'll get for your hard-earned cash. 

God of War Ragnarok is imminent. Due to release on November 9, the series' latest installment is set to conclude the Norse saga and round out the current arc of Kratos' adventures. 

In God of War Ragnarok, Thor looks to be your main enemy, at least the credit scene at the end of the last game set him up in that way. Though the newer trailers have given significant air time to Freya, your ally turned enemy in God of War. 

I'm howling like a wolf in anticipation of the PS5 sequel. Like me, you may find yourself among those who want to celebrate God of War Ragnarok by getting your hands on as much glorious merch as possible. Fortunately, the Collector's Edition will allow you to do exactly that. Read on for a complete guide to pricing and what to expect in terms of both online and physical goodies. 

God of War Ragnarok collector's edition: all the details you need

God of War Ragnarok collector's edition: what's on offer

God of War Ragnarok's special editions comes in three flavors. In addition to the normal version, players can buy the Deluxe Digital Edition, as well as the Collector's Edition and the Jotnar Edition. Special editions can be found at retailers across the internet and on the Official PlayStation Store.

Digital Deluxe Edition

The PS5-only Digital Deluxe Edition comes with an assortment of extra digital content. It's available in the US, UK, and Australia for $79.99/ £80/ AU$139.95. Here's what you can get in that edition:

• Access to the game on both PS4 and PS5
• Darkdale Armor for Kratos
• A Darkdale Attire cosmetic for Atreus
• Darkdale Blades Handles for the Blades of Chaos
• Darkdale Axe Grip for the Leviathan Axe
• The God of War Ragnarok Digital Soundtrack
• A Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook
• PlayStation Avatar Set
• A God of War Ragnarok PlayStation Theme

Collector's Edition

The Collector's Edition is available in the US and UK for $199.99 /£179.99. Here's everything you'll get for your trouble: 

• Access to the game on both PS4 and PS5
• A steelbook display case
• A pair of two inch Vanir Twins Carvings in the same style as the carvings from the God of War (2018) collector's edition
• A set of Dwarven Dice
• A 16-inch Mjolnir Replica
• A Knowledge Keeper's Shrine to store all your goodies
• Everything in the digital deluxe edition

Jotnar Edition

The largest and most extravagant edition available to folks in the US and the UK. This glorious collection of God of War memorabilia will set you back $260/ £229.99. Here's what you'll get: 

• Access to the game on both PS4 and PS5
• A seven-inch vinyl record with music by the game's composer, Bear McCreary
• The Falcon, Bear, and Wolf pin sets. 
• The Legendary Draupnir Ring 
• Brok's Dice Set
• 16-inch Mjolnir Replica
• A cloth map of Yggdrasil 
• The Knowledge Keeper's Shrine
• All of the digital goodies available in the deluxe digital edition

Now you know exactly what to expect from all the different God of War Ragnarok special editions on offer. Though expensive, can I really say no to a literal Mjolnir? 

• Want to get the most out of your PS5? Here's out list of the best PS5 games.

God of War: Ragnarok will hand Kratos a bunch of new abilities to play with, including a couple of elemental super-moves and a selection of shields.

With God of War: Ragnarok only a couple of months from release, its developers have started filling us in on what we can expect from Kratos and Atreus' next adventure. Speaking to Game Informer, lead combat designers Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh said the dynamic duo has a few new toys to play with, filling in the gaps of the first God of War.

“In the last game, if you pressed triangle, you recalled the axe,” said Sheth. “But if you already had the axe, nothing happened. If you had the Blades of Chaos and you pressed triangle, you just went back to the axe. We looked at that concept and wondered, ‘What if you could do something a little bit different with that button – a whole new suite of moves.’”

You’ll have a couple of new elemental powers at your disposal, as Kratos infuses his Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos with ice and fire. In Ragnarok, pressing triangle will let you unleash a Weapon Signature Move, including the enemy-freezing Frost Awaken, and incinerating Whiplash abilities.

Protect yourself

You’ll also have several shields to choose from. While 2018’s God of War stuck Kratos with a single retractable shield, Ragnarok will let you pick between several bucklers to suit your playstyle.

The Dauntless Shield caters to fast parrying. If you successfully time a block, it will glow red, letting you unleash a powerful stun attack that throws neighboring enemies backward. You won’t be able to rely on it, though, as it will become unstable after absorbing successive hits. 

The Stonewall Shield, meanwhile, can’t be used for parrying at all and suits tankier fighters. It can soak up kinetic energy by absorbing enemy hits and, once fully charged, can be used to perform a ground attack that knocks enemies off their feet. Other shields will also be included, although the devs are keeping tight-lipped as to what they’ll look like.

Elsewhere in the interview, the designers mention that the game will test your mastery of its combat. Some areas will be repopulated with tougher enemies as you progress, and fans of the first game's Realm Tears can expect a similar level of challenge from optional side content.

God of War: Ragnarok is set to release on November 9 for PS5 and PS4. We expect to hear more about Kratos’s new god-butchering abilities closer to launch.

• A new PS5 model just dropped – but won't solve the console's biggest problem

Master Chief crosses the forbidden boundary to hop over to the PlayStation universe and step into the slightly smelly shoes of Kratos.

Since God of War landed on PC, it's been subject to the same hazing as all console titles that make the jump to the platform. And that includes falling victim to the Thomas the Tank Engine curse (something we talked to the real Fat Controller about).

Another popular trend is to swap in console exclusive characters. So we can all marvel at the spectacle of seeing a familiar platform mascot prancing around in a game they have no business being in. Like this mod from Marcos RC that swaps out Kratos for Halo's Master Chief and pits him against Doom Guy in a series of epic battles. You can get a taste of the brutal beat-down in the bite-sized snippet below, courtesy of shesaidshewaslvl18:    

Master of War

Marcos has created quite the collection of God of War mods, including swapping out Kratos for Shrek, and popping him in a handful of snazzy little numbers. Like Jill Valentine's signature outfit and just straight up underwear.  

Marcos' YouTube channel is filled with videos showcasing their handiwork. Doom Guy and Master Chief's grudge match has spanned three videos, with the final, full-length, 17-minute bout available to watch here. As a NSFW heads up, Freya is wearing a bikini that's defying the laws of physics to keep everything contained; yet simultaneously looks like it's about to fail in that endeavor at any second.

Thirsty Resident Evil Village fans may want to check out Lady Dimitrescu cosplaying as Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo. If you're under 18, I'd advise caution as Marcos' patreon page is age restricted. And while the content pales compared to what you might otherwise be freely able to access in this day and age, it's not suitable for you. So browse responsibly.

If Doom mods are more your style, the cute cat from Stray has been modded in to the game in place of Doom Guy. And there's already a ton of Stray mods, although we've yet to see Doom Guy or Thomas the Tank Engine make an appearance. Which is as unusual as it is disappointing, but will no doubt be remedied soon enough.  

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta dates are bad news for Xbox players

The first story details of God of War Ragnarok have been inadvertently revealed, confirming the game will feature all nine realms of Norse Mythology.

The PlayStation Store description of God of War Ragnarok was recently updated, giving us our best look yet at the upcoming sequel’s plot. While brief, it goes beyond the even briefer announcement trailer that was recently released (thanks, The Gamer).

“Fimbulwinter is well underway,” the description reads. “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.”

Elsewhere, the description suggests Ragnarok will pick up the main narrative thread left handing in the first. We’ll be helping Atreus as he “seeks knowledge to help him understand the prophecy of ‘Loki’ and establish his role in Ragnarok”. 

Sounds like there’ll also be plenty of father-son bonding time, too, as “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”.

New horizons

It sounds like Ragnarok is taking things up a notch. God of War only includes six of the nine Norse realms, and a handful of those are minor challenge areas rather than fully explorable worlds. 

Midgard, the mortal realm, serves as the game’s main explorable region. Alfheim, the home of the light and dark elves, is the second zone you enter. Muspelheim, the realm of fire, contains a series of arena challenges; while Niflheim includes the Mist Echoes labyrinth. You also promptly escape from Helheim, the Norse afterlife for those who die dishonorably; and visit Jotunheim in the game’s final moments.

It looks like God of War Ragnarok will complete the set. The final three realms are Asgard, Vanaheim, and Svartalfheim. Chief among those is Asgard – the home of the Aesir gods and the seat of power in Norse mythology. In many ways, it's the largest and central realm of them all, where the most well-known Aesir gods live. 

It’s divided into several regions of its own. Valhalla is ruled over by Odin, so we could end up entering the golden hall. Bilskírnir, meanwhile, serves as the seat of Thor, who’s already confirmed to be appearing in the game.

Vanaheim is also important. It’s the homeland of the Vanir gods, a sorcerous pack of deities who were once at war with the Aesir. Freya – who’s set up to be Ragnarok’s chief antagonist – belongs to them. According to God of War’s lore, she was cursed by Odin to prevent her from leaving Midgard, but we might spend a fair bit of time in Vanaheim given its importance in the Aesir-Vanir conflict.

Finally, Svartalfheim is the homeland of the dwarves. Although it received little mention in the first game, Brok and Sindri – the two dwarven blacksmiths who help you – are returning in this next installment. Maybe they’ll let us in.

There are still a lot of questions, including how much of these realms we’ll see. It’s likely we’ll get to explore a new area of Midgard, and maybe even return to Kratos’ woodland home. Here’s hoping we can delve into Muspelheim and Niflheim more than the first game allowed.

• Assassin's Creed looks to be returning to Middle East in its next game

God of War Ragnarok's release date was reportedly going to be revealed today. But there's been a change in plans.

That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who says a God of War Ragnarok update was on the cards for today. According to a tweet he put out earlier today, "as of very recently, there was indeed a release date announcement planned for Thursday, June 30." 

This is according to sources that are allegedly familiar with the situation. But the game's director, Cory Barlog, has said otherwise on Twitter. Something Schreier acknowledges in his tweet.

Is God of War Ragnarok delayed

Barlog has unequivocally confirmed that no, God of War Ragnarok hasn't been delayed. At worst, the release date announcement, which might have been for today, was pushed back. This Twitter exchange between Barlog and a fan sums it up for you.

It's on track for its 2022 release, so for the love of God, just be patient. And stop asking devs about the launch date, is the takeaway from Twitter today. They don't enjoy being harassed.

Sony must have its fingers crossed that God of War Ragnarok will make it out before the end of the year. While we're waiting on big releases for the Xbox Series X, especially after Starfield's delay into 2023, at Sony's last State of Play you really for the sense that the PS5 was treading water.

God of War has become the latest PC game to get the benefit of AMD’s FSR 2.0 tech.

The hit PlayStation port just got support for FSR 2.0 with a fresh patch (v1.0.12), which means those going the FSR route for frame rate boosting will get much better results.

As the patch notes state: “FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 has been implemented and is now available as a resolution-scaling option within the display settings menu.”

That’s good news not just for God of War players running AMD graphics cards in their PCs, but also some Nvidia GPU owners.

While the PC port already has support for DLSS 2.0, if you’re running a non-RTX Nvidia graphics card, FSR 2.0 will also be able to weave its upscaling magic and speed up your frame rates.

That’s one of the major strengths of AMD’s FSR compared to DLSS, namely that it’s an open standard, though note that with older Nvidia GPUs – and AMD ones for that matter – the results might be disappointing.

You need a reasonably fast and modern graphics card to get the best from FSR 2.0, and AMD recommends at least a Radeon RX 590 or Nvidia GTX 1070 as a baseline (for 1080p upscaling – as you might imagine, upscaling to 4K will be more demanding still, calling for an RX 5700 or RTX 2070).

Analysis: A big leap forward

God of War already had FSR 1.0 support, of course, but the sequel tech introduces temporal upscaling for seriously superior results in terms of the final upscaled image near-matching the native resolution for quality.

Nvidia DLSS already used temporal upscaling to great effect (with AI thrown into the bargain), and with FSR 2.0 making this move, AMD has very much closed the gap between the two frame rate boosting features – which is great to see (particularly because as mentioned, Nvidia GTX cards can benefit from FSR too).

FSR 2.0 is still very much in its early days, though, and God of War is only the third game to support it, following the frame rate boosting tech being introduced to Deathloop at launch three weeks ago, and then Farming Simulator 2022 just over a week back.

So, it’s still a relative trickle of games in this first month of FSR 2.0’s existence, but we can hope for more supported titles coming soon enough.

• Here’s why God of War PC is so good, it could make God of War: Ragnarok on PS5 even better

Via Eurogamer

Amazon and Sony are currently in negotiations to develop a live-action television series based on the epic PlayStation franchise God of War, according to an exclusive report from Deadline.

The God of War TV show is reportedly being developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, creators and executive producers of The Expanse, along with Rafe Judkins, executive producer and showrunner of The Wheel of Time.

It's expected that the God of War series will act as the latest collaboration between Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions, which are currently working together on HBO's The Last of Us adaptation and Peacock's newly announced Twisted Metal series.

Analysis: what to expect from the God of War TV show

Originally set in Ancient Greece, the mythology-based God of War video game series launched on PlayStation 2 back in 2005. It followed Kratos, a Spartan warrior on a quest for bloody revenge after being tricked into killing his own family by the Greek god of war Ares.

After a run of hugely successful games, the series would eventually take a hard turn away from Greek mythology in 2018, kicking off a new era of the God of War franchise that saw Kratos take another stab at fatherhood in a Norse setting, while trading Zeus for Odin in the process.

The game sees Kratos and his young son Atreus set out on a journey to spread the ashes of Kratos' recently deceased wife and Atreus' mother at the highest peak of the nine realms.

Although Kratos' story began in Ancient Greece, it's our opinion that Amazon's TV adaptation of God of War will more than likely choose to explore Kratos' time in the Norse wilds for a number of reasons.

As great as the original games were, Kratos transformed from a rage-fueled killing machine into a more fully realized character with 2018's God of War, showing depths of emotion that the original games never even attempted to reach.

This is due in large part to the dramatically potent relationship between Kratos and his young son Atreus, which we think would translate extremely well to a television series.

We also believe a Norse setting would be more realistic from a logistical and budgetary standpoint, requiring far less resources in terms of set design and visual effects than if the show were set in Ancient Greece. If anything, we imagine the show would rather just visit Kratos' first era through flashbacks. 

Of course, this is all speculation from our side at this point. We won't know for sure until the series is officially announced by Amazon, which we imagine will occur any day now.

• God of War: Ragnarok everything we know so far

God of War: Ragnarok is easily one of 2022's most anticipated titles. It continues the rebooted God of War series, which now follows Kratos and his son Atreus. The setting is still firmly rooted in Norse mythology, with Kratos set to battle Thor himself as he makes his way across the nine realms.

The biggest change this time around is that God of War Ragnarok will launch on PS5, meaning upgraded visuals and performance when compared to God of War (2018). Not only that, but there's more enemy variety, and a refined combat system that puts extra focus on shields and guarding. 

Now that we're so close to release, there's even previews to read. These give an idea as to the opening hours of the game, and help you get a feel for what this sequel will hold for Kratos and Atreus. 

To help keep you in the loop in the run up to launch, you'll find this page updated with the latest news on God of War Ragnarok, as well as some details on gameplay, the likelihood of a PC port, and more.

God of War: Ragnarok: cut to the chase 

• What is it? The sequel to the critically-acclaimed God of War (2018)
• When can I play it? November 9, 2022
• What can I play it on? PS5 and PS4

God of War: Ragnarok release date and platforms

God of War: Ragnarok launches on November 9, 2022 on PS5 and PS4, following a delay from its initial 2021 release window.

Before this update from PlayStation Blog, Ragnarok had been the subject of much  speculation. PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst then confirmed the delay in a PlayStation Blog interview in June 2021, stating that the sequel was being pushed into 2022 to give the team at Sony Santa Monica more time following disruption caused by the pandemic.

Following this, many later believed God of War: Ragnarok had been pushed back into 2023 too, but the June 2022 update thankfully revealed otherwise. Assuming there's no last minute delays, the launch is finally in sight for this much anticipated sequel. 

God of War: Ragnarok trailers

Story trailer
In September 2022 State of Play, Santa Monica Studio and PlayStation released the official story trailer for God of War: Ragnarok, giving us glimpses at the struggles Kratos and Atreus will face as well as some fresh gameplay footage.

Father and Son Cinematic Trailer
Upon revealing Ragnarok's release date, Sony also released a short new trailer. Lasting for only 30 seconds, this gives us a quick look at Kratos and Atreus, fighting alongside each other. You can watch that below: 

Reveal trailer
We finally got a proper trailer for God of War: Ragnarok at the PlayStation Showcase 2021 that gave us gameplay and cinematic footage of what we'll be faced with when it releases. The combat looks just as devastatingly violent as we'd expect, and the new announcement also confirmed that we will indeed be facing Ragnarok – a series of events and catastrophes that ultimately lead to the end of the world according to Norse mythology.

Teaser trailer
Previously we had been shown a brief teaser for God of War: Ragnarok right at the end of Sony's live stream event in September 2020. All it showed was a brief logo and the words "Ragnarok is coming".

God of War: Ragnarok editions and pre-order bonuses

God of War: Ragnarök pre-orders are now open and PlayStation has confirmed that there are four different editions up for grabs so let’s dig into what they are and what they offer below. 

Pre-order bonus
First off, let’s cover the pre-order bonus. If you pre-order any edition of God of War: Ragnarök you’ll receive a voucher code to download two digital bonuses: the Kratos Risen Snow Armor and the Atreus Risen Snow Tunic.

Standard Edition
The Standard Edition, as you’d expect, offers you the full game on PS4 or PS5 and nothing more (unless you pre-order, in which case you’re getting those pre-order bonuses). If you order the PS4 version of the game and decide you want to upgrade to PS5 later, then that’s going to cost an additional $10. 

Digital Deluxe Edition
As a step up from the Standard Edition of the game, there’s the Digital Deluxe Edition which offers a little more in the way of bonuses. These are as follows:

• Full God of War Ragnarök game on PS4 and PS5
• Kratos Darkdale Armor
• Atreus Darkdale Attire 
• Darkdale Blades Handles for the Blades of Chaos
• Darkdale Axe Grip for the Leviathan Axe
• Official God of War Ragnarök Digital Soundtrack
• Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook
• Avatar Set
• PlayStation 4 Theme

Collector’s Edition
Now we’re starting to get into the truly shiny stuff. The Collector’s Edition of the game comes in a box that represents the Knowledge Keeper’s Shrine and in it you’ll find the following physical items:

• A printed voucher code for the full God of War Ragnarök game on PS4 and PS5
• A Steelbook Display Case, though it doesn’t have a game disc included
• 2” Vanir Twins Carvings – In the same style as Atreus’ wooden toy carvings of the Huldra Brothers from the God of War (2018) Collector’s Edition, therefore completing the set
• Dwarven Dice Set
• 16” Mjölnir Replica

It also has the following digital items, with some unlocked via story progression:

• Kratos Darkdale Armor
• Atreus Darkdale Attire (cosmetic)
• Darkdale Blades Handles for the Blades of Chaos
• Darkdale Axe Grip for the Leviathan Axe
• Official God of War Ragnarök Digital Soundtrack
• Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook
• Avatar Set
• PlayStation 4 Theme

Jötnar Edition
Finally, there’s the Jötnar Edition which includes “a premium selection of items designed with care” by the team at Santa Monica Studios. The contents of the box for this edition are as follows:

• Printed voucher code for the full God of War Ragnarök game PS4 and PS5
• 7-Inch Vinyl Record with music by Bear McCreary
• The Falcon, Bear, and Wolf Pin Set
• The Legendary Draupnir Ring in a red cloth bag
• Brok’s Dice Set
• Yggdrasil Cloth Map showing each of the Nine Realms within the branches and roots of Yggdrasil
• A Steelbook Display Case without a game disc
• 2” Vanir Twins Carvings
• 16” Mjölnir Replica

It also comes with the same selection of digital items as the Collector's Edition. You can see an official unboxing of the Collector’s and Jötnar Editions below:

God of War: Ragnarok story and setting

God of War: Ragnarok is a sequel to God of War (2018) and the final entry in the series' Norse saga. 

An update to the PlayStation Store in July 2022 has given us our best look yet at the game's plot. “Fimbulwinter is well underway,” the description reads. “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.”

Elsewhere, the description suggests Ragnarok will pick up the main narrative thread left hanging in the first. We’ll be helping Atreus as he “seeks knowledge to help him understand the prophecy of ‘Loki’ and establish his role in Ragnarok”. 

God of War: Ragnarok won't just expand on Atreus and Kratos' relationship, it'll also expand in terms of setting. This time around, players are going to be able to visit all nine realms, including "the previously unreachable Vanaheim, Svartalfheim, and Asgard – as well as to new areas from locations featured in the last game. Exploring the realms will take you everywhere from verdant, otherworldly jungles to intricate subterranean mining networks."

Chief among these new realms is Asgard – the home of the Aesir gods and the seat of power in Norse mythology. In many ways, it's the largest and central realm of them all, where the most well-known Aesir gods live. 

It’s divided into several regions of its own. Valhalla is ruled over by Odin, so we could end up entering the golden hall. Bilskírnir, meanwhile, serves as the seat of Thor, who’s already confirmed to be appearing in the game.

There are still some questions, including how much of these realms we’ll see. It’s likely we’ll get to explore a new area of Midgard, and maybe even return to Kratos’ woodland home. We're hoping we can delve into Muspelheim and Niflheim more than the first game allowed.

God of War: Ragnarok gameplay

As far as gameplay is concerned, it's pretty natural that God of War: Ragnarok's combat will be of utmost importance to many fans of the series.  

According to a post on the official PlayStation Blog in September 2021, combat will be more "visceral" and include "spectacular" fights, with "new attack abilities, a new Runic Summon for Atreus, and of course, the return of Kratos’ legendary weapons." Santa Monica Studio says it's taken learnings from 2018's God of War to improve combat, with the aim of creating more player choice:

"Whether it’s through hard-hitting combos, a mastery of elements, or clever defensive tactics – you will find plenty of opportunity to fight alongside our duo in a way that feels uniquely expressive."

In an interview with Game Informer in August 2022, lead combat designers Mihir Sheth and Denny Yeh said that the combat revolves around the idea that “Kratos plays with his food”. Sheth said that the team “tried to create systems you want to engage with that are fun, very playful, lots of different routes. And when we looked at the combat in the last game, we were like, ‘We can push this further; we can find new toys and ways of playing with enemies and strategies.’ That’s been the guiding principle more than anything else.”

As part of that, the previously under utilized triangle button has been given a new purpose. The button is getting a whole new set of attacks called “Weapon Signature Moves”. Depending on whether you’ve got the Leviathan Axe or the Blades of Chaos equipped, Kratos will “infuse the sharpened steel with ice or fire” to use extra-damage elemental moves called “Frost Awaken” and “Whiplash”.

Ragnarok will also offer players a little more variety when it comes to the shields that can be used, according to director, Eric Williams, in an interview with God of War YouTuber Jon Ford. 

When Ford pointed out that in a recent trailer there are moments where it looks like Kratos’ Guardian Shield has a different design and Kratos is using it in different ways, Williams said this was true and that while he didn’t “want to go too deep on it”, the game will have “different shields, and they have different defensive options and abilities.“ 

The reason for this, William explained, is because he and the team at Santa Monica Studio “really want to open up expressive choice to the way that you build your Kratos, like the equipment and loadout and things like that."

This, Williams added, goes “all the way down to the defense, so you can kind of play a little differently and enemies know how to respond to that, or force you into these different situations where you need to use different things. I think it’ll be fun for players to explore that but also we want it to be more expressive, you know, your choices matter when you set him up.”

Santa Monica Studio has also revealed that God of War Ragnarok retains accessibility features from God of War (2018) and adds new ones, allowing for more than 60 ways for players to adjust gameplay. 

"Not only have we redesigned our UI to allow for more flexibility and readability, but we have also rebuilt controller remapping from the ground up and added more customization to our combat and interaction systems," a PlayStation Blog post revealed.

Some of the new accessibility features include improvements to subtitles and captions, an abundance of text and icon size options and a new high-color contrast mode.

God of War: Ragnarok news and rumors

Photo Mode coming post-launch
Sony Santa Monica has confirmed via a Tweet that the Photo Mode for God of War: Ragnarok will not be available at launch. No release date was given.

Previews have dropped!
Now that God of War: Ragnarok has been released to members of the press for review, previews have started to go live. They are generally spoiler-free, but take care when searching for them if you'd like to go in completely fresh.  You can read our God of War: Ragnarok preview here.

Limited edition DualSense
Ahead of the release of God of War: Rangarok, Sony has revealed a special, limited edition DualSense controller. In a blog post, PlayStation describes the two-tone controller as being “inspired by the Norse world of Midgard, further embellished with bear and wolf insignia – representing Kratos and Atreus.”

The controller will be available on November 9, with pre-orders beginning September 27.

File size?
It looks like God of War Ragnarok could be a hefty download for PS4 players, with the PlayStation Game Size twitter account reporting that it could come in at around 90.6 GB. 

That's pretty big – much bigger than 2018’s God of War – but given recent PlayStation exclusive Horizon Forbidden West was around 90 GB, it's not exactly unprecedented. This is, of course, not an officially announced file size and it should be noted that these things are subject to change. The PlayStation Game Size account itself notes that PKG sizes aren’t always accurate and that patches and regions can always change things too. 

God of War TV adaptation
Following a report from Deadline that a live-action adaptation of God of War could be in the works, SIE CEO Jim Ryan confirmed in a May Business Briefing Q&A (via GamesRadar) that the show is indeed in the works with Amazon Prime Video, though he had no further information to offer on it.

‘No idea’ about PC port, says Cory Barlog 
We’ve seen an increasing number of PlayStation exclusives ported to PC in recent years, including, very recently and very successfully, 2018’s God of War. However, in an interview with Game Informer,  Sony Santa Monica creative director Cory Barlog was unwilling to commit to the upcoming sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, getting the same treatment in a shorter timeframe than four years. 

“I have no idea,” Barlog said. “Right now, we’re taking it one game at a time, kind of looking at each one and determining, 'Okay, is this the best thing?' And we’ll gauge how it does. Do people enjoy it? Did we do it right? Is there anything we did wrong? What can we do better in the future if we do this again? But at the end of the day, ultimately, it’s Sony’s decision.”

Concluding the Norse saga 
Santa Monica Studios creative director, Cory Barlog, has confirmed in an interview that Ragnarok will conclude the Norse storyline that started with 2018’s God of War on PS4. Barlog explained that the main reason to conclude the Norse saga in God of War: Ragnarok was because of the long development time involved in making a modern God of War game. Between the five years taken to develop 2018's God of War and the four that will be spent on Ragnarok, the studio would rather the Norse storyline didn't run over nearly 15 years through a third game, as it’ll be “too stretched out.”

PS4 to PS5 upgrade fee - confirmed 
After the player outrage surrounding the confusing upgrade process for Horizon Forbidden West, Sony issued a statement detailing how it will allow players to upgrade from the PS4 version to the PS5 version of future titles.

It specifically named-checked God of War and said that you'll need to pay a $10 digital fee to get the enhanced PS5 version of the game if you already own the PS4 version. Now that the game's editions have been confirmed, we know that the upgrade fee does indeed apply to God of War: Ragnarok. 

• All the new PS5 games we have our eye on

Fancy playing God of War on the MacBook Air? Well, that’s possible, and indeed has been demonstrated by one Air owner, who posted a video of the game running online.

The video clip is from DueTry8342 on Reddit, and it shows the God of War PC version running via CrossOver on a MacBook Air M1 (2020), one of the first Apple laptops to use its own silicon (and this is the base model with 8GB of RAM).

For those not familiar, CrossOver is basically the Mac take on Wine for Linux, meaning it uses a compatibility layer to run Windows software or games on an Apple machine.

As you might guess, the graphics settings are on low, but it’s impressive to see that God of War runs mostly okay even on this relatively humble M1 MacBook, save for some nasty bouts of stuttering here and there.

Note that some of those commenting on the Reddit thread advise that updating DXVK (Vulkan-based translation layer) may help smooth things over more, as newer than version 1.9.3 has some optimizations for God of War.

Analysis: Running well already – and expect further optimization

As we’ve pointed out in the past, CrossOver (from CodeWeavers) is one of the better ways of running Windows games (or apps) on a Mac. However, folks have been trying to run the God of War PC version (Steam) via CrossOver before, and have encountered an error message preventing launch.

The Reddit post advises that the method used for running God of War was provided by Andrew Tsai, who published a YouTube tutorial which shows how to get round the aforementioned error. Essentially, the method involves manually editing the God of War EXE file, patching out its checks for the Windows operating system.

On Tsai’s M1 Max (backed with 32GB of RAM), the game runs “pretty well”, and you can see it generally hits between 35 and 50 fps (at 1080p, low settings again), with just the occasional stutter when new areas are loading. There are visual artifacts present sometimes and some audio glitches too, but far from anything game-breaking.

Considering this is a freshly released PC game, it’s pretty impressive to see it running like this on the Mac platform, and with further optimization work, Apple users may see it ticking along a good deal more smoothly (don’t forget what was said about updating DXVK above, of course). Playing via Parallels doesn’t work yet, by the way, and the above patching to avoid the error on launch fails to do the trick there.

• Here are the best gaming PCs

A Sony Santa Monica developer has said that it’s "awesome" that God of War now supports Xbox controllers via the PC version of the game. 

Speaking to Game Informer, senior manager of technical production Matt DeWald spoke about the new support for the Xbox controller on top of other gamepads, and how the PC version of God of War also changes the prompts to Xbox controller inputs.

"Awesome. We even put in all the glyphs for you so you don’t get confused by the button press," said Dewald. "Yeah, we have no problems with that. You can even use a Switch controller here as well. You can definitely use any of the third-party controllers. We tried to add as many options as possible because why limit people who want to play the game?"

God of War has seemingly gone down exceptionally well on PC, with whole new audiences now able to enjoy the adventures of Kratos and co. The port has also been extremely impressive, with TechRadar’s own Matt Hanson pleased with the game's performance at 8K. 

Analysis: why controller choice matters

While it’s a mild cultural shock to see Xbox inputs on a game so closely tied to the PlayStation brand, this kind of support is wonderful to see. Not least because it shows Sony developers care about bringing the game to more players, but also because it opens up a range of input methods for God of War. 

The Xbox brand, in particular, offers a ton of controller options for all sorts of players. There is of course the base controller, but it also supports the Xbox Wireless Elite Series 2 Controller - a premium controller that allows players to customize as they wish. Be that with remapping buttons to back paddles, a choice of six different thumbsticks, or a whole host of other interchangeable components. 

However, perhaps most importantly, this opens up the game to the Xbox Adaptive Controller, an input system meant for gamers with limited mobility. This means that God of War is now open to a community of disabled gamers, which is an enormous win.

It’s also nice that the Switch controller is also catered to, again, just making the game more accessible to more players. It’s exciting to see Sony push further in the PC space, as more and more titles from the back catalog open up to new audiences. 

The world of gaming has felt less and less segmented over the last five years. Microsoft has embraced the PC platform fully, more and more games have cross-play and cross-progression, and now even Sony, who initially seemed resistant to more open ecosystems, is relenting. It’s great to see these platforms become more open and developers embrace having their games available to more players. 

Here’s hoping Sony continues to embrace PC and other platforms. There are already signs that the PC Port is improving future titles for the better, so here’s hoping it creates a better ecosystem within the PlayStation brand itself.

• PS5 DualSense controller vs Xbox Wireless Controller

God of War lands on the PC today, and the port packs some nifty steps forward on the accessibility front – work which will be carried through to improve the incoming sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, on PlayStation.

As spotted by our sister site PC Gamer – who, by the way, loved the PC version of the game – the God of War port doesn’t just deliver seriously smooth frame rates (with DLSS being a big help) and other goodies, but meaningful improvements for accessibility in the nuts and bolts of the game.

Mila Pavlin, UX and accessibility lead at Santa Monica Studio, explained to PC Gamer: “This has really laid some groundwork in the backend. A lot of accessibility features require that you change your pipeline of how you’re creating content. [The PC port] allowed us to go back in and relook at how we were actually constructing some of the underlying code.”

The main change here for the port was in how sprinting works. Those who have tackled God of War on the PlayStation will doubtless recall that to sprint, you need to click in the left thumbstick, which can feel rather awkward. Pavlin observed: “A lot of players find that button specifically to be a little difficult to utilize.”

So, for the PC version, the devs came up with a solution in the form of an auto-sprint feature. This simply kicks in after you hold down a direction key for a certain length of time, with that time period definable by the user – a neat solution.

Analysis: Building a better foundation for future games

As ever, any improvements to accessibility are well worth considering, and this is a clever move to reduce any potential strain on the thumb in a prolonged God of War session (even on PC, where some folks prefer the controller to switching to the mouse and keyboard). It’s one thing to click in the left stick to fire off a one-time ability, for example, but another to have to push the stick forward while clicking in – that’s an entirely more awkward feeling experience.

Moreover, it’s great to hear that this exploration of accessibility on the PC version has laid groundwork for God of War: Ragnarok on PS5 getting bolstered in this respect. Pavlin noted: “Working on things like keyboard remapping allows us to actually look at how that pipeline functions overall, and carry that forward through all of our SMS [Santa Monica Studio] products. So that will help us to build a better foundation to work off of in future products.”

Matt DeWald, senior technical producer, said “PC is just a small sliver of what we want to do for accessibility” and that “accessibility is really important to us” before adding: “We want to try to make sure we can support as much as we can. So there are some big plans.”

Note that we’ve also heard on the grapevine that God of War: Ragnarok could get a PC port eventually, as well, which would make sense given that the first game has been converted across (although admittedly, it took three years, so don’t go thinking Ragnarok could be ported any time soon – if it’s coming at all).

Make sure you check out what we thought about playing God of War PC at 8K.

• Here are the best gaming PCs

One of Sony's most popular - and critically acclaimed - games has come to PC. While Microsoft has been releasing most Xbox games simultaneously on PC, we've had to wait a while for PlayStation exclusives from Sony to land on our rigs, with God of War launching on the PS4 back in 2018.

From our time with God of War on PC, the wait has been well worth it, with the game offering improved graphics, support for ultrawide monitors, and modern tech such as Nvidia Reflex, DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution.

When the game launched on the PS4 it was a graphical showcase for the console, and combined with a more mature and emotional story, a new setting (moving from ancient Greek myths to Norse mythology) and the violent and visceral gameplay the series is noted for, it was one of the highlights from the last generation of consoles.

So the fact that it's come to PC, with plenty of enhancements, is incredibly exciting. It also made us keen to see how well God of War looks - and runs - at 8K. After all, Sony has in the past talked about how the PS5 will be capable of 8K games. We have our doubts about that, but playing a Sony game at this resolution on our 8K test rig could give us an idea of what the future holds for Sony games.

8K out of the box

Although God of War is almost four years old and originally released for the PS4, which itself launched way back in 2013, Sony Santa Monica was able to make a graphically ambitious and impressive title that still looks fantastic in 2022.

So, with the PC version, we expected a game that would push our 8K test rig to the limits. 

When we first loaded up the game and began playing at the default settings, which meant the 'Original' graphical preset and resolution at 8K (7680 x 4320), we were immediately struck by two things: how damn good this game looks at 8K, and also how well it runs.

Without any tweaking, we had a perfectly playable experience with the opening sections of God of War. Running our benchmarks confirmed that God of War at 8K on 'Original' settings hit an average of 36.3 fps (frames per second), and even hit a maximum of 44.2 fps.

Sure, this is a four year old game that was originally built for last-gen hardware, and we assume the 'Original' graphical settings means it's essentially PS4 visuals, but it remains a stunning title regardless, and the fact that it was running easily above 30fps, which we consider to be the absolute minimum for a game these days, is incredibly impressive.

Of course, there's no surprise that the high-end RTX 3090, which should cost $1,499 (£1,399, around AU$2,030), but is often sold for much more than that, wouldn't have an issue playing a PS4 game, but this is an impressive feat nonetheless, considering the demands 8K places on a GPU, and the graphical fidelity of God of War.

So, the next thing we did, of course, was whack the visual settings higher. On the 'High' preset, we still averaged 32.7fps, and while that is still above the 30fps minimum we demand, that drop is still felt. Still, we then put graphical settings to 'Ultra'.

At this setting, what was already a very good looking game looked even better, with additional details and effects fleshing out the world. Needless to say, at 8K it looked phenomenal. It's quite possibly the best looking game at 8K we've played. Previous games we've tested at 8K had to have their graphical settings turned down to reach a playable frame rate, and this impacts how good they look.

The fact that God of War can run at 8K on Ultra settings at 30fps out of the box is a testament, then, to the developers of the game, as well as the power of the RTX 3090 Ti.

Hunting for higher framerates

When God of War originally on the PS4, it targeted 30fps. While that was an impressive feat for 2018 with such a graphically impressive title and aging hardware, PC gamers in 2022 demand more.

The good news is that God of War on PC has an unlocked frame rate, which means if you have the hardware, you can go beyond 30fps. In an action-packed title like this, it really benefits from a higher frame rate. But, does playing at 8K preclude you from these higher frame rates? Thankfully, not.

As part of God of War PC's range of new features is support for Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). This is a feature that uses artificial intelligence to upscale the game from a lower resolution, helping to improve performance with hopefully a minimal impact to the graphics quality.

In the past we've seen DLSS perform magic, allowing games to hit playable frame rates at 8K. With God of War already hitting 30fps, we were keen to see what could be achieved.

The first setting for DLSS is 'Ultra Performance'. This targets better performance over graphics quality,  which means the upscaling is doing more heavy lifting, upscaling from a lower resolution to the native 8K resolution.

Interestingly, God of War shows you what the resolution is, and with Ultra Performance, DLSS is taking a 1440p resolution (2,560 x 1,440) and upscaling it to 8K (7,680 x 4,320).

That's a big leap, but DLSS 2.0 does a good job, with God of War still looking great, though not quite as sharp as native 8K.

The performance of the game saw a drastic improvement, hitting 59.9fps on average, and only dropping to 57.9fps during our playtime. It's no surprise that the RTX 3090 has no issue playing this game at essentially 1440p, but DLSS puts in a good showing here. The graphical settings are still set to 'Ultra', and you end up with a game that doesn't just look fantastic on our 8K monitor, but also plays brilliantly as well.

The game, especially combat, feels so much better at 60fps. Matched with impressive visuals, this is perhaps our best 8K gaming experience yet.

Of course, there are other DLSS settings as well. The 'Balanced' setting ups the initial resolution to 4,454 x 2,506 before upscaling it to 8K. The image is a lot sharper, but performance sees a knock to 46.9fps on average. While this is still a lot higher than the 30fps minimum we demand, after playing at 60fps, this drop feels brutal.

Finally, we tried it out with DLSS set to 'Quality'. This is the setting which prioritise image quality over performance, with an initial resolution of 5,120 x 2,880. This means there's less upscaling needed to hit 7,680 x 4,320, and while the image quality does see an improvement, the average frame rate drops to 42.1fps.

AMD alternative

Nvidia's DLSS tech is a welcome addition to any game, and it's clear it does a great job with God of War as well. However, DLSS is only available on Nvidia GPUs, and only the newer RTX models at that.

The good news is that God of War also supports AMD's competing FidelityFX Super Resolution, which also upscales games for better performance. AMD's solution is available on most modern GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia. Usually games support one or the other of these technologies, so it's cool to see God of War support both.

First, we set FidelityFX Super Resolution to 'Performance'. As with DLSS, this setting prioritises performance over looks, but with a higher initial resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. This means there's less upscaling involved, while performance was drastically improved, hitting 59.5fps on average, though it did dip lower than DLSS to 53.9fps.

On 'Balanced', FidelityFX took a 4,512 x 2,542 initial resolution and upscaled it to 8K. This gave us an impressive 55.51fps average score.

Finally, we tested it out at 'Ultra Quality'. This time the initial resolution was 5,908 x 3,324 upscaled to 8K. When playing at this setting, the RTX 3090 managed 39.9fps on average.

A great 8K experience whatever you choose

During our time playing God of War at 8K we had a blast. Not only is this a great looking title, but it's a genuinely great game as well. We have already played it through on PS4, but are now eager to play it all again on PC.

Best of all, if you want to play it at 8K and have a rig capable of it, then you don't have to make any compromises. It runs over 30fps at 'Ultra' settings. While textures are still aimed at 4K screens at a maximum, this really is an impressive looking game on an 8K monitor, with a pixel density which gives the game almost a 3D appearance in some scenes.

Even better, if you want 8K and faster frame rates, both DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution allow this. We'd actually recommend going with FidelityFX Super Resolution at 'Performance' mode, which has a slight graphical edge over the similar DLSS setting.

Both look stunning, however, and it's the best way to realise Sony's 8K promises. There's no need for a PS5 for that, but you do need an RTX 3090. Sadly, they are just as hard to find in stock, and are much more expensive.

• These are the best GPUs of 2022

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Santa Monica Studio revealed a brand new trailer for the upcoming PC port of 2018’s God of War on Wednesday, and it looks every bit as phenomenal as expected. 

The trailer shows off many of the upgrades from the console version including improved lighting and shadow effects, higher detailed assets, higher rendering resolutions, an uncapped framerate, and widescreen support.

We also have the official graphical requirements for the game, which is based on Nvidia architecture:

Analysis: Diving into the PC version

Thanks to a partnership with Sony and Nvidia, there will be scores of other features the PC version comes with as well. The biggest one is the previously revealed Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which lets players max out graphics and upscale their resolution while actually playing it at lower settings.

There’s also Nvidia Reflex for GeForce 900 Series GPUs and newer, which reduces system latency and makes gameplay more responsive. Some other upgrades to the titles include improved screen-space reflections, enhanced Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion (GTAO), and Screen Space Directional Occlusion (SSDO) effects. And according to a previous PlayStation blog post, God of War on PC can be played on 21:9 ultrawide displays.

For those with Team Red’s GPU instead, they won’t be left in the dust. God of War will not only use Nvidia’s DLSS but also AMD’s rival frame rate boosting tech, FidelityFX Super Resolution. 

• Check out the best PC games while you wait for the new God of War PC port

God of War is coming to the PC, and when the game arrives in January 2022, it won’t just boast Nvidia DLSS support – but also AMD’s rival frame rate boosting tech.

As spotted by VideoCardz, God of War PC will come with AMD FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution), with the game shown in a list of titles which are scheduled to benefit from the upscaling tech in the future.

This is an official list from AMD, so we can take it as a full confirmation that God of War will indeed run with FSR, albeit with the caveat that the tech may not necessarily be in for launch. We’d presume this would be the case, though, and even if it isn’t, FSR will debut before long no doubt.

God of War on PC is already promising to be a stunning looking game, with (up to) 4K resolution and unlocked frame rates, graphical improvements which include “higher resolution shadows [and] improved screen space reflections” as Sony has made clear on Steam, plus ultrawide monitor support, Nvidia Reflex (lower input lag) and DLSS, and now AMD FSR to boot.

Analysis: Better frame rates for everyone

God of War PC could put the console version firmly in its high-resolution shadows with the aforementioned graphical improvements, but of course smooth gameplay is more important than visual finery.

It’s here that Nvidia DLSS will help, of course, effectively letting you run the game at a lower resolution and upscaling it, meaning God of War is less taxing on your GPU with not much of a sacrifice in terms of actual visual quality.

While DLSS is great, it’s limited to those with Nvidia RTX graphics cards, and that’s why it’s great news that AMD FSR is in the mix, so those with Team Red’s GPUs can benefit from frame rate boosting, too.

While FSR may not deliver the same level of upscaling finesse – and it’s not AI-powered like Nvidia’s now considerably refined DLSS – it’s still a great option to have, and takes a different and more open route, supporting older graphics cards (even older Nvidia GPUs like Pascal) with smoother gameplay.

The upshot of this development is faster frame rates for a much wider audience when it comes to God of War on the PC, and that has to be a good thing.

Also, if God of War is doubling down on the frame rate boosting tech, we can hopefully expect the same from the (tentatively) rumored PC port of God of War: Ragnarok (the sequel which is set to debut in 2022 for PlayStation).

• Here are the best gaming PCs

Sony’s drive to port some of the best PlayStation games over to the PC appears to have changed up a gear, with the formation of a new brand specifically for the PC platform.

As VGC reports, observant users on Steam, Valve’s online games store, spotted that whereas all the ports of Sony’s console games previously had the publisher ‘PlayStation Mobile, Inc’, some of them have had this changed to a new brand: ‘PlayStation PC LLC’.

That includes the likes of Days Gone, although some games, such as Horizon Zero Dawn and indeed the recently announced God of War port still have PlayStation Mobile listed as their publisher.

In other words, it seems that this change is still filtering through. As further evidence that Sony is switching the brand name here, VGC points to Corporation Wiki where Sony registered the PlayStation PC brand back on April 13, seemingly preparing the ground for this rebranding initiative.

Analysis: Ports aplenty on the horizon, with any luck

This new branding does, of course, make sense. PlayStation Mobile doesn’t mean anything to PC gamers, and PlayStation PC is obviously a much more relevant name for Sony’s ports to the PC platform.

The fact that this name change is underway doesn’t mean a lot in itself, but what it does point to is that Sony is getting more serious about its PC-specific efforts, underlining what we already knew.

Remember, Sony has already made it clear that more PC conversions are coming, and the rumor mill has long insisted that plenty more high-profile PlayStation releases which were previously console exclusives will be getting the port treatment.

Who knows, as we saw yesterday, we may even get a port of God of War: Ragnarok, as well as the original God of War (from 2018) which is due to hit the PC in January 2022.

• Here are the best gaming PCs

God of War: Ragnarok could be getting the PC port treatment as well, following the recent revelation of the God of War port.

We should say that this is a tentative rumor at the moment, so approach with caution, but the theory is that God of War: Ragnarok – the sequel to God of War expected to debut on Sony’s PS5 (and PS4) in 2022 – may also make its way onto the PC platform eventually, or at least this is a possibility going by a clue uncovered on LinkedIn.

That clue comes courtesy of GameRant, which picked up on a Twitter user who spotted the profile of a Senior Programmer at Jetpack Interactive, Warren Lee, who has a project listed as ‘God of War Ragnarok’.

Now, this could simply be a mistake, and the programmer may have accidentally added the ‘Ragnarok’ bit without meaning to, whereas in actual fact Lee is working on God of War PC right now.

Of course, Jetpack is the third-party dev in charge of the current God of War port, as Sony has just made clear, with Sony’s Santa Monica Studio in the role of overseeing the project, rather than actually doing the port.

Analysis: Maybe there’s something in this, but don’t bet on it

It’s not clear, then, whether this is just an accidental typo, or an indication that Jetpack will not just be converting God of War, but also the sequel Ragnarok, for the PC platform.

In all honesty, we feel the reality is this could be a mistake. However, with God of War finally getting a port, it makes sense that Ragnarok could get the same treatment. The caveat is, of course, that this would likely happen eventually, way down the line, rather than early in Ragnarok’s life. Remember that God of War was released for the PS4 in 2018, so it’s taken quite some time for the port to come about.

Sony has, of course, indicated that there will be more PC ports in the pipeline, but that they won’t be likely to arrive in close proximity to their respective PlayStation exclusive launches. And indeed this makes sense in terms of the tactic of letting PC gamers play God of War early next year, for example, and then maybe have them eyeing a PS5 to get going with the sequel Ragnarok when it comes out later in 2022.

It’s worth noting that there’s been some controversy about the PC port of God of War being farmed out to Jetpack, and doubts around whether that might affect its quality – particularly given recent experience with the initially wonky Horizon Zero Dawn PC conversion. Things are a lot better with the latter game now, though.

Some of the concerns aired online stem from Jetpack playing a supporting role in conversion work for the PC in the past, and this is a big project to take on, obviously. But with Sony Santa Monica providing oversight, hopefully any worries about quality will prove unfounded, and what could be one of the best PS5 games will make an impact in terms of the top games on PC, as well.

• Here are the best gaming PCs

God of War is making its way to PC, Santa Monica Studios announced this week, making one of the best PS4 games accessible to PC gamers and marking the latest PlayStation title to get a PC port.

The game is slated for a January 14, 2022, release, according to a post on the PlayStation Blog, and the game will feature DLSS and 21:9 screen ratio support, giving you another reason to get yourself one of the best ultrawide monitors out there.

"All of us at Santa Monica Studio have been humbled by the immense amount of support and passions fans of the God of War series have shown in the latest chapter of Kratos’ story since its release," Grace Orlady, senior community manager for Santa Monica Studio, said in the post. "As of August 2021, 19.5MM copies for God of War on PlayStation 4 have been sold through and we can’t wait to share that experience with a whole new group of players on PC."

In addition to DLSS and 21:9 support, the game will also feature true 4K resolution and unlocked framerates, so crank up your RTX 3090 and enjoy Kratos and Atreus's journey across the Nine Realms at the fastest framerates possible, making God of War on PC possibly the ultimate way to experience one of the greatest games ever made.

In addition, anyone who purchases God of War on PC will also have access to additional digital content, including:

• Death’s Vow Armor Sets for Kratos and Atreus
• Exile’s Guardian Shield Skin
• Buckler of the Forge Shield Skin
• Shining Elven Soul Shield Skin
• Dökkenshieldr Shield Skin

Opinion: more please (and bring us Bloodborne, you cowards!)

Games are becoming more platform agnostic with cross-play and PC ports, a trend that has us excited with even more developments in recent months.

Whether it was the formative years of the Xbox and PlayStation 2 for many or even further back to the Sega-Nintendo fight in the early 1990s, console exclusivity has always hurt gamers who got locked out of incredible experiences. Not every family was able to buy every console that came out in a generation, and it always sucked that many of us ultimately had to pick a side.

Because Final Fantasy games were Nintendo and then PlayStation exclusive titles, that is where my family's money went growing up, which means I missed out on a lot of great Sega and Xbox titles. I'm sure there are plenty of old Sega Genesis/MegaDrive veterans out there who will never know the sublime beauty of Final Fantasy VI (released as Final Fantasy III in North America), and that's a tragedy.

Fortunately, those old divisions seem to be breaking down. With several PlayStation exclusive titles making their way to PC like Death Stranding, Days Gone, and Horizon Zero Dawn, the best titles on Sony's flagship consoles are becoming some of the best PC games going. And with the Xbox Series X release of long-time Sony exclusive MLB: The Show, as well as its Day-One launch on Xbox Game Pass, we're even seeing an in-house, first-party Sony developer making a game for a rival console.

What does this mean going forward? Honestly, the walls have been breached. After loosening up their grips on exclusivity and allowing cross-play servers between various platforms, it's unfathomable that Microsoft and Sony would suddenly retreat back into their walled gardens.

With the move to digital downloads and streaming content, the physical production costs of developing an exclusive title are seriously reduced, so extending those exclusive titles to other platforms and expanding the market for your games just makes financial sense. 

Does that mean that we could very well see Kratos coming to the Xbox and Master Chief coming to the PlayStation anytime soon? Five years ago we'd have laughed that out of the room, but now? It might not happen in time for Halo Infinite, but it looks like its simply inevitable in the long run.

Personally, I can't think of anything better. More of this please.

• Check out the best PC games of 2021

Update: Nvidia has issued a statement to confirm that this leak is real – but obviously unauthorized – and clarified that the inclusion of any game on it doesn’t mean anything. Nvidia told Wccftech: “Nvidia is aware of an unauthorized published game list, with both released and/or speculative titles, used only for internal tracking and testing. Inclusion on the list is neither confirmation nor an announcement of any game.

“Nvidia took immediate action to remove access to the list. No confidential game builds or personal information were exposed.”

The original story follows below…

A major leak has been witnessed from the Nvidia GeForce Now (game streaming service) database, and assuming it’s legitimate, the spillage highlights a number of top PlayStation games which could be coming to the PC – including God of War, Returnal and Demon’s Souls.

While the leak is believed to be genuine, at least according to our sister site Windows Central, this obviously needs to be taken with a bucketful of salt (or maybe even a larger container) – and at any rate, just because a game is listed here doesn’t mean it’s eventually destined for the PC (and indeed Nvidia’s streaming service).

• Check out the best PS4 games
• Here are the best gaming PCs
• Or we'll show you how to build a PC

Anyhow, the story is that Ighor July, a C++ developer, posted the list of games on Medium, as flagged up on Reddit. Apparently the dev managed to crack their way into Nvidia’s GeForce Now database as detailed in that post, and after experimenting with all sorts of stuff and leveraging intelligent code completion, they grabbed a list of games from the servers of Team Green’s streaming operation – consisting of no less than 18,000 items.

Scanning through that sprawling lot revealed some seriously tantalizing findings which as we’ve already mentioned include God of War (shown to be present in the Steam store – which obviously it isn’t, not yet…), Returnal and Demon’s Souls, plus GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas remasters, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ratchet & Clank.

There are also a bunch of unannounced GeForce Now games flagged up by Ighor like Mafia: Definitive Edition, and incoming PC titles like the (imminent) Alan Wake Remastered and Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection for PC (the latter is due early 2022).

Analysis: Nuggets of truth among much strangeness?

The first point to make here is to underline the extreme caution required around this leaked list, and that just because a game is mentioned here, doesn’t mean it’s coming to the PC. There’s certainly some pretty odd stuff in the database leak such as ‘Bioshock 2022’ for example, and other unreleased or unknown projects, plus the presence of Dolphin emulator (for playing GameCube and Wii titles on the PC).

All of this means that there is clearly a lot of noise with this leak, even if it does prove to be authentic. Equally, though, there are certainly things which ring true here: God of War has long been hoped for as a PC port, and seems a realistic proposition as such. Plus we’ve been hearing plenty of late about “multiple upcoming PC ports” of PlayStation exclusives – and that Bloodborne won’t be one of these. Funnily enough, Bloodborne doesn’t make the list here (although Demon’s Souls does, of course). Another disappointment for some, but not really a surprising omission, is the lack of any mention of Spider-Man for a PC port.

In short, it looks like we could hope that there are some delightful nuggets of truth here, among a whole bunch of potential placeholders and non-existent ‘could-be’ projects, as well as strange and clearly bogus entries.

• Check out the best processors

Sony finally gave us our first look at the long-awaited God of War sequel during its PlayStation Showcase on September 9 - and we now know it's called Ragnarok. 

God of War Ragnarok closed the jam-packed showcase, with a three-minute trailer showcasing a glorious return for grizzled God Kratos and his son Atreus. 

It appears that tensions are high between Kratos and Atreus, as Ragnarok closes in. The duo is reunited with Mimir, the Norse God of Knowledge, as well as the two blacksmiths, Sindri and Brok.

God of War Ragnarok's gameplay looks just as brutal, spectacular, and devastatingly violent as we'd expect, with various biomes to explore.

• Live blog: PS5 restock tracker
• Check out our PS5 review
• New PS5 games: upcoming PS5 game release dates

A long time coming

The God of War sequel was teased by Sony last year with a brief announcement trailer that simply showed a Norse symbol, followed by the words 'Ragnarok is coming', and "2021". In addition, the teaser included a brief voice-over of Kratos saying: "You must prepare yourself". 

The teaser didn't tell us much, except that Ragnarök, a series of events and catastrophes that - according to Norse mythology - ultimately lead to the end of the world, would likely play a role in the sequel - which we now know to be true/false. The teaser trailer also led many to believe the God of War sequel would be called "God of War: Ragnarok", which we now know is also true.

Following the teaser trailer, there had largely been radio silence from Sony Santa Monica Studio on the God of War sequel. However, earlier this year, the studio confirmed rumors that the sequel had been delayed from 2021 to 2022. 

The reveal at the PlayStation Showcase was the first time we've been able to see the highly-anticipated sequel in action and we now finally know what to expect when God of War Ragnarok lands on PS4 and PS5 in 2022.

• Best PS5 games: the PlayStation 5 games you need to play