Presented by

God of War first made its debut on PlayStation, where in the space of a few weeks it quickly made its way into several game of the year discussions. Not long after that talks expanded to it being a potential game of the decade. An instant classic, and a defining release for the PlayStation 4.

All of this makes its 2022 PC debut something of a major milestone. It’s not “just a port”, what you’ve got here is the most cinematic version of the game to date. Not only do you get to play with a keyboard-and-mouse combo on top of a controller, but you’re treated to a suite of visual updates that make God of War as brilliant to play now as it was upon initial release. Even more so when experienced on a GeForce RTX powered rig.

From a checklist perspective it's a big one; 4K rendering, uncapped frame-rates, ultrawide display support, higher resolution shadows, improved reflections, and high-end ambient occlusion techniques like GTAO and SSDO. Crisper, more vibrant, and packed with detail. Throw in NVIDIA DLSS rendering and Reflex support and all of this adds to the immersion you feel as you explore and fight your way through the various realms of Norse mythology. Make no mistake about it, God of War is one of the most immersive cinematic experiences you’re likely to, well, experience.

Every story beat, every bit of action, every transition from a forest to a cave and then an icy mountain is presented in a single-take. A cinematic style that adds a film-like quality. The camera doesn’t cut away and there are no loading screens to break up regions or scenes. You’re always right there with Kratos. When played in ultrawide the effect is akin to being a key part of an amazing widescreen film, where the backdrops inspire awe, and the action can be felt beyond the controller rumble in your hand.

---

You’re treated to a suite of visual updates that make God of War as brilliant to play now as it was upon initial release.

---

As its core God of War is the sort of grand action-adventure that more than earns its AAA label, drawing inspiration from some of the most storied and celebrated games and entertainment media of all time – whilst presenting its own spin on things. Thanks to its memorable characters and very personal story starring Kratos and his “Boy!” Artreus, its take on Norse Gods and mythology, fantastical settings, and battles against giants and dragons, it’s all as they say, “one for the history books”.



So then, outside of the visual updates and support for ultrawide, what makes the PC version definitive? Well, that would come down to the overall stability and quality of the port and the performance bump you get when you enable NVIDIA DLSS rendering and NVIDIA Reflex. The former needs no introduction, it’s the AI-powered upscaling magic of the GeForce RTX range that improves performance without sacrificing detail.

In the case of God of War, it means opening the 60 frame-per-second doors to more gamers, where the original release was locked to 30 frames-per-second on console. Even on the powerful PlayStation 4 Pro. From the recently released NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, to the mainstream RTX 2060 and RTX 3060, all the way up to the powerful RTX 3080, DLSS ensures that a 60-fps God of War is one that can be enjoyed by all.

The difference between 30-fps and 60-fps is nothing to sneeze at. It’s one of those things where once you experience it in person, it’s hard to go back. The extra frames add immediate fluidity to camera movement, increased detail in the various animations you see, and a better sense of what’s going on in a battle. This is important because combat in God of War is not only engaging but gritty, responsive, and thrilling. With his Leviathan Axe and suite of God-like abilities, and the ability to call on Atreus to fire off arrows from a distance, Kratos swings and hits with all the rage and anger befitting of a God of War.

---

Y The extra frames add immediate fluidity to camera movement, increased detail in the various animations you see, and a better sense of what’s going on in a battle.

---

As per above, with DLSS-powered 60fps possible across the entire GeForce RTX range, it all just looks and feels better. When it comes to combat in God of War, 60-fps makes the on-screen action easier to read. So, you can pull off perfect parries and react to what’s happening in front of Kratos seamlessly. The secret ingredient though is the addition of NVIDIA Reflex support. Something that’s as easy to enable as checking a box in the options screen. In fact, that’s all you need to do.

Reflex is a relatively new but powerful bit of technology from NVIDIA that has been developed with the aim of reducing system latency. What that means in the heat of battle is a reduction in the time it takes between hitting the light-attack button and then seeing Kratos begin to swing the Leviathan Axe on-screen. The lower the latency the more responsive the action becomes, and here it essentially becomes immediate.

NVIDIA Reflex is slowly becoming the standard in the competitive space, where milliseconds can be the difference between victory or defeat. It’s inclusion in games like Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite, and other shooters makes a lot of sense. You might not think so much in a single-player third-person action-adventure, but if God of War is any indication it is worth adding just about everywhere.



With or without a G-Sync or NVIDIA Reflex specific display, the Reflex results are impressive. By streamlining the workload between your input device, the CPU, and GPU, the reduced latency makes things like parrying incoming attacks easier, and dodge rolling at the last millisecond a possibility. It’s not the sort of thing you’d call ‘easy mode’, you still need a lot of skill to tackle the hardest difficulty mode, but it’s addition to God of War is awesome to see.

---

God of War features impeccable motion-captured cinematics, a wonderful, sombre, and bombastic score, and brilliant vocal performances by its cast.

---

Setting aside DLSS, Reflex, and things like the game’s beautiful reflections when you’re paddling around as Kratos, it's the core gameplay experience and story that shines brightest. Being able to forget about the technical specifics when playing something is not a slight on all of the tech happening under the hood, it speaks highly of just how immersive exploring and digging deeper in Alfheim, Helheim, Nilfheim, and all the other ‘heims’ can be.

God of War features impeccable motion-captured cinematics, a wonderful, sombre, and bombastic score, and brilliant vocal performances by its cast. Christopher Judge as Kratos, Sunny Suljic as Artreus, Jeremy Davies as the mysterious Stranger. And with exploration and puzzle-solving that feels like an extension of the brilliant design found in something like Metroid Prime, combat reminiscent of some of the best third-person melee stuff you’ve ever experienced, it's no wonder God of War is considered a modern classic.

A classic that just got its definitive release.