Game Review: God of War (2018)

An Attempt to Dismantle Toxic Masculinity

*light spoiler warning - I tried to be vague but at times I needed to be specific about certain characters and their reveals*

The newest God of War game, which came out this past May, was a part sequel/part soft reboot of the beloved franchise known for its intense violence and brutality. It is no secret that in the previous games, Kratos, the “protagonist”, was an extreme example of the male power fantasy, lacking depth and emotionally vulnerability while pursuing revenge and sex; essentially, every bit of the game encouraged toxic masculinity as a behavior to be praised and replicated. Not to say the game encouraged its players to go out and murder, but it did praise a lack of emotional vulnerability and a disrespect towards women, All that being said, it was nice to hear the developers decided to go in a new direction with this famous character to the point where the director of the game, Cory Barlog, stated, “So we are, in a large portion, were responsible for the fact that [Kratos] is the monster at all times, and now we are in turn taking our responsibility to help him balance these things,” acknowledging the horrors of the past games and a desire to reevaluate and push forward a new message.

This new installment to the series has its first big change in the narrative itself. The player begins as Kratos with a son, Atreus, and a wife, Faye, that has just died. We can assume this comes many years after the horrific killing of basically every Greek deity, and it becomes very clear that Kratos is living in a world full of regret by the drastic change of scenery, lifestyle, and choice of wife. After a beautiful funeral service, the overall goal of the game becomes clear: take the mother’s ashes to the highest peak of all the realms as she has requested. During this journey, the main conflict is to raise and teach Atreus to survive, while being careful not to turn him into the monster Kratos became. Obviously, since it is a near 40hr game (without the extras) the road is not as straight as you are initially brought to believe. Friends and an antagonist arise along the way while journeys to other realms become inevitable and greatly welcomed. While the problems, journey, and characters grow, there is one thing that keeps you grounded: the emotions and relationship of Kratos and Atreus which in itself is a big shift for the franchise.

Obviously, a lot of the fixing of the portrayal of masculinity in this game is presented in the narrative, but in looking closer at relatively smaller changes in gameplay, you can find that the changes go deeper. The enemies themselves, including the main antagonist, Baldur, provide a new look into Kratos’ personality and the games outlook on violence. Kratos was always the kill everything without remorse guy, but with the way certain enemies are designed and grouped together, the game requires the player to rethink the choice of running into every battle they encounter. Sometimes, the smarter choice is to sneak around the problem. Sometimes, you really need to focus on who is coming after you, what vulnerabilities they have, and what best approaches can help you succeed. This game and its enemy layout rewards strategy and intellect rather than plain brutality. Then, when it comes to Baldur, they held nothing back. Baldur, being a god who is now unable to feel anything, uses violence as a way to stir something inside of him; seeing the pain of others is supposed to replace his lack of pain while creating a thrill. Essentially, he is Kratos in the previous games if he was positioned as the villain rather than the antihero. Though Kratos could still feel, he pushed forward without acknowledging it because that was the Spartan thing to do, in turn making him basically without feeling as well. With this antagonist, it allows players who played the other games in the series to rethink their joy and encouragement of the violence Kratos took part in.

Of course, with enemies comes combat, and combat is a huge component of the game as well as its change. Like I stated earlier, the game rewards strategy over brutality. This is enforced by the fact that it is rare to be able to succeed in a battle or kill a swarm without death if you go into it gun blazing, figuratively speaking. The game wants to really push this idea of combat no longer being the most important thing since the world is filled with other secrets and puzzles that at times may be even more invigorating. When you are forced to fight, because this is still a God of War game, you are forced to do it with more brains than brawn; the brutality is still present, but it’s no longer held on a pedestal. The second big change in combat is your new companion, Atreus. Sometimes, companions, especially children, can be seen as a hinderance on gameplay or combat. This game, however, uses the son to push a message. In games past, Kratos took everything on by himself and showed no vulnerability. This game requires you to rely on your companion and use his help. You get to control his arrows, true, but even if you choose not to, he will still fight and watch your back. There are some enemies that really do require you to make use of Atreus because if you don’t, they’ll keep teleporting away from you before you could get in a hit. This game is quite simply saying, “Share your troubles and baggage. Don’t take it all on yourself.”

Finally, the pacing really helps to bring emotions and relationships to the forefront. The game is designed to replicate a single shot take meaning it does not cut away from the pair unless the player dies. There are no loading screens and even when giving the ability to traverse space to quicken the journey, the game doesn’t cut away. Instead of jumping from fight to fight, the game puts an emphasis on the journey, both physical and emotional. While walking through snowy forests or canoeing in a lake, you’re allowed to be a part of these father-son conversations that turn from awkward into heartwarming through the course of the game and you’re forced to pick up on the grief and emotional turmoil both characters are trying to face. Kratos trying to empathize becomes just as important as him trying to survive.

This game has made great strides in recognizing its problems of the past and turning them into learning moments. Has this game eradicated toxic masculinity in its franchise? Absolutely not, but I don’t think it can actually get to that point because of what it is built on. A staple of this series is its brutal violence. Even though this game turned the violence from reckless to a means of survival, it still revels in its brutality by providing many repetitive cut scenes of Kratos literally tearing enemies apart. This isn’t to say they should completely get rid of this violence because if they did, the fans would revolt. I think there’s a lot being done just in the fact that a game with a background filled with toxic masculinity turned around and admitted their faults and tried to prove a better approach. If a game without this tragic background came out with similar tactics to show a heathier sense of masculinity, I don’t believe it would be taken as seriously. This also doesn’t mean the franchise can’t still take more steps in the right direction without losing its staple. For one, it can better represent women. While, it’s nice to see they went away from their orgy ways, there is still a lack of women and respectable treatment in the game. Faye is a strong and respected woman that has a lot of influence, but she’s dead. Freya is a great representation of a powerful woman, and I applaud that they didn’t mark up her curse on Baldur as “a mother’s love knows no bounds,” but I can see many players marking her up as the enemy or believing that trope was there. The Valkyries, powerful female warriors of Norse mythology, are present, though optional, and powerful but are principally there for Kratos to brutally kill in order to “save” them. God of War made strides in dismantling the toxic masculinity it so praised previously, but it is not done and, really, can never be done.