God of War shines in PC debut, finally free from its console shackles

God of War was one of the best games to release in 2018 but was only available on the PlayStation 4. PC players and Xbox gamers couldn’t get Kratos and Atreus to make an appearance on their platform. Half of that problem will be fixed on January 14 as God of War is the latest former PlayStation exclusive to get a release on the PC platform. After enjoying my time exploring Midgard on the PS4 a few years ago, I was given the chance to test things out with more powerful hardware. The result is a port that lacks the amount of graphics settings you’d expect from a game designed specifically for PC, but one that absolutely shines nevertheless.

Configuring Kratos

It should be stated that this isn’t a full review of the plot and gameplay mechanics, as Shacknews’ own Ozzie Mejia wrote a great God of War review when it was released on PS4. Instead, my focus today will be on the PC experience, discussing how God of War runs on PC, as well as what’s been changed or enhanced for more powerful hardware.

The first thing I did, as is the case with most PC gamers, is dive into the settings and see what I could play with and how I could customize my experience. God of War does come with new options to configure graphics settings, but these fall short of what you’d expect from a PC game. The graphics menu has eight options to tweak, including texture quality, model quality, shadows, and reflections. There are a few more options to play with on the visual side under the display menu, such as display mode, aspect ratio, vsync, and an FPS limiter. PC options also include NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution support, and players with ultra-wide monitors are in luck too.

God of War on PC includes support for controllers and customizable mouse and keyboard bindings. You can use your DualShock4, DualSense, or Xbox Wireless Controller. I even managed to fumble through some menus with the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, although that didn’t work quite right and probably requires configuration through Steam. Unfortunately, you can’t map buttons in the game’s menus while using a controller, but you can fully customize the keybindings if you’re using a mouse and keyboard.

Welcome to Midgard

Once you get rolling with Kratos and Atreus, God of War is as wonderful as you remember if you played it on the PS4, except that everything looks even better and runs smoother. God of War on PS4 ran better than it had any right to on that aging hardware, and my experience on PC has been like butter. I’m running an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, Intel Core i7-9700K CPU @ 3.60GHz, 12 GB of RAM, and playing in 2560 x 1440 resolution. My settings are cranked to ultra across the board, and I’ve yet to encounter any hiccups or performance issues of any sort. The graphics are crisp and anyone with high-end hardware and a 4K display is in for an even bigger treat.

If you did play God of War on PS4, your reasons for trying it on PC are restricted to performance enhancements and better graphics. The game hasn’t changed the content on offer. PC features being advertised are restricted to graphics, controls, and ultra-wide support. Having said that, God of War was an incredible experience in 2018, and just being able to crank things up on PC is enough to entice me into another playthrough.

For those that didn’t try God of War on PS4, be aware that the graphics options you would expect from a game designed with PC in mind are somewhat lacking. Graphics setting adjustability pales in comparison to something like Far Cry 6 or even the Red Dead Redemption 2 PC release from 2019. That’s not to say they are bad, I just don’t want you to leave here thinking you’ll find 40 graphics settings to play with when the number is closer to 10-15, and that includes display settings.

Low-key brilliance

If you’ve never played God of War and have a PC capable of doing so, you absolutely should. This is especially true if you tend to enjoy PlayStation exclusive games, as there are gameplay mechanics that you’ll recognize. Kratos will boost Atreus up onto ledges, not unlike Joel would Ellie, and there are oodles of mini-puzzles that are scattered throughout your journey. The PlayStation vibe that is present in so many of the publisher’s titles is alive and well in God of War. Potential first-time players can use that as a guide to whether they will enjoy the experience as much as how it performs on PC.

God of War doesn’t boast the same graphics settings you might expect from a game designed with PC in mind, but it didn’t need them. After playing God of War on PS4, all PC players really wanted was to just crank things up a few notches. We wanted ultra-everything and triple the frames. We wanted to customize our keybindings and make use of our expensive GPUs. God of War already played well and looked great on the PS4, and as expected it’s even better when unleashed on PC.

These impressions are based on a PC review code. The game key was provided by Sony for coverage consideration. God of War will be available on PC starting January 14, 2022, for $49.99 USD and $59.99 CAD.

Bill Lavoy

Managing Editor

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He made his mark early in his career through guide writing and a deep understanding of editorial SEO. He enjoys putting in the work to create a great content, be it a wild feature or grinding out an in-depth collectible guide. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his articles.