God of War 2018 looked amazing at the time of its release, but now in 2022 the level of work and detail created really comes to light in its Microsoft Windows (PC) release. You know we are living in a strange time for gaming when two of the best games on the PlayStation 4 play best on PC (the other being Horizon Zero Dawn). It looks like PC releases might become the norm for PlayStation going forward, although there may be a lengthy wait to ensure that these are still seen as PS exclusives before being anything else… But God of War 2018 – Microsoft Windows Edition has been a hit.
In my opinion, I’d be surprised if PlayStation didn’t at least take some time to consider having their first-party titles releasing day and date on PC alongside their console brothers. Much can be made about these titles being system sellers, but PC gaming isn’t exactly cheap to get into and if anything, I’d imagine it’s more likely to encourage PC players to have a PS5 as their TV system due to the relatively cheap entry price compared to a good tier GPU.
That’s a conversation for another day and here I’m looking to take a deep dive into what makes God of War such a fantastic game and why anyone with the ability should drop their cash on the PC version, even if they have played before on PS4.
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GOW (still makes me think of Gears of War first tbh…) is one of the highest-rated games of all time, and here on PC, God of War 2018 only gets better. Although the graphics options are quite not a million miles away from the original release, there’s no doubt that the game looks a look sharper with the options that have been added.
Alongside the graphical upgrades, the biggest additions are supported for ultrawide resolutions and a framerate cap at 120 and also support for Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep learning super sampling). As a quick side note on this, since moving to PC gaming I honestly have no idea why any developer wouldn’t want to use DLSS. One of the biggest selling points of PC gaming is the options it provides and the unlocked framerates on offer compared to console counterparts.
When operating at either Quality or Balanced, it’s extremely hard to tell the difference in games compared to native resolutions. Changing to Performance or Ultra Performance might produce a slightly less clear image but the performance gains across all settings are really worth it. On my 3070 with an ultrawide screen, the game has never dropped below 80 frames per second at high settings. As a nice addition, there is even an original graphics setting, which matches the console release exactly.
PlayStation is massively ahead of Xbox on DLSS as they appear to be keen to include it in their PC releases (Horizon Zero Dawn got a patch late on in 2021 to add this feature). As a point of comparison, neither Halo Infinite nor Forza Horizon 5 have this, and both could benefit massively from the tec. Xbox really needs to get on board with this feature going forward for their PC versions of games.
Should you not have access to an RTX graphics card fear not as AMD’s FSR is available and produces similar results, if not quite as clear in presentation. Any option that provides more headroom for performance is always welcome and more should look to add this going forward.
Moving back to GOW and its story and gameplay, the game is the eighth instalment in the God of War series, the eighth chronologically, and the sequel to 2010’s God of War III. As someone that has never played the original games, this never bothered me, and the story gave me more than enough to know what was going on. Although earlier games were based on Greek mythology, here we take a turn into Norse mythology and it takes place several decades after GOW 3.
The story follows Kratos and his son Atreus, as they journey to scatter the ashes of his wife. Along the way, they will encounter many gods of Norse Mythology including Odin and his son Baldur. Their journey follows them developing their relationship and fighting loads of different enemies.
Along the way, you’ll upgrade Krato’s weapons and gear to make a stronger more capable fighter while exploring his history with his son and mistakes from the past. The voice acting in the game sets a new benchmark for excellence, with every character being as good as any movie in the last 30 years. On that note, it’s strange that this hasn’t been picked up by Hollywood, at least not yet…
Within the first 30 minutes, you’ll have a great idea of the gameplay and story on offer and what the game is all about. In the short time I owned a PS4, I bounced off the game due to the 30fps gameplay but here at above 60fps, its greatness shines through. Even after almost 4 years from release. the game is truly breathtaking to watch and play.
I can’t recommend the game enough and it’s truly one of the best games ever made. This might well be the best 3rd person action-adventure game ever made.
In terms of issues, I have had a few issues with both pop-in of textures and crashes but nothing that I would consider game-breaking or that should keep you away. In short, if you’re a PC player and have never been able to experience GOW, I advise you to pick up this game as soon as you can. For those on PC who are lucky enough to also have the game on PS5, it’s still worth a revisit. 3rd personal games feel totally different once you go past the 60fps lock on most console experiences.
God of War 2018 – Microsoft Windows makes me extremely hopeful that its sequel will also get a release. However, this time let’s hope that we don’t need to wait 4 years for it to grace our Battlestations. Over to you PlayStation… Play nice with Microsoft and they’ll play nice with you?
God of War – Microsoft Windows