God of War

The whole game plays out as a single take, with no camera cuts and no loading screens. Director Cory Barlog had pitched this kind of camera earlier at Crystal Dynamics, while he was working on Tomb Raider. The answer there was that it was crazy. Sony backed the idea.

The Norse setting won out over Egypt so that Kratos, a stranger in a strange land, would stay at the center. In combat Atreus distracts weaker enemies and calls out where foes are, and he can't be killed, so you never have to babysit him.

Barlog estimated the story at 25 to 35 hours. In 2018 the game won Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Praise was nearly universal, though one reviewer found the final fight weaker than the other bosses, and another grew tired of recalling the axe. Players give it 95% positive across 131,023 reviews, and critics 93 on Metacritic. On our Recommended Score it ranks 16 of 4,736 games.

Liked it? Try God of War Ragnarök, where Kratos and a teenage Atreus travel through all nine realms, and Black Myth: Wukong, where a staff-wielding monkey fights through a story drawn from Journey to the West.