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God of War is a video game series from developer Santa Monica Studios, first released in 2005. The series took a loose approach to Greek mythology and told an original tale surrounding the protagonist Kratos (the angry Spartan we all know and love) as he tears a path through the pantheon of gods.
While not exhibiting the most intricate gameplay, the God of War games has been some of the best hack and slash titles on the market. In 2018, however, the series took a turn with a soft reboot and changed up the genre as well as the main character to be more likable and relatable.
The series has seen more than a handful of titles, some of which are mobile games and others that do not pertain to the main story. In this ranked feature, I’ll look at all the mainline games of the God of War series and rank them based on their overall appeal.
Note: This article reflects the writer's opinion.
Best of the mainline God of War games before Ragnarok
5) God of War: Ascension
We can all collectively agree that no one needs God of War: Ascension. This title included a multiplayer mode, but that could not save it from being chastised as possibly the worst the series has to offer, at least when compared to all previous.
Prequel games have the problem of trying to tell interesting stories when the outcome is already known. While games like Red Dead Redemption 2 are examples of how to do a prequel story justice, Ascension falls into the opposite category, retreading a story already known with nothing else of impact.
The gameplay was also relatively lackluster and was not an evolution of the hack and slash method seen in the previous games. The new combat system was counter-intuitive to the gameplay, which tried to emulate the titles' spectacles. In the end, this was quite a forgettable game, seen only as a blip in the series’ history.
4) God of War
Released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2, God of War showcased how spectacularly epic a hack and slash game could truly be. Setting the stage in ancient Greece, the game introduced to audiences the man-mountain of a Spartan known as Kratos. Featuring simple yet intuitive gameplay, the action and pacing are what keep players invested throughout the game.
Kratos’ journey through this game is one of vengeance, which many might assume is a rather bland tale. Yet, his rage defines him as a protagonist and has made him a recognizable figure in video game history. This raw, unbridled rage carries him through this game and the two others that follow.
When compared to the sequels, is when God of War falls short. Repetitive puzzles and some clunky movement controls detract from the overall experience, a problem that is mostly fixed in the next couple of games. Even then, God of War remains an iconic title as a debut game.
3) God of War 3
While for many, the finale of the original series would be the best of the saga, God of War 3 has some issues. Released on the PlayStation 3 in 2010 and later on the PlayStation 4 in 2015, the game improved much upon the series, with new abilities, a grander story, and more Greek gods to butcher.
Kratos is about fully taking it out on the Olympians for causing so much pain and turmoil in his life, and he wastes no time accomplishing it. Killing, maiming, or double-crossing anyone who stands in his way, he gets his final wish by getting to duke it out with Zeus himself towards the end.
However, the game is also where Kratos stops becoming even a remotely likable character. Consumed by hatred and only wanting to exact his revenge in the most gruesome way possible, it becomes harder to emphasize with Kratos as the game progresses. His final turn at the end is little in the form of redemption or even salvation.
2) God of War 2
As has been the case in many trilogies, the second installment generally proves to be the best one. God of War 2 improved a lot on the original games and fixed many of its problems regarding traversal and puzzles. The game also expanded upon the cast, as we got a larger glimpse of the pantheon of gods that would play a role in the story.
The greatest plus point for this game was that it managed to make Kratos’ story one with more emotional depth. He started the game as an anti-hero and managed to be more relatable in his outing than in the next game, where he is more or less a bad guy.
It retains many elements from the original title, which fans loved, and balances out the overall experience with a story of much larger scale and epic proportions. This was where Kratos was most likable in the original trilogy until 2018.
1) God of War (2018)
Santa Monica Studios’ decision to softly reboot the series was one of the best choices they made, as the Kratos we see in 2018’s God of War is by far the most relatable and likable we’ve seen him yet. Mourning the death of his wife and having to raise a son by himself is a tough call, especially if you’re the embodiment of rage itself.
Yet, the time between the previous game and this one seems to have humbled Kratos and cooled his rage. We see him act far more composed than ever before and even uncharacteristically wise, which was a welcome change of pace.
The change to an over-the-shoulder camera for gameplay highly complimented the new combat mechanics and world traversal in the semi-open-world setting. While the changeup to a Norse setting might seem to many as another opportunity for Kratos to decimate a new pantheon of gods, Kratos seems to have grown past all that. And who doesn’t love some good character development?
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