Second Look - God of War: Ascension

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

In the time between God of War: Ghost of Sparta and the 2018 Norse entry, a new entry in the Greek series, God of War: Ascension, was released on PS3. This not only sought to fill in another gap in Kratos’ story, it was also the first, and so far only, game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode. While I did play it when it first came out, even getting the Collector’s Edition that came with a mini Kratos statue, I found it to be a largely underwhelming experience with stale gameplay that left me wanting something new. Revisiting this game again over a decade later did not really change my mind all that much, with technical hiccups and the fact that it was the final Greek game arguably making it worse.

Prior to the events of the original God of War, Kratos is imprisoned in the Aegeon prison by the Furies for breaking his oath with Ares. While Kratos is chained up, the Fury Megaera takes the opportunity to attack and attempt to kill him, only to inadvertently set him free and lead him to fight back. Three weeks prior, Kratos is lost in an illusion of his past in the village of Kirra, which is broken when a mysterious visitor arrives and tells him to seek the Oracle of Delphi to free himself from these illusions and break his oath to Ares.

 

Kratos (left) is told of a way he can break his oath with Ares.

 

Credit where it’s due, the plot manages to tie itself in with that of the original game without contradicting anything, and has some interesting moments that tie in with his past and display more of Kratos’ caring side. An interesting bit of trivia is that an optional note is also when the series starts teasing Egypt, which would be further teased even harder in the Norse games. That said, while the game does try to provide further details on Kratos’ bond with Ares and explain how he came to be haunted by his visions and hate the gods, it ultimately tries to answer a question that no one asked. While it also explores additional Greek mythological figures not seen in other games, they ultimately don’t really leave much of an impact, and those that do are for the wrong reasons (more on that later). It’s also worth mentioning that the player character from the added multiplayer mode makes a brief cameo in the campaign, though this plays out more like a twist if you play the multiplayer second.

While the core gameplay is largely similar to God of War III, a number of changes have been made to the gameplay to fit within its status as a prequel to the original game. Along these lines, there is no longer an Item Meter, but the number of Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers required to upgrade Health and Magic has been reduced from six to five. Additionally, the Rage Meter, which is now the Rage of Ares, works a bit differently, in that you can no longer bank Rage and the meter drops when your combo streak is broken, which applies even after you upgrade it. Additionally, the Blades of Chaos are now your only permanent weapon, with access to different elemental abilities, swappable with the d-pad, that must be fully upgraded to access their Magic attack. Enemies also follow this elemental system, although there was a missed opportunity to have your equipped element tie into this aside from their differing gameplay effects. It is worth mentioning, however, that the Soul element retains the ability of the Claws of Hades from God of War III to rip enemies out from underground. Additional weapons can be picked up within the level, either from fallen enemies or out in the open, and can be discarded for a powerful stun attack, and while you also gain the ability to kick, you lose this ability if you have a secondary weapon equipped since its tied to the same button (Circle). That said, the Shield is probably the best of these weapons, since it not only provides a solid defense, but equipping it has Kratos ram forward and can serve as an alternative to using dodge roll for greater speed.

The lack of new weapons is made up for with two new items. The first of these is the Amulet of Uroborus, which is used for solving environmental puzzles by healing or decaying certain objects, including specific Red Orb Chests, with some puzzles even relying on differing states of decay. While an interesting idea, I feel like this one was worth exploring further since most of the puzzles don’t have any in-between states to take advantage of. The other new item is the Oath Stone of Orkos, which lets you summon a copy of yourself to either hold something in place while solving a puzzle or to assist you in combat, making it a very versatile item (it also strangely made me think of the Record ability from Blinx the Time Sweeper, albeit a far more refined take on the idea).

 

The Amulet of Uroborus presents an interesting new mechanic that isn't taken
full advantage of.

As for returning mechanics, grappling returns from previous games, only this time it’s given a lot more focus in combat, in which you can grapple stunned enemies and even remove shields from them, provided you don’t get attacked in the process. Grappling also sees increased use in level traversal, where some areas require you to grapple and then repeatedly swing into a wall until it breaks. Ghost of Sparta’s sliding sections return with a vengeance, with an increased length and complexity in addition to an increased frequency. Also worth mentioning is that there are no longer any save points, thus relying entirely on Autosave, which would become a precedent for the Norse games, though there is a Chapter Select that can help with obtaining certain Trophies.

As mentioned earlier, Ascension is also the first (and so far, only) God of War entry to feature an online multiplayer component. To promote this, the developers collaborated with Jerry Holins and Mike Krahulik of the webcomic Penny Arcade to produce a promotional comic, The Book of Divine Wisdom, explaining how this new mode works, featuring the comic’s typical brand of humor. In the years since, the comic has been taken down and become incredibly difficult to find online. Fortunately, I had the foresight at the time to save the entire comic since I was (and still am) an avid reader of Penny Arcade, so rather than me trying to explain the mechanics of the multiplayer mode, I will have The Book of Divine Wisdom explain it for me, presented here in its entirety. [Language warning]

 

As for the multiplayer experience, the servers are surprisingly still active, as is the community, as getting into a match didn’t take too long at all. However, from what few matches I played, it is highly possible for one team to get steamrolled or outnumbered, with no real way of keeping games balanced, and those not invested in the gameplay loop can find it boring after a while. It also has a strong “pay-to-win” vibe to it, as several equips are locked behind a paywall in the PlayStation Store. Taking these into consideration, it’s no wonder multiplayer didn’t really take off as a standard feature in the series.

If nothing else, barring maybe God of War III Remastered, God of War: Ascension is certainly the best-looking of the Greek games, with amazing environmental detail and increased graphical fidelity overall. The amount of detail is perhaps a little too good, since some of the visuals go a little far with how visceral they can get, even when compared to God of War III, to the point of being arguably a little disgusting at points. That said, despite this being the same development studio behind God of War III, I caught at least a couple instances of asset loading, even during a cutscene, as well as some increased instances of visible loading screens, something which even the original God of War III managed to avoid almost entirely except in cases of save loading or extreme speed on part of the player. This, combined with occasional instances of the music and/or dialogue awkwardly cutting out and briefly going out of sync, and the final cutscene feels like it’s barely holding itself together and could rip apart at any moment. I will also mention that I caught an instance of inaccurate subtitles.

Notably, R1 takes the place of Circle as the context-sensitive button for most situations, plus Red Orb and Item chests now have new designs with new animations. The QTE layout has been retained from God of War III, but has been given a new look to fit in with the visual themes of the game. By contrast, the upgrade menu UI does away with the sort of layout seen in previous games up to this point, featuring a more generic layout that comes off a bit sterile by comparison.

 

The weapon upgrade screen feels out of place with past Greek games.

 

Notably, this entry is also the last time T.C. Carson provides the voice of Kratos in a God of War game, as the role would be succeeded by Christopher Judge in the Norse games. Despite my overall feelings on the game itself, Carson’s experience with the character shines through in his performance, and so fortunately his tenure goes out on a high note.

In anticipation of the game’s release, a special comic, Rise of the Warrior, was produced by an unidentified (to my knowledge) creative team in conjunction with a promotional campaign for the multiplayer. This comic, taking place prior to the events of Ascension, follows the backstory of an Aegaeon prisoner who was imprisoned for breaking his oath to the gods while on a revenge quest. The artwork takes on a style similar to that of the WildStorm/DC comic, and features hidden riddles and puzzles tying in with the promo campaign that provided multiplayer bonuses when solved. While the comic is still good on its own outside of its original context, I did notice a couple of typos, in which page 14 features an incorrect pluralization and page 17 has an instance of missing punctuation.

For those that wish to read the comic, whether before or after playing Ascension, the entire comic has been archived, which I will provide here.

 

 

This game also comes packed with several demos for then-upcoming games, specifically Flower, God of War: Origins Collection, Journey, LittleBigPlanet Karting, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Sound Shapes, Starhawk, The Unfinished Swan and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Notably, a demo for The Last of Us was meant to be included, but wasn’t finished in time, however an update later gave owners early access to said demo once it was finally completed. Also worth mentioning is that there is a puzzle in Chapter 16 (The Cistern Pt. 2) that, once solved, gives a cryptic teaser for a Santa Monica Studios game that was in development and ultimately cancelled.

 

Does this even mean anything anymore?

 

God of War: Ascension has some interesting ideas and is a true graphical showcase for the PS3, however, its place and purpose in the timeline feel questionable when compared with the other two prequel stories on the PSP. Even with its canon status, this entry is unfortunately pretty forgettable, though the events of the recent Valhalla DLC for God of War: Ragnarök justify this game's existence and make it worth playing once for additional context.