The new PS4 exclusive game, God Of War, has been given somewhat positive reviews. The newest game in the ageing franchise moves the story and its protagonist Kratos from Greece to Scandinavia, while borrowing from other recent hits - most noꦏtably, Game Grumps' Dream Daddy. See, this time around, the greying Kratos has a (living) son, Atreus, providing ranged support.

Review aggregator Metacritic has God Of War resting at a lukewarm 94, while OpenCritic gives a slightly higher - but no less disappointing - 95. In short: it's fine. It's fine. It's 🌌- well, here is what some reviewers had to say.

gave the game a half-hearted "Recommended" score, while remarking that, yeah, Sony S💫anta Monica can apparently do an ok forest:

"The 🌜world is another marvel, thankfully, capable of suitable deity-crushing bigness despite the fact that you're wedged so close to the surface with none of that sprightly wandering of the old game's cinematic camera. The detailing, though! Silver birches have peeling curlicues of bark, rocks have little cracks 🅷running through them, huts are made of planks of wood that do not meet cleanly, that do not match."

gives the game one of its dime-a💝-dozen perfect scores, while admitting that fans will definitely hate it:

"Some die-haꦕrd fans may fear this isn't really God of War. I suppose they're right. It's even better."

 uses the phrase "well-paced," which is really just a 🅷synonym for "pretty boring:"

"An enthralling experience from beginning to end, with a mixture of great narrative moments and engaging encounters. God of War is a well-paced adventure🅠 that knows when to let the action simmer and when to make it boil over."

They add tha✅t the main character of Kratos is basically a quie💖t old man now, and the game might as well be a walking simulator:

"Years ago, Kratos kille🌌d the deities of Mount Olympus in a gory rampage. Now, in the Norse realm, he has remade himself into a different kind of god. He is quieter and more deliberate, affected by his history but not constrained by it."

Viking gods? More like hiking slogs.

also acknowledges Kratos is basically the worst protagonist 💝in video game history, and that we desperately needed someone else to care about:

"The gameplay changes an꧋d bold decision to delve into another protagonist pay off in big ways."

෴ had an axe to grind with the studio behind the game𒉰:

"While I'm a sucker for more frantic arcadey action there are plenty of studios 𒉰left carrying on that legacy. Unless s🦋omething catastrophic happens to Sony Santa Monica, there's more story to tell, and I hope the exact same team is able to tell it."

Cory Balrog, thꦛe game's creative director, gave a carpool interview with SkillUp in which he shares his own thoughts on the reviews his game has been getting. "It was the completion of a very long, very difficult five years, and it was a little bit of vindication, I guess, for the doubt I experienced throughout those five years."

We can only hope he's happy with these "not as good as Breath Of The Wild♛" review score🃏s.