This review appeared on IGN Middle East
2018’s God of War was a masterpiece – in fact, we reviewed it as such (read our review here). Watching Kratos and his son Atreus do battle together while suffering through all the angst that a father-son relationship can have was truly something to behold, all while delivering heart-pounding action and gameplay that the franchise is known for.
Now, a full four years later, that epic journey can be re-experienced on the PC as well. God of War’s jump to the PC in 2022 is a welcome one, but also brings with it several tweaks and improvements that the PlayStation 4 couldn’t quite pull off. Make no doubts about it – the game looked and played wonderfully on console, but on PC it feels like a brand new game, no matter how many times you may have finished it.
The ability to play God of War with a keyboard and mouse is an interesting one. While my instinct was to play the game on PC with a controller, I still gave the mouse and keyboard a try for the first half of the game, to see how it would change my experience with the game. Aiming is certainly far easier to do with the mouse, making it handy to target airborne enemies or focus on one particular enemy at a time. Movement controls are also fluid, and the game does allow you to remap pretty much any key to make it easier for you to move around and fight. The default Q button for blocking is one I would immediately recommend you rebind, as it’s a bit tricky to hold down Q and move at the same time. Whether you’ve remapped keys or play with default controls, the game handles very well with keyboard and mouse. The rest of the game I chose to play with an Xbox One S controller, which the game supports fully. You can also use a PlayStation controller for a more familiar feel, but whatever control scheme you use, the game plays wonderfully.
Accessibility is another area where the game has been improved, with the option to now automatically sprint (instead of holding down a button), an always-on reticle, and of course full keyboard/mouse remapping. There are other options available as well such as removing button-tap events, remapping your Spartan rage ability, and options for text readability.
Naturally, the jump to PC will bring the biggest improvements to graphics and performance, and this is where the meat of the game lies. With uncapped framerates, there are a ton of visual improvements to the game such as higher resolution shadows, GTAO and SSDO. By far the biggest change is the inclusion of Nvidia DLSS technology for supported GPUs. This allows the game to output the game’s graphics at high resolutions without compromising on performance, which ensures smooth gameplay and consistent framerates throughout the game. With DLSS set to ‘Performance’ in 1080p, we noticed that while framerates were comfortably in the 90-100 region, various textures were patchy and not so crisp, especially detailing around fur and hair. Cranking DLSS up to ‘Quality’ saw framerates drop to about 85fps, but introduced a level of detail that the PS4 could never achieve. Ever fire ember, snowflake, and glistening shard of ice came through in stunning detail, making every inch of Kratos’ world come to life. The difference in quality can’t be ignored, and whether you have an Nvidia or AMD GPU, you’ll stand to benefit from the game’s vast improvements from its console days.
4k performance was also very good – our PC was equipped with an RTX GeForce 3070Ti GPU and an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU. With all graphical settings at Ultra and DLSS set to the highest quality, we saw framerates sit comfortably at 75-80fps, which made for an absolutely unforgettable way to experience God of War. Trust us when we say this – God of War on PC is an experience we haven’t had before on console – until God of War: Ragnarok arrives on the PS5. For systems that may struggle to keep up with the performance demands of the game, God of War also supports Nvidia Reflex, to ensure that every key or button press is relayed instantly to the game.
For gamers lucky enough to have an ultra-wide monitor in their PC setup, God of War on PC also supports a 21:9 aspect ratio, so both gameplay and cinematics span the entire width of your monitor for a truly immersive and visually stunning experience. Whether you’re clearing waves of enemies or enjoying a quiet boat ride while listening to Mimir’s stories, this is certainly a different way to experience God of War. HDR on G-Sync supported monitors also brings the game’s visuals to life, helping to brighten colors in the world and make characters stand out in the detailed worlds you travel to.
God of War on PC feels and looks like a brand new game, and no matter how many times you may have finished it on console, you’ll want to give it one more try on PC as well. It’s a fantastic game to play to begin with, and the visual improvements offered by this PC version are definitely something to enjoy. Whether you’re playing at 1080p or pushing for the beauty of 4k, God of War has never looked as good as it does on PC. For gamers who’ve been waiting to play this masterpiece, this is your moment.