When Kratos teaches his son a harsh – but often necessary – lesson about life and the world, we feel Atreus’ silent disappointment because many of those lessons are ones that we’ve learned, too. When Atreus is put in any kind of danger, Kratos launches into an old-school God of War rage. What ultimately makes the Kratos/Atreus dynamic work as well as it does is the way the game weaves their relationship into nearly every aspect of the experience. While his perky personality helps bring out a more human side of Kratos, there are moments when he exhibits a “Gee-whiz” attitude that doesn’t really match the circumstances of his situation and what we believe to be his upbringing. Truth be told, though, there are times when Atreus’ dialogue and actions seem a bit out of place. Granted, that has something to do with the fact that we genuinely come to care for Atreus as someone whom we cannot lose (even if he cannot actually die during combat). Ok, that last part isn’t very typical, but the point still stands that Atreus serves as the emotional counterpoint to his father’s stoic nature.Īctually, for as much as people like to take Kratos to task for being a generic character notable only for his bloodlust and the spectacle of his rage, many of God of War’s best moments are the result of Kratos launching into the most epic form of dad mode that we’ve ever seen in a video game. He’s energetic, prone to get into trouble, and is capable of reading ancient runes. On the other hand, Atreus is pretty much like every young boy you’ve ever known. Well, the game deals with that as Kratos initially treats Atreus more as a tool or weapon that has to be honed in order to survive in this world. Going into this sequel (although perhaps we should call it a revival), then, it was difficult to imagine how he would ever manage to be a father. The God of War games up until this point have established Kratos as more of a force of nature than a man. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus is a…complicated one. For the most part, that aspect of the game works as well as advertised. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus has been billed as one of God of War’s standout features. The former largely consist of the things that we can’t really talk about – this game goes places you are not prepared for – but it’s the latter that will ultimately define the legacy of this title. Perhaps the same can be said of many other games, but God of War is special in the way that it slowly unfolds the layers of its story through moments that are large in the grand tradition of epic God of War adventures and small in ways that we’ve never seen from this series. Play God of War from its incredible opening to its emotional conclusion and you’ll soon find that it’s incredibly difficult to talk about the things that make this game’s story so special without potentially ruining it for others. Further Reading: 50 Underrated PlayStation 2 Games

God of war review