After a surprise shadow drop and a quick 9-hour or so jaunt through God of War Sons of Sparta, I’m here to say that fans of the franchise looking for something different are in for a treat, albeit a safe one.
God of War Sons of Sparta, set earliest in the timeline of the original trilogy, follows the exploits of a young Kratos and his brother Deimos as Spartan recruits. Told via exposition from Kratos to his daughter Calliope, God of War Sons of Sparta is a refreshing and fitting reinterpretation of everyone’s favourite rage-filled godslayer.
The plausible humanization of Kratos also works well with how the character is reintroduced to players in the 2018 soft reboot and Ragnarok. Additionally, it’s nice to get another game that features Deimos, a character first introduced in God of War: Chains of Olympus, giving Sons of Sparta the opportunity to flesh out the brotherly love the two once shared for each other.
In terms of narrative, God of War Sons of Sparta sees the young recruits on an adventure to find a missing fellow trainee, pitting the pair up against a slew of familiar and iconic monsters from the legacy series. Featuring a classic Metroidvania approach to the adventure genre, God of War Sons of Sparta does a good job of reinterpreting the hack and slash gameplay of the legacy games in a 2D perspective.
“God of War Sons of Sparta does a good job of reinterpreting the hack and slash gameplay of the legacy games in a 2D perspective.”
Unfortunately, as far as Metroidvania games go, God of War Sons of Sparta feels fairly tepid. Nothing about the game ever feels like it truly lives up to its potential or even the God of War property. Instead, Sons of Sparta seems to be a budget release meant for new players to dip their toes into the franchise without prior knowledge of the series proper or familiarity with the Metroidvania genre itself.
Still, longtime fans of the franchise will enjoy God of War Sons of Sparta, especially regarding the return of Terrence C. Carson, the original voice actor for Kratos, reprising his role, and setting the stage for the remake trilogy that was announced alongside Sons of Sparta.
Gameplay in God of War Sons of Sparta revolves around exploring Laconia with an emphasis on combat and puzzle-solving. Kratos utilizes your standard-issue Spartan spear and rounded shield, both of which can be augmented with various upgrades, including different element buffs and modifiers that grant players different special abilities. Various temples that worship the Gods of Olympus grant Kratos additional secondary weapons, such as a sling, throwable fire, and even a sword.
The amount of modifiers and unlocks on top of a skill tree makes the otherwise simple spear and shield combo feel well-realized and fun throughout the adventure. Enemies telegraph attacks via different coloured outlines, signalling to the player for a parry, dodge or unavoidable attack. This element adds a good bit of depth to the fights.
Voice work and graphics are all over the place in Sons of Sparta, with standout performances from the main cast, while lesser characters feel a bit phoned-in, with even some mispronounced Greek names (Hermes) that feel like they could have been avoided in ADR.
“…longtime fans of the franchise will enjoy God of War Sons of Sparta, especially regarding the return of Terrence C. Carson, the original voice actor for Kratos…”
Aesthetically, God of War Sons of Sparta also feels a bit budget, with smooth animations and decent sprite work, that ultimately look a little out of place against 2D static backgrounds that employ a more painterly approach that clashes against the pixilated look of the sprites. With standout games like Blasphemous and even Hollow Knight, God of War: Sons of Sparta feels like it could have done more, even as a budget tie-in game acting as an appetizer for things to come.
Despite a good use of the DualSense haptics, God of War Sons of Sparta isn’t particularly a game that takes advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware, and a simultaneous release on PC would have been appreciated. Realistically, even a PlayStation 4 variant would have made sense for a smaller game like Sons of Sparta; however, I do realize Sony wants to move away from last-generation releases at this point in the life cycle.
In closing, God of War Sons of Sparta is a decent game and one that successfully fleshes out the franchise into a new genre, but it is ultimately a safe and fairly bog-standard affair best reserved for those loyal to the franchise.
