It’s finally here! After its release on PlayStation 4 & 5 in November 2022, God of War Ragnarök has used the Bifröst to reach across the realm and find a home on PC. Sony’s been busy keeping the trend of porting some fantastic games to PC alive; Ragnarök boasts some true differences between the PS4/5 version and PC, including unlocked frame rates, upscaled tech, and ultrawide support. If you’re yet to dive in on PS5, giving Ragnarök a shot on PC isn’t a half-bad idea… that is if it doesn’t crash on you, as this is a beefy way to play. It’s a damn shame, especially since we rated it pretty highly (and rewarded it as our 2022 GOTY). But hey, if you’re itching to play, it’s worth giving it a go.
If you’ve never played God of War Ragnarök, let’s get you up to speed. Ragnarök, the great mythological battle of all battles, is here — thanks, in large part, to Kratos and his son Atreus. Throughout the game, you’ll get to go on an adventure as either father or son, forging alliances with characters old and new. Seeing old faces like Freya, Brok and Sindri, but, finally meeting new ones like Odin and his son Thor. With such a grander sense of story, Ragnarök showcases Freya’s grief over her dead son at the hands of Kratos and Atreus, along with the continued story of Atreus and his growing identity and personhood. The story also covers Odin’s sense to prove the fates wrong with his involvement in Ragnarök, and Thor’s anger over the death of his sons, along with his own issues with his father Odin.
There’s of course, way more to the story. And while Ragnarök’s been out for almost two years now, it would be such a disservice to go ahead and spoil this fantastic game. But, not much has changed plot-wise, at least from the PlayStation versions. The PC port is all about the technology changes, and the ability to use a mouse and keyboard. While I’m the one to prefer mouse and keyboard over controller for most games, Ragnarök is not one of those games, unfortunately. Switching to keyboard and mouse to give it a try felt clunky and confusing. Maybe if I stuck with it, I could get the hang of it, but throughout I continued on with the DualSense and it worked wonders. There wasn’t much haptic feedback, though; the only time I could feel it is when you’re skipping rocks with Angrboda.
Another big technology update when moving from the PS5 to the PC is the use of unlocked frame rates. Unfortunately, for me, I had to lock the game to 60FPS, due to some technical issues while playing. There’s also upscaling used for graphics. There wasn’t a major difference, however, it still is pretty to look at. As well as the use of spatial 3D audio. Not only is it helpful to know where enemies are attacking from, but it also makes you feel more engaged in the world. But, be prepared for the game to compile shaders for a long time … and often? Which was a similar issue with The Last of Us Part I on PC. You can play the game while it’s loading shaders, and it does get quicker each time. But it feels odd at how frequently they’re compiling.
While God of War Ragnarök is such a gorgeous game, one aspect that I will always give PlayStation major props for is their use of accessibility and how they incorporate it so well. I have played Ragnarök on PS5 before, but it still blows me away at not only how many accessibility functions there are, including how frequently accessibility options show up. It can be frustrating trying to find simple things such as subtitles. Are they in audio? Graphics? Only accessibility? Who knows! But at least for Ragnarök, I know that I can go anywhere in the options and be able to find what I’m looking for.
With that said, while there’s praise to be shouted, there’s also frustration too. Ragnarök has no FOV slider, which hasn’t always been an issue while playing games. But, it feels almost claustrophobic in how close the camera is. There’s also a constant vignette around the edges of the screen. Most games have the option to remove it, and even in the game, there’s an option to remove film grain and motion blur. It’s disappointing, as I had to install a mod to remove the vignette, and that ‘claustrophobic’ feeling isn’t as noticeable now. Lastly, while it is lovely that you’re able to change the size of the subtitles to be bigger … can there be an option to make it smaller? That and having the option to position them lower on the screen. But that’s just a small nitpick, that can get frustrating at times.
There is a weird issue where in the armour and weapon menu, the icons for Kratos and Atreus are lower resolution. This is similar to when using the keyboard as well. Which is a shame since the game itself looks gorgeous. The only other major issue experienced was the constant (and I mean constant) crashing in the first half of the game. It would happen at the same exact point each time, and the only way around it was to brute force it. As stated earlier, changing the frame rate to lock at 60FPS and changing from fullscreen to window worked some of the time. But most of it was brute force. It would get so frustrating that it dissuaded me from playing half the time.
Much like other PlayStation games that have moved to PC, there isn’t anything new. You get the included Valhalla DLC, much like those on PS4/5 did. Again, like the other ports, Ragnarök retails for $94.95AUD. Is it worth it? It depends. Like Helldivers 2 before it, you’ll need to log in to the PlayStation Network to play the game. While I don’t have a major issue with that, many do, as it’s a game that’s available in all countries where the PSN isn’t. If you’ve never played Ragnarök, why not give it a shot? It’s a fantastic game and highly rated for a reason. But I’d be a little peeved if I spent that much money on something that constantly gives me grief.
Even with all that said, Jetpack Interactive, the team behind the port, has been making patches for some of the issues many people are facing. And roughly halfway through the game, I’m not experiencing any crashes at the moment. So, either, I’ve gotten past the storm or it’s been patched out. Hopefully, with more patches, it’ll be a great way to experience God of War Ragnarök.
About the Author
Missy Taylor
they/them
Missy is a disabled writer on Boon wurrung land, who is obsessed with Garrus Vakarian and Captain America. You can find them talking about the art of Drag and eating Korean and Japanese food.
