It's not about choosing which team to cheer for. I am not talking about choosing a faction, nor am I referring to boorish and useless console wars. The problem that plagues God Of War it is clear and under the eyes of all, so in plain sight that a large part of the world audience does not seem to have given it weight. Yet it is there, as majestic as the Oracle of Delphi and as deep as the ocean. God Of War is not God Of War. I immediately clarify my intentions: setting aside some obvious structural problems due to the young age of this new gameplay system, certainly the new title of the Santa Monica studio is something impressive, an excellent job that makes this title one of the best action ever. . Yet something is missing, really missing.
I do not hide behind useless respectability, I will not idolize this title just because I have been waiting for it for a long time. Already from the first images I saw at E3, anguish seized me, a feeling that day after day took possession of my being, turning me into a statue of cold stone as if Medusa had winked at me. To date, the verdict has arrived. When God of War was revealed, I didn't have pink lenses in front of my eyes that transmuted reality. I did not succumb to the siren song, anchoring myself as much as possible to what I wanted and not to what was given to me, and it is at that moment that the question that still torments me arose: because? Revolutions of this magnitude are not new to works with the prestigious banner, yet these have come at moments that are decisive for them, moments when such revolutions were necessary. Was it necessary to revolutionize God Of War? You already know my answer.
"Sacrilege! Insult! Change is legitimate! "
True, the change is legitimate. But had God of War reached that peak of monotony that condemned him to an era of infamy and contempt? Probably not. Leaving aside the Achilles heel that responds to the name of Ascension, the brand has never felt the visceral need for something that resulted outside the classic "more of the same". Speed, adrenaline, brutality, reflexes.
Change is legitimate, true, but only if necessary. Over time, many brands have had the historical-playful need to renew themselves, to offer the player something more, something that was missing, something that would give birth to a splendid butterfly from the cocoon. Two great examples are Assassin's Creed, which with Origins finally manages to put an end to the stale gameplay that has seen him protagonist for too long, and Resident Evil VII, which by innovating in the approach has managed to create the perfect combination for a horror game, after a couple of chapters that had definitely changed the course.
God Of War would still have a lot to show us, still a lot to make us live. In an ambiguous era where the classic and the new are admired alike, perhaps it would have been right to venture. The bet lives and pulsates in the past: the challenge of keeping the roots firmly in tradition would have been more difficult to overcome, but far more epic. That's right, the gamble would have been to stay true to what it was. Never in the history of a brand has change been so close to the concept of homologation. God Of War was a title like few, now it's a title like many. It has lost its uniqueness, its peculiar characteristics and, in many ways, its soul.
This soul has been replaced by another, perhaps just as beautiful, but from a totally different point of view ... so different that I feel like I'm talking about a video game with a different title. Yes, if the name on the cover had been different, perhaps this would not have been so successful, yet it would have acquired a unique value. Kratos remains, and with him the victory obtained over Olympus: but the higher you fly, the more you risk falling in a dive, just as happened to Icarus.
