The 2018 God of War, I think, has such a high production value that is on par with so few other games (The Rockstar games, mostly) that I would called it not only a AAA game but a AAAA game—maybe an S game? Something along those lines. That is to say, it is in a category with a very select few with a quality that is exceptional beyond exceptional. The writing, the gameplay, the visuals, the music, all aspects of it come together at such a high level that it cannot even be said to “set the bar.” That bar would be too high and consequently most of gaming would simply not do for the great majority of the time.

In college, I wrote my thesis on Fallout 3. In my research, I decided that games could reach their potential if they embraced the ludological side of the medium: That they should minimize story and emphasize mechanics, choice, and emergence. The narrative should emerge organically from the actions of the player within the set world, which was authored primarily through the rules rather than the narrative. This was during the time of games such as Uncharted and The Last of Us. My problem was that these games had interesting, cinematic stories, but they were hardly games. That bothered me.

When God of War was released, I was strongly prejudiced against it. I saw it within the continuity of the trend of “cinematic games” that were weak mechanically and tried to emulate movies. It echoed to me how movies used to emulate plays before cinematography through editing was developed and allowed the medium to mature. I played a bit of it and left it; I do not recall why. I think I played it around the time something else was released, and I dropped it for that.

Mostly during this time I played many simulation games, in particular the Paradox grand strategy games. These games exemplify my ideal: There were infinite stories that emerge from these strategy games (especially Crusader Kings 2) even if there were no cinematics, set progression, or conventional narrative. Every game I played was set against this standard.

Recently, I watched an Outside Xbox stream of the RE: Requiem game. It struck me how many mechanics were in that game, in the service of keeping things interesting. I’ve realized at this point that I haven’t played a so-called AAA game in a while, much less enjoyed one. The last AAA game that I truly enjoyed was Elden Ring, which I played exclusively for around 3 or 4 months, a few years back. I had just played Death Stranding 2, although I did not enjoy it much. I had merely amused me.

I greatly enjoyed the RE: Requiem, even if I am not especially interested in the Resident Evil franchise or survival horror. I also had a few misgivings about the game. Still, I had a great time because the studios behind these games have enough resources to throw anything and everything at you in the name of entertainment—and I was indeed entertained. And also of course I really loved seeing Leon Kennedy.

After this, I played RE4 remake, Pragmata (a modern classic), and then God of War, which I decided to revisit given my new perspective. I was very pleasantly proven wrong about all my prejudice: The adventure was enjoyable from beginning to end. Not only is the combat fun in itself, but a variety of builds is possible. The story was expertly written, not at all bogged down by B-grade writing that many other video games have, even the best ones. And the set pieces were gorgeous and thrilling.

I’m going through God of War: Ragnarok right now. I am enjoying it, although their attempts to make it a more varied experience give mixed results. Despite that, the experience is a heightened one; its faults are not like the fault of ordinary video games. These games reside in the realm of art, not merely entertainment. And later I hope to discuss the themes of family that run through these games and one of the reasons it is so special.