God of War Ragnarok PC Review – Fimbulwinter Comes

Much like we said back in 2022 when the PS5 version of Ragnarok came out, it is essentially a perfect sequel, expanding on its predecessor—the 2018 reboot—from not only a gameplay standpoint, but a narrative one as well. Ragnarok made just about everything bigger and (largely) better, even going as far as making Atreus a playable character in some sections of the game, complete with his own combat moveset. Two years since its PS5 release, Ragnarok is now available on PC, and continuing Sony’s recent trend, it’s a downright fantastic port.

The game manages to hit great frame rates while also including jaw-dropping visual quality on a higher-end mid-range system, running on a Ryzen 7 7800X3D with 32GB of DDR5 6000 MHz RAM and an AMD Radeon 7800 XT GPU. I was able to max out all of the graphical options while leaving on AMD’s FSR 3.1 technology on running at native quality for gorgeous visual fidelity. On PC, Ragnarok might just be the best looking PlayStation Studios release so far.

The title is also surprisingly supportive of lower-end systems. Minimum requirements revealed by Sony reveals support for CPUs and GPUs going back a few generations, and the game also ran fantastically on the Steam Deck. Sure, it was never going to look as good as it does on PC or PS5 on the handheld system, but it has been optimized well enough that it’s possible to attain frame rates of between 40 and 60 on the Steam Deck by tinkering around with the graphical options a bit.

"Two years since its PS5 release, Ragnarok is now available on PC, and continuing Sony’s recent trend, it’s a downright fantastic port."

Another interesting quirk of the PC release of Ragnarok is its control scheme. While it does support all the controllers you might consider using, the keyboard and mouse setup for the game are quite well laid out, and I never found myself wishing I had a controller over my current PC setup. The game feels snappy and responsive to play, and the pace of its general gameplay and combat is slow enough to where I don’t worry about wrecking my mouse’s left click when I’m doing combos. The lock on system, however, does feel a bit wonky when playing with mouse and keyboard, since the slightest movement of the mouse will have you instantly switch to a different target. However, with the increased accuracy of mouse-based camera controls, it’s easy enough to never really need to lock on to enemies.

Generally speaking, Ragnarok on PC is a great port, and with the increased visual fidelity over the PS5 release, as well as the addition of new features (my personal favorite being the ability to stop the game from spoiling puzzle solutions the moment you see the puzzle—an issue I had with the game on launch), PC is the definitive way to experience the game.

Ragnarok coming to PC also presented me with a chance to re-experience the story with a fresher mind a couple of years after its original release. Much like its predecessor, Ragnarok manages to keep exploring the father-son relationship between Kratos and Atreus, while also adding in a twist through the influence their enemies try to exert on the protagonists as well. The game starts off with a bang, with Freya still holding a grudge against Kratos and Atreus because of the events of the 2018 reboot, and after some down time to help you catch your breath, our intrepid heroes quickly find themselves face-to-face with Thor.

"Ragnarok on PC is a great port, and with the increased visual fidelity over the PS5 release"

The central storyline of Ragnarok revolves around the titular Ragnarok arriving; all of the realms are in rather dire straits thanks to the Fimbulwinter that has been hitting everyone quite hard. All the while, both teams of fathers and sons are preparing for whatever nebulous role Atreus is going to play in the upcoming apocalypse. While the general scope of the story is quite grand, Ragnarok actually focuses more on smaller-scale stories, exploring the nature of relationships between friends that have had a falling out, a young man figuring out his place in the world, and the nature of grief, as well as the fear a parent might feel for the future of their child.

The biggest blunder throughout the otherwise excellently written story is a middle part which, while essential to the overarching story, feels like it goes on for just a bit too long. Without spoiling too much, the section in question revolves around Atreus making a new friend and spending some time in a realm separated from his father. Aside from this relatively minor blunder in pacing, Ragnarok tells a fun, emotional story full of twists, turns, friendships, and betrayals, all clocking in at a tight 25 to 30 hour experience, if you are sticking to the critical path.

On the gameplay side of things, Ragnarok builds on the foundations laid by the 2018 reboot, further building out the arsenal of abilities for both Kratos as well as Atreus. In a minor twist, Atreus is a playable character for quite a few parts of the story, and as such, he has his own unique moveset that revolves around being evasive, quick, and taking out enemies with arrows before they can get too close. Kratos has also gotten a few upgrades, starting with his Blades of Chaos right from the beginning, and expanding on his arsenal of abilities with more interesting new moves.

"Ragnarok builds on the foundations laid by the 2018 reboot"

The game also improves on its predecessor when it comes to enemy variety. A big weak spot of the 2018 reboot is that it was really lacking in enemy variety; aside from a couple of fights here and there, the vast majority of battles in the game were against same-y enemies, and most boss fights tended to be against Trolls. The roster of enemies gets diverse right from the beginning, with the first few zones alone including enemies ranging from a dryad, regular human raiders, frost-based zombie raiders, and even a bear.

Ragnarok is, generally speaking, an improvement over the 2018 reboot in just about every way, and the new PC version of the game is essentially the definitive way to experience the epic adventure. The game looks gorgeous on higher-end hardware, while still managing to maintain compatibility with CPUs and GPUs from a few generations ago. Most importantly, the game also offers plenty of options for PC players to tinker around with, from graphical options, to control schemes, and even core gameplay options. I cannot stress how great the toggle to disable puzzle hints has been for my enjoyment of the game.

PC players might want to keep in mind that, like other recent PlayStation Studios releases, Ragnarok also makes use of a PlayStation Network account. While it varies between different regions whether the account is an absolute necessity to play or not, it is still something worth keeping in mind before jumping in.

This game was reviewed on PC.