God of War Ragnarok Is the Best Game of 2022 and Sony's Most Important PS5 Game Yet

But will the PS5 hold its price?

A large reason for Sony's early success in India was on the back of the original God of War and God of War 2. These two games on the PS2 propelled the console to close to a million units sold in the country. The PSP games - Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus kept Sony's handheld dreams alive, helping it move over 500,000 units while the PS3 hobbled over the 350,000 mark thanks to God of War 3.

It was no surprise then that the PS4 sold more than 500,000 units with God of War 2018 being bought by one in every five PS4 buyers. Suffice to say the expectations surrounding God of War Ragnarok are high.

So how is it? Well, after blazing through the main story in about 25 hours on Normal difficulty, safe to say Sony Santa Monica has met if not exceeded every expectation.

God of War Ragnarok combat improvements

Much like the 2018 game, the core gameplay systems such as combat and traversal are exceptionally polished and a treat to interact with. You have access to Kratos' blades from near the beginning itself. This adds a welcome level of depth and nuance to the proceedings, giving you more options to slice and dice your way through through the realms aside from the Leviathan Axe.

Your arsenal evolves as you progress through the game with one surprising addition that elevates combat to another plane altogether. A combination of varied enemy types, boss fights, and a consistent sense of progression keeps combat fresh.

Other changes are subtle like a slightly speedier pace of play and greater control in commanding your allies. All of these make combat feel satisfying like God of War (2018) but refined in almost every way.

God of War Ragnarok traversal and puzzles

It's not just the combat that's gotten some welcome changes, it's the traversal and puzzles too. Through your journey, you'll make good use of your arsenal to cross chasms, freeze platforms into place, and much more.

While the last game had one or two frustrating sections of puzzle-solving, there's nothing too tough or painful to take away from moving to the next plot point, place of interest, or foe to pummel.

Straying off the critical path is almost always rewarding — in some cases granting you brand new armour or simply letting you see how some the interactions between Kratos and the rest of the cast play out.

God of War Ragnarok customisation and build variety

And speaking of new armour, there are an assortment of ways to modify gameplay to your liking. One side quest I did gifted me a set of armour that allowed me to slow down time when I'd excute a perfectly-timed dodge, the duration of which could be extended with each upgrade.

Along with this, I also discovered an amulet that let me slow down time at will. The end result had my experience of God of War Ragnarok being very different from the last game — the faster combat coupled with the reward of slowing down time to get a few critical hits in made boss and normal enemy encounters a lot more enjoyable than I expected.

What I also didn't expect was how much fun it was to play as Atreus when the story demanded it. His moveset is greatly expanded over the past game with melee and ranged combat along with the ability to summon forest spirits being a part of his arsenal. These sections didn't feel like padded throwaways either, with enough depth to keep you engaged until you were back as Kratos.

God of War Ragnarok narrative

It's a cohesive, well-written tale that has you engaged from start to finish all while leaving enough unanswered to have you partake in its many side-quests.

There are rock-solid lore entries, memorable one-liners perfectly delivered by a fantastic cast, and a slew of great characters. None of them fit the stereotypical good versus bad mould and Sony Santa Monica's story-tellers have done an exceptional job of bringing them to life in this rollicking adventure.

Without spoiling much, God of War Ragnarok's story is one of its strongest suits. I'd expect it to be a part of the games community discourse long after the November 9 release date.

A word of caution though: don't go into this without playing the last game. Sure, there's a recap but it's threadbare at best. You'll want to play God of War (2018) first.

God of War Ragnarok — how long is it?

I was able to finish the main story in about 25 hours with normal difficulty. With the amount of additional content above and beyond that, it's safe to say completionists would spend about 40 hours, if not more to do everything in the game.

God of War Ragnarok DualSense features

Haptics get a special mention, they're subtle albeit meaningful, punctuating combat and traversal as necessary without coming in the way.

I would have liked more use of the adaptive triggers outside of specific moments of play but that aside, there's little to complain about. So if you were expecting implementation in line with say Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart or Death Stranding: Director's Cut — or even Horizon Forbidden West, think again.

God of War Ragnarok — graphics modes: you don't need HDMI 2.1?

With Sony Santa Monica revealing what you can expect in terms of graphics modes with several flavours of performance or quality to choose from.

I played through most of the game in the basic favour performance setting, allowing me to hit 60fps with a variable resolution on an LG 32GK650F monitor.

Friend of the newsletter, Mikhail Madnani was able to play at an unlocked 60fps at 1440p on his LG 27GL850. Both monitors don't support HDMI 2.1.

Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök @SonySantaMonica

With #GodofWarRagnarok right around the corner, we’re happy to share all of the graphics modes that will be available to you across PS5, PS4 Pro, and PS4! Check out all the options below to learn about each mode’s resolution and FPS.

God of War Ragnarok — sales analysis

So how would God of War Ragnarok sell in India? For reference, God of War (2018) sold over 100,000 units over its lifespan in part thanks to the franchise's ongoing appeal combined with fair pricing after it hit the PlayStation Hits label.

At the time Sony had about 350,000 PS4s. Now the PS4 has an install base of around 550,000 units and the PS5 has sold around 100,000. All these figures are both grey and official sales combined.

Assuming Sony brings in God of War Ragnarok standard copies at a ratio of 1:1 for PS4 and PS5 — as the former is still in widespread use in India — and if you factor in at least a 25 percent increase in sales given the hype surrounding it, positive reviews, and a general increase in marketing around it, we should see around 50,000 units sold in the first month itself. And that's before considering the Jotnar and Collector's Editions both of which will be in short supply anyway.

Retailers are prepping for a windfall. At the moment midnight launches for the game are planned for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Nagpur to name a few — permission pending of course. Considering Sony has kept its supply chain hyped with a steady stream of publicity — including branding metros across the country with God of War Ragnarok — it seems to have worked.

It's rare for stores willing to stay open for a game release these days, and hopefully a sign of things to come. More so with a PS5 restock slated a week after the game’s release date of November 9. Nonetheless, with a rumoured Rs. 5,000 price hike for the PS5 Horizon Forbidden West bundle, it will be interesting to see if the God of War Ragnarok PS5 bundle shares the same fate in India.

0xSkeptic @RishiAlwani

God of War Ragnarok marketing is finally in line with unit sale expectations in India. #ps5 #GodofWarRagnarok #india | A friend sent these with the following message: rumors are ( ∙_∙) ( ∙_∙)>⌐■-■ it stops at jotunhiem (⌐■_■)

God of War Ragnarok Jotnar and Collector's Editions for India

Much like Horizon Forbidden West, expect the more expensive versions of God of War Ragnarok to be available later on and in small numbers. While Sony hasn't revealed a price or potential date, sources in the supply chain inform me that we should expect a price of about Rs. 20,000 - Rs. 23,000 for the Jotnar Edition and roughly Rs. 15,000 - Rs. 19,000 for the Collector's Edition. The delay, unlike Forbidden West, is likely caused by supply constraints rather than BIS certification that Guerilla's game needed due to the included batteries.

If these make it we should see both in limited quantity — if not for pre-order from this week — then at launch, much like Ghost of Tsushima’s Collector’s Edition.

Other interesting insights from the Indian games market

• Microsoft has raised the price of the Xbox Series X for the third time this year in India. It now costs Rs. 55,900 (it was Rs. 49,990 at launch). Reasons unknown at this juncture.

• Demand for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope for the Nintendo Switch continues to be strong. However its distributor E-xpress may have dropped the ball much like it did with Elden Ring. Most stores barely had enough units to sell within launch week itself. The Gold Edition — a Ubisoft staple — skipped the country too.

• And speaking of poor decisions, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 finally made it here officially. The last time India got a Call of Duty game officially was 2019's Modern Warfare. However the Rs. 6,000 price has ensured that sales are slow. To the point where the universally-panned Gotham Knights has moved off the shelves faster, no doubt buoyed by retailer freebies like a SteelBook and t-shirt as well as a lower price.