There seems to be enough interest in this game here at DBO that it might not be a bad idea to have a dedicated spoiler thread (and if it does turn out to be a bad idea, we can just blame Cheapley ;p)

So I'm roughly 12-15 hours into the game now. For context, I've cured Kratos' son and told him that he's a god, and we're now making our way back up to the top of the mountain.

A few comments I want to make at this point.

First of all, I wanted to say how generally spectacular this game is. The story keeps getting better, and has just recently taken a turn that opens up plenty of fascinating and compelling possibilities given the history of the franchise and Kratos' past (more on that later). But just as a collective, cohesive experience, this game is absolutely top notch. The progression, world design, the characters and writing, the imaginative visual design and technical wizardry (seriously, how the heck is this game possible on a PS4?!?)... it's all stellar. On to a few specific things:

World design

This is a tough game to describe in terms of its physical structure. Its not actually an open world. A better description would be something akin to ODST's "Hub and Spoke" layout, or the modern Tomb Raider/ Batman Arkham Asylum versions of a metroid game. One of the things that jumps out at me is that the world has been crafted with an amazingly efficient use of space. The range and variety of locations is vast, awe-inspiring, and memorable. But everything is compact enough that it never feels daunting or tedious to travel between locations. The use of the boat to get you around the "hub" quickly is a brilliant move, and transitions nicely to the mostly on-foot traversal in the "spokes".

This all adds up to a world that feels much bigger than it is. Which is ideal, really. Because it takes up this huge place in my imagination, but its always quick and easy to find my way around. This plays into exploration in a big way. When I'm playing most open-world games, I'm often reluctant to wander off the main path because I don't want to get lost or take a wrong turn and end up backtracking and wasting a bunch of time. When I'm in the right specific mood for it, I'll set aside some time to ignore the main missions and just explore, but I need to be in just the right headspace to do that. In God of War, I've found that I can now freely explore all the time, because I'm never going to end up going too far out of my way in terms of geography. BUT, my detours will often end up taking more time than I expected them too, because I wander just a tiny bit away from my objective and find something else to do that is completely awesome. I do it, and then in a minute or two I'm back on my path towards my main objective. So far, exploring the world has only ever lead to me finding stuff that made me glad I'd gone exploring, without any of the usual open-world pitfalls.

Combat

A few days ago, I made a comment about how the combat in this new God of War game is fundamentally different than the combat in previous entries. My feeling at the time was that this new combat system is excellent, but doesn't scratch the same itch as previous games, because it is just such a different system.

What I've found over time is that the new combat system is indeed excellent and deep and rewarding and thrilling. As I continue to unlock new moves and abilities, the Axe is feeling closer to matching the versatility of Kratos' blades from the rest of the franchise. I think the most interesting difference is that in the previous games, Kratos himself would begin to feel like the eye at the center of a hurricane. The birds-eye camera allowed full awareness of everything going on around you. Enemies would flood towards you from all directions, only to be explosively repelled by Kratos' non-stop whirlwind of blocks, counters, parries, and slams. This new game seems to reward a bit more of a "divide and conquer" approach, thanks to the dual-character nature of the combat. If you let multiple enemies come at you together (as I often would in the previous games), they'll almost inevitably overwhelm your ability to block and parry, as certain attacks now stagger Kratos even when he blocks them, leaving you open to follow up attacks which are certainly coming. So I find it often works better to use constant motion around the environment to take on enemies one or two at a time, while I use Atreus' and his bow to distract other enemies. Then, once the opportunity presents itself, I'll focus Kratos and his son's attacks together on a single target to deliver major damage.

Somewhere around the 8-9 hour mark, I got to the point where I was so absorbed by this new combat system that I no longer felt like I was missing the combat of the previous games. And then, the whole table gets flipped over. Kratos gets his blades back. And just like that, the "old" combat and the "new" combat come crashing together in the most fantastic and satisfying way. Except its not quite the "old" combat. Kratos uses his blades much the same way he always did. He spins and twirls and attacks in all directions at once. But you still need to contend with the fact that the counter/parry system is not quite as invincible as it used to be, so you still need to think about approaching encounters within the context of the new combat system. And its a perfect marriage. I'll use my blades to engage half a dozen weaker foes simultaneously, while using Atreos' arrows to distract a single larger foe. Then I'll switch back to the Axe mid-combat and slam the big guy with more focused and direct attacks.

The development and layering of all these different combat mechanics is freaking awesome, and I'm nowhere near seeing everything it has to offer.

Story & Characters.

I won't go too far into the story right now, but I will say that I care a lot more about what is going on than I thought I could ever care about a God of War game. Much like Horizon Zero Dawn, they build the story slowly, naturally, with confidence.

The one thing I wanted to highlight is how awesome the humor in this game can be. Not only is it genuinely funny, but they also use humor to smooth over the rough edges that can often come from trying to accommodate storytelling and game mechanics at the same time. The best example of this is the Dwarves. The way they just show up in the most impossible places and dismiss it like its no big deal is great. Even though they do eventually provide an in-universe explanation for their ability to get around the world, its still a great little nod to the silliness of finding "vendors" at the tops of mountains or in abandoned caves. My favorite moment so far is when Brok demands to see my Axe, then he smacks it with his hammer and hands it back to me. Kratos says "... what did you just do?" and Brok replies "IT'S BETTER" in a voice that is just dripping with sarcasm. It's such a great poke at the whole "stats going up" trope that runs through these games.

There's also a lot of humor that comes from the interplay between Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir. Kratos himself has always been so painfully serious and humorless, but here they've found a great way to play off of that with other characters, without it ever feeling forced or unnatural.

Finally, I really appreciate the way they use the relationship between Kratos and Atreus to add believability to the whole "side quest" nature of the game. Since Kratos himself seems very much like the last person on earth who would ever go out of his way to help anyone, they play up the son's desire to help and turn that difference between him and his father into part of the conversation between them as you are completing side missions (Kratos reluctantly agreeing to go along with it in an attempt to show the slightest bit of paternal care for his son, while Atreus starts to think about realistic/strategic ways to justify these missions to his father to help convince him to go along with it).

That's all I wanted to say for now, but I'm sure I'll get into more stuff later. Looking forward to hearing about everyone else's experiences with this game :)

I just revived Mimir, so you’re passed where I am. I did have the Blades of Chaos spoiled for me though, so I knew that was coming. I did think it was going to be much more late game though.

I know photo mode is coming, but I really hope NG+ is something they consider.

I can’t say enough about how good the game is in basically every way. I’m enthralled by the story, and I find that really surprising. The world design is incredible. It is as you said. It’s perfect in size and scope, and the optional areas (the few that I’ve done, finding the Alchemist’s Ring and the old Dwarf King’s castle) are great. There really seems to be absolutely no filler in the game, in that even the optional stuff is fun and feels well worth seeing and doing.

And again, the art direction of the game is just incredible. Everything is beautiful, and they do an excellent job of transitioning between themes naturally but fairly quickly.

P.S. The dwarves are awesome. Maybe I’m just an immature child still, but Brok’s foul language cracks me up every single time.

Also, the game got me interested enough that I spent one of my Audible credits this month on Neil Gaimon’s Norse Mythology, which is basically just his retelling of the myths in a more traditional novel and easy to digest manner. He also narrates the audio book. If you’re into that sort of thing, it’s been great for the past two hours I’ve been listening.

Story & Characters.

I won't go too far into the story right now, but I will say that I care a lot more about what is going on than I thought I could ever care about a God of War game. Much like Horizon Zero Dawn, they build the story slowly, naturally, with confidence.

There's a moment early in this game where, if I wasn't already along for the ride, would have single-handedly sold me on the storytelling.

The game literally opens up with Kratos standing at (and chopping down) the last tree that Faye had marked for him. You don't know this yet, until the game feeds you the information little by little (both the what and the why), all leading up to Atreus seeing the hole in the ward spell.
He asks why she would do that, and right there, I waited for Kratos to essentially sell the storytelling short. But he didn't.
Normally, this is the moment where the writers would give us, the viewers, exposition under the guise of Kratos explaining things to Atreus... Instead, Kratos says nothing. The camera casually pulls up to him when Atreus asks, and focuses on his expression, before he turns and continues to journey.
If you've been paying attention, you know exactly why she did that. You didn't know it at the beginning of the game (and neither did Kratos), but you went along with it, because you were simply following instruction. But as the game slowly gives you the information, you know exactly what her motivations were, and what she had to do to ensure them. All that's left is to see if Kratos has also paid attention. And his expressions shows that yes, he knows what she did, and why. Saying a single word would have ruined the things leading up to it, but the writers were confident in their work, and all we needed was a single look to cap the storytelling up to that point.

It reminded me of subtle things that you see in some of the best experiences, such as in The Last of Us when Joel smirked at Ellie's spirit, and looked at his watch for a moment afterwards. it's the first small glimpse of happiness that we see from him, and that moment shows us why without saying a word.

The game is also really good at having small, throwaway moments come into play later (the obvious one that comes to mind is Atreus saying that things feel different in the woods), and it's just some of my favorite style of writing.

The one thing I wanted to highlight is how awesome the humor in this game can be. Not only is it genuinely funny, but they also use humor to smooth over the rough edges that can often come from trying to accommodate storytelling and game mechanics at the same time. The best example of this is the Dwarves. The way they just show up in the most impossible places and dismiss it like its no big deal is great. Even though they do eventually provide an in-universe explanation for their ability to get around the world, its still a great little nod to the silliness of finding "vendors" at the tops of mountains or in abandoned caves. My favorite moment so far is when Brok demands to see my Axe, then he smacks it with his hammer and hands it back to me. Kratos says "... what did you just do?" and Brok replies "IT'S BETTER" in a voice that is just dripping with sarcasm. It's such a great poke at the whole "stats going up" trope that runs through these games.

Yeah. It's weird how they repeatedly break the fourth wall... But not really, because it's in-universe. Like when I sold a chestpiece to Sindri, and he asked "Where were you keeping that?" in an incredulous tone. Sure, it's a joke about the invisible hammerspace where we keep the hundreds of items in our inventory... But in context, he's hesitant to touch anything that might be unclean, so he's really just trying to know where it's been.

It's good stuff!

Also, this game has some of the best scenes and sequences that go from 0-100 reeeeaaal quick. Meeting the Stranger, breaking stealth in Alfheim, finding the Dragon...

The game had tons of moments where you're forced to go all-in with every tool that you've got at the snap of a finger, right as you're about to drop your guard and get comfortable. I missed games that do that, and the best part is that none of these sequences are simple button-mashing moments. You're expected to be able to seriously adapt on the fly, and it makes the events that unfold feel truly rewarding.

Also, this game has some of the best scenes and sequences that go from 0-100 reeeeaaal quick. Meeting the Stranger, breaking stealth in Alfheim, finding the Dragon...

The encounter with The Stranger is still the best fight in the game so far. I’ve only really seen one other thing that would be considered a real boss fight, the dragon you fight on the mountain, which is a decent fight but feels much more like a traditional video game boss fight.

Also, this game has some of the best scenes and sequences that go from 0-100 reeeeaaal quick. Meeting the Stranger, breaking stealth in Alfheim, finding the Dragon...

The encounter with The Stranger is still the best fight in the game so far. I’ve only really seen one other thing that would be considered a real boss fight, the dragon you fight on the mountain, which is a decent fight but feels much more like a traditional video game boss fight.

The thing that made the fight against the stranger so fantastic is that it’s unpredictable. I had no idea when it would stop or what would happen next. It just feels so relentless and brutal.

That’s part of it.

It’s a really great tutorial, though. I’m sure you can probably brute force it, but that fight really dies a great job of teaching you to dodge, block, and parry. It shows you that blocking big attacks with bad timing leaves you wide open for counterattack, but it doesn’t punish you for missing the party window—it just highlights the fact that when you do Kratos gets stunned and pushed back.

But yeah, but the end of that fight, I was thinking “seriously?! How much can this guy take?!” and it was fantastic. And just the sheer destruction. Starting in a pristine area with fresh snow and a bunch of trees, and all the trees getting destroyed and the snow getting trampled. It was like The Frozen Wilds again.

God of War has basically the exact structure I'd love to see in The Last of Us II. The Last of Us is one of my favorite games, and I'd be totally okay if they stick with just a totally linear design for the sequel.

But I think God of War strikes almost the perfect balance between linear story and and optional open content. You could totally play God of War as a straight shot linear game, and I think it'd still be excellent.

I really would love to see The Last of Us do God of War styled optional side areas--I want to delve more into that world and lore. Maybe it doesn't work as well in a more "real" setting like The Last of Us. There's definitely something to be said for the different realms and all the mythological stuff really making it work well in God of War.

God of War has basically the exact structure I'd love to see in The Last of Us II. The Last of Us is one of my favorite games, and I'd be totally okay if they stick with just a totally linear design for the sequel.

But I think God of War strikes almost the perfect balance between linear story and and optional open content. You could totally play God of War as a straight shot linear game, and I think it'd still be excellent.

I really would love to see The Last of Us do God of War styled optional side areas--I want to delve more into that world and lore. Maybe it doesn't work as well in a more "real" setting like The Last of Us. There's definitely something to be said for the different realms and all the mythological stuff really making it work well in God of War.

Funny thing is that TLoU has an area like that. It’s in Bill’s town, where you see a door somewhat off to the side where an infected got locked in. There’s no need to go over there, but if you go in, and head upstairs, you find an old note left behind for someone. Ellie comments on that note, and you get a moment between the two personalities (plus, it confirms that Ellie has a hopeless romantic in there somewhere beneath her tough-girl exterior).

I dunno, Maybe the closest we’ll get to a game like this is in Days Gone.

So... I beat it. And it is fantastic.

The story stuff with cutting down the tree was a great way to open, but what really sold me was the first real boss fight. It was such a knock down drag out fight that ranged all over and required a variety of tactical strategies. It left me awed and wondering if that’s the opening fight, what am I gonna get going forward.

I also liked the hub and spoke design. All the little missions on the different islands are great. Each island is almost a Tomb Raider style puzzle.

One of my favorite things is how confident they are in their enemy types. This is demonstrated really well in Muspelheim. Not sure if any of you have gotten there yet, but once you do you’ll have fun.

Of course, one of the best things they did was make Atreus a well thought out well realized character. His range of emotions and actions throughout the game are incredibly well written and acted.

Two last things:

First, a pro tip: It is very easy to accidentally wander into a Valkyrie when nearing the top of the mountain. Do not do this. And certainly don’t try for half an hour to beat her. I got close with mastering her attack patterns, but most of her attacks were one or two hit kills and it took me a silly-ly long time to realize I’d taken a wrong turn and hadn’t run into the most massive difficulty spike ever.

Second: When you do beat the game, have fun exploring and doing more quests and stuff, but be sure and go home.

It’s a bit silly to be spoilering things within the spoiler topic so if you don’t want to know about stuff don’t read until you get to whatever I’m talking about.

Muspelheim is fantastically fun. It’s a bunch of little challenges similar to Archon’s Forge or Firefight. It seems there are 12ish challenges that rank up in difficulty.

The last one I completed was fantastic. It was: Kill 100 enemies. Sounds easy, but it turned out to be quite the awesome endurance test. It was only throwing maybe 5 enemies at a time at me, but when those enemies are Traverles, Ogres, heavy mace flame explosion guys and quick spear throwing Ice undead guys... it all adds up. You have to play your ass off to not incrementally get your health pool beaten down. And it’s a ton of fun! And it took something like 20 or 30 minutes!

The one before that was something like: “Enemies quickly regenerate health” which made it so I could not kill an enemy with normal attacks so I switched to my fists and punched guys in the face with my son hit them with stunning arrows and I had to stun/insta kill all the enemies. Including throwing several into lava pools or off the side of the map!

I've only done the first two, and I just don't think I'm powerful enough to continue. The second room was already killer.

Kill enemies quickly was a neat one, where you had to kill everyone within a small time frame or they just continued to respawn.

I'm looking forward to going back when I get some better gear.

I also did my first Valkyrie fight tonight (the one that's pretty obvious along the story path), and that was a really fun fight. I'm glad, too, because so far nothing has really lived up The Stranger fight. Thor's two dipshit sons weren't that interesting or challenging.

I just now got the Blades of Chaos and am getting ready to enter Helheim, but my controller died, so I figure that's a good enough stopping point for the night.

Once again, I cannot overstate how good this game is. Between this and Horizon: Zero Dawn (not too mention Bloodborne), I'd recommend that just about anybody that doesn't have one should go pick up a PS4 if they can, even if it's just a used launch model for cheap. This game is that good. It's the first game since like Ocarina of Time that got perfect 10s basically across the board and actually deserves them. Literally my only complaint so far is "They started the game with the best fight, so none of the others live up to it."

Finally beat my first Valkyrie last night. Was a tough one. Her normal attacks were fairly blockable but she would occasionally do a special attack where she’d jump on me and kick me in the face to death. I finally learned the extremely quick tell and figured out I could dodge at the right time and finally won after about 30 minutes of trying.

One of my favorite things is a Talsmen I have that instantly refreshes my Runic attacks. Being able to hit a boss with two uses of each Runic attack deals MASSIVE damage in a very short amount of time. :)

Finally beat my first Valkyrie last night. Was a tough one. Her normal attacks were fairly blockable but she would occasionally do a special attack where she’d jump on me and kick me in the face to death. I finally learned the extremely quick tell and figured out I could dodge at the right time and finally won after about 30 minutes of trying.

The one I faced had odd normal attacks. They were able to be parried, but the timing is just odd enough that it was sort of difficult to get right. She starts from across the arena then launches herself at you, but there's just a split second of hesitation when she gets to you before she swings--just enough that it's easy to be lured into blocking too early.

She also really punishes you if you get greedy with your attacks. I got the parry down, and go in for the counterattack, but if you get to greedy she does this crazy spin attack. You can block it, but if you screw that up, it leaves you wide open and she does three or four spins that just decimate your health pool.

It was a very, very fun fight, and I'm looking forward to finding the rest of them.

One of my favorite things is a Talsmen I have that instantly refreshes my Runic attacks. Being able to hit a boss with two uses of each Runic attack deals MASSIVE damage in a very short amount of time. :)

That sounds awesome.

I saw this jiff today on Reddit highlighting a small moment in the game's combat:

Like we were discussing before, the game's controls take a lot of getting used to. They start off feeling a bit unnecessarily complex for the combat early in the game, and you can manage by following a simple quick-attack + block/parry combo.

But that's not what the game wants you to do, and before long, you'll realize that this strategy will get you killed real quick as soon as your enemies close the distance and surround you. So you have to mix it up. You have to learn what moves fit your playstyle, and how you can adapt your playstyle to make the best use of your moves. More importantly, you have to become faster at picking and choosing the enemies that you have to prioritize, because some do heavy damage, some are fast, and some will pick at you from a distance.
So you have to keep learning, getting better, and you have to mix it up. And the great thing is that the more you do it all, the more you realize how beautiful the combat can flow. It becomes a dance, and you realize that doing awesome things that look incredibly cool are also the best way to play the game from a practical standpoint.

At the same time, there's something really satisfying about being a badass, rather than just having the game present you as one, or asking for button prompts to showcase some scripted fight sequences. The way the game is organic about everything except for finishers (which you have to earn) keeps everything genuinely exciting, and you end up wanting to chain together the moves, because you get great stuff like the gif above, without it being fake.

I remember that moment in Alfheim, where the hive becomes aware of us and makes a last-ditch effort to overwhelm us as we make a mad dash to free the Light. Kratos tells Atreus to go all-out, because "you won't miss!". I took that as my cue to spam everything I had, because, as Kratos pointed out, there's so many enemies swarming, that you kind of have to unleash everything in your arsenal at once. And it worked, and both felt awesome, and it looked awesome.

The only other game that I can think of that rewards you for organically chaining together as much awesome without stopping is Titanfall 2 (and to a more numbers-based degree, the Devil May Cry/Bayonetta games).

It's good stuff that makes me want to fight just for the sake of fighting.

Holy cow. God of War is an absolute ride. What an incredible experience.

The final Baldur fight was great. His switching between fire and ice vulnerability to force the player to use both weapons was brilliant. It's honestly something I wish the game leaned on a bit more. It does a decent job of it (The encounter with the fire and ice trolls at the same time, where you can lure them into killing each other is fantastic), but I would still have liked to seem them play with it more.

I'm amazed that they made me care about Kratos and a God of War story. And it was excellent. I think it hit on every level that it was supposed to, nothing felt cheesy or bad. The pacing gets a little wonky at the end with it just continuing to introduce MacGuffins to chase down, but I was enjoying the game and wanting it to continue so much that even that didn't bother me.

I loved the way the game ended. The actual story ending was good, but artistically, rolling credits on the right side of the screen while you still control Kratos as you walk out of the temple and back down the stairs as he explains the meaning of the name Atreus to his son . . . it was just fantastic.

I'm looking forward to mopping up the stuff I haven't done yet. I freed two dragons during my playthrough, and I freed one Valkyrie, Gunnr. I also fought Eir and Kara, but got my ass handed to me, so I left them and continued the main quest. I got 30 some odd ravens, and I haven't even been to Niflheim yet.

I hope the photo mode patch comes soon. Or maybe I hope it comes in like two months, as that will give me a good reason to start a new save and go through the whole game again.

I loved the way the game ended. The actual story ending was good, but artistically, rolling credits on the right side of the screen while you still control Kratos as you walk out of the temple and back down the stairs as he explains the meaning of the name Atreus to his son . . . it was just fantastic.

Have you gone home recently?

I loved the way the game ended. The actual story ending was good, but artistically, rolling credits on the right side of the screen while you still control Kratos as you walk out of the temple and back down the stairs as he explains the meaning of the name Atreus to his son . . . it was just fantastic.

Have you gone home recently?

Yeah, I did that basically immediately. It was neat, but also very obvious. I was like half expecting him to show up towards the end of this game.

I'm definitely down for more God of War with this combat, but I wonder if they can really follow up this story well. Do we move from Kratos getting to know his son and revealing the truth and coming to terms with himself into Kratos and Atreus working their way through the Norse gods like Kratos did in the first series? I mean, sure, they can justify it, but I'm not sure what meaningful story follows from here. I'll sure give them a chance to show me, though, after the amazing job they did with this game.

I just got to the top of the volcano and found a Valkyrie waiting for me. I did not expect that, but maybe I should have!

Mine is the shield gong ranged attack:

Mine is the shield gong ranged attack:

I use the Talisman that gives me basically just that final move with a big stun effect.

I’d have to think about my favorite move. The R1 counter after a perfect parry sending an enemy flying across the arena is always really satisfying.

Cory Barlog has been doing the rounds, it seems. Lots of folks have long spoiler-filled shows with him this week. They're worth watching/listening to.

Here's Kinda Funny's:

Here's Easy Allies':

Here's Giant Bomb's (a podcast, rather than a video, and is mostly spoiler free):

Giant Bomb Presents: God of God of War

Some good stuff in there, and it's good to know (if obvious) that there's definite plans to continue the series. Sounds like there's some big plans for the story, and that this first game really is just laying the groundwork.

Is there any indication that there will be DLC to continue the story? Or are we going to have to wait for a new game years from now?

Cory Balrog, servant of Morgoth, Durin's Bane, the Nameless Terror, Demon of Might, is interviewed by Gandalf of the Istari, for 10 days, although primarily for two days and nights upon the peak of Celebdil from the 23rd-25th of January in TA 3019.

Seems pretty intense.

Sounds like no DLC, but he didn’t confirm one way or another.

What are everyone's loadouts looking like?

Here's what I'm using at the moment:

Light Runic Attack:
Charge of the White Bear

I love using this charge to close the distance on an enemy. Once it's upgraded, you can also use R2 to follow up the charge attack to do a sort of ground smash that has an area of effect. It's great for closing the distance on a mob and dealing a big damage hit right off the bat, and works equally as well for dealing good damage on a strong enemy.

Heavy Runic Attack:
Ivaldi's Anvil

This attack it just a big area of effect attack that freezes low tier enemies and does good damage on higher powered enemies. I use it a lot to just save my ass if I get overrun by a trash mob.

I'm using Cyclone of Chaos and Tartarus Rage as my light and heavy runics for the Blades of Chaos. I don't have too many opinions on those yet, as they're the only two runic attacks I have unlocked for the Blades, so I haven't been able to experiment with anything else. The Cyclone is great for mobs, and Tartarus Rage is just a big slam attack that deals decent damage.

I'm also using the Boar Stampede summon for Atreus. It's maxed out stun damage, so it's great for locking down enemies, which I've found more useful than trying to make Atreus a big damage dealer (although that might be totally possible with a different summon).

I just killed the Valkyrie at the top of the mountain in Muspelheim. She was probably the most difficult one I've faced yet (I've killed Gunner, Eir, Kara, and Olrun previously).

Doing so unlocks an even more challenging version of the trials. The very first one is "Avoid taking damage" with a 20 enemy countdown. It starts easy enough (although not exactly super easy, but manageable). Once you get down to about 8 left, though, it throws a Soul Devourer and two Wolvers at you (after having previously thrown two Wolvers, a pair of the spear throwing Hel-Walkers, and a pair of the fast fire guys at you).

I tried three times and haven't made it through yet. I'm stopping for now to travel to Niflheim, which I haven't done yet.

This game continues to impress me. It's a non-stop ride. I honestly can't believe I'm still this enthralled with it--usually once the main quest in a game is over, I pretty quickly lose interest and motivation to keep playing it.

TBH that is fine by me. I borrowed a friend's PS4 to play the current game, and if I'm going to continue that strategy, it works best to have things spaced out. :)

I don't know if I can pick an actual favorite, but I do use that one a lot. A few standouts for me:

1. Either of the attacks where you recall the axe and attack in one move.

2. The unarmed alternate stance heavy attack, where you leap with the shield. Perfect for following up after a sprinting punch sends the enemy flying.

3. Tripping enemies with a thrown axe.

4. I've only just unlocked the Blades of Chaos, so I haven't fully explored those yet. But right now, the thing I love the most is the heavy attack "finisher" ground slam you can tack on to the end of a light attack combo. Simply because that move was always a staple of combat for me in the old games, so it makes me feel "back in the groove" more than anything else.

Side note, because this post is about the unarmed shield attack: One of MANY things I love about this game is how satisfying the unarmed combat is. It's not just a fallback for when you forget to recall your axe - sometimes it's actually the best option. I find myself using it a lot just for fun, so when that Muspelheim trial where they regenerate health came up, I felt very prepared. :)

Muspelheim is really cool. Honestly, in most games I would probably ignore this sort of optional "trials" thing. But the combat in this game is SO good, and Muspelheim does such a great job of providing interesting variations, that I've usually been pretty eager to try the next one. I've only broken off and gone back to the "main" stuff when it becomes apparent that I'm not leveled up enough yet for a certain stage. I'm now to the Valkyrie at the end and I have done exactly that - she's still too powerful for me. She was actually the first one I had run into, but I've since fought a few others in hidden chambers. Some of which weren't too bad, and others were too much for me - they seem to have a variation in levels.

I’m with you. I usually find these sorts of arenas a bit tedious. But the combat feels so good that I just want to do more of it. And the trials are designed so well that it really does encourage, if not outright force, the player to use the full toolset.

The other optional area, Nilfheim isn’t nearly as good. It is actually tedious. It’s a sort of maze of traps. The whole area is covered in most that slowly drains a meter. When that meter is empty, you start taking a damage, and it will completely drain your health very quickly. There are chests littered everywhere that give you Mist Echoes, and each chest you open refills a portion of that meter. The mist echoes are used to craft the armor set, which increase your resistance to the mist. They’re also used as a currency for the central chamber which is filled with chests and a few Realm Tears that are locked until you have enough Mist Echoes. If you die in the maze, you lose your Mist Echoes, so you have to make it out. It ends up being repeated small incursions to slowly get enough materials to craft armor with increased resistance. It’s an exercise in tedium. It’s a neat idea that just doesn’t end up being very fun. It’s the first time I’m playing this game that I didn’t want to be doing the activity in front of me. It’s bad enough that it will probably be the thing that prevents me from getting the platinum trophy. I don’t think i can stomach grinding it out for a few hours to get through.