As the game's story progressed, Zack quickly noticed the difference in gameplay this time around.
It leaned more towards an ARPG like "The Witcher: Wild Hunt," focusing more on cinematic presentation.
The interactions between Kratos and his son Atreus, in particular, deeply moved Zack.
After a period of travel, Atreus and Kratos found the deer they had previously scared away.
Kratos handed the bow and arrows back to Atreus, telling him to try again.
This time, Atreus didn't recklessly draw and shoot as before. Instead, he cautiously approached the prey and carefully aimed before firing.
As the arrow hit the deer, a pained cry echoed. The prey fell but wasn't dead yet.
Looking at the deer on the ground, as Kratos instructed, Atreus took out his mother's heirloom, a dagger, from his pocket, intending to kill the deer.
But looking at the twitching deer on the ground, Atreus couldn't bring himself to do it. He looked at Kratos, utterly lost.
"No, you have to see it through," Kratos gently shook his head.
Looking back at the deer on the ground, Atreus tried for a long time but still couldn't bring himself to act.
"I can't..."
Kratos didn't say anything. He just stepped forward, gently took Atreus's hand, and guided him to plunge the dagger into the deer's neck.
Blood slowly flowed from the wound in the deer's neck. Atreus looked on, dazed and bewildered, at the slowly dying prey.
Kratos, standing behind him, watched Atreus. He wanted to reach out and pat Atreus's shoulder or head.
But as soon as his hand extended, he pulled it back.
This scene was incredibly touching for Zack.
It wasn't the raw power and satisfaction of Kratos tearing apart the Hydra, punching Poseidon, and kicking Helios.
But with just a small gesture, Zack instantly felt that Kratos was different.
Before, Kratos was a god, a demon, a monster, but never someone you could think of as a person.
But now, Kratos felt like a stern, old father worried about his child.
He was no longer the emotionless, cold-blooded killing machine.
Restraining his anger, wanting to comfort his son but not knowing how, these small details perfectly portrayed the image of an old father, or rather, a father not good at communicating with his child.
Just as Zack was overcome with emotion, the ground suddenly shook, and a huge hand emerged from below the cliff, grasping the deer's carcass.
A giant appeared before Kratos and Atreus. The monster's name, "Mountain Troll," also appeared in their view.
Its long health bar indicated it was a boss.
In the scene, Kratos handed the bow and arrows to his son, holding his axe and standing before Atreus like a mountain.
The game officially entered its first boss battle.
Unlike in Greek mythology where Kratos fought alone, Atreus by his side could also help.
However, unlike Kratos, Atreus's main attack was shooting arrows. And from what Zack could see, Atreus's attacks were incredibly weak.
What's more, the attack interval was long; after he shot an arrow, it took a long time to replenish.
"Forget it, boy. You just stay here and cheer, watch your old man's power."
Entering the boss phase, the difficulty was naturally set to the easiest.
Zack controlled Atreus to shoot a few arrows, but feeling how weak it was, he stopped controlling Atreus and focused entirely on controlling Kratos to attack the Mountain Troll.
Although the previous cutscenes, combined with long takes and appropriate background music, created a very engaging atmosphere.
And Kratos's various small actions and father-son interactions were also very moving.
But this was God of War, after all. Zack was more looking forward to the combat in the game.
The battles against the minor monsters before were not satisfying at all; they were downed with just a couple of axe swings.
Now, he finally got to have a proper battle with a boss.
The combat experience was not much different from the previous game. However, he had very few moves available at the moment; they would only be unlocked after leveling up.
Also, regarding the combat difficulty, being on easy mode wasn't hard, but it wasn't simple either; there was still a bit of a challenge.
After damaging the boss's health to a certain extent, Zack quickly saw the familiar QTE interface appear.
As the QTE triggered, Kratos leaped directly onto the Mountain Troll.
He smashed the troll's head with both hands, then grabbed its horn and violently yanked it downward.
With a cracking sound, Kratos twisted off the Mountain Troll's head.
The unique over-the-shoulder view and the continuous one-shot camera made Zack's blood boil.
Although Kratos's methods weren't as brutal as ripping off the Sun God's head or extracting Hades' soul on Olympus, the visual impact from this unique perspective was still very familiar.
Additionally, Zack discovered he had absolutely no complaints about this kind of execution move.
Because from the perspective of the story and character design, there was a perfect explanation.
That is, Kratos was no longer a vengeful figure.
He wasn't a killing machine driven by the flames of revenge. He had his child, so he couldn't be that violent anymore.
This change felt natural and not abrupt.
The part that truly dissatisfied Zack was that Atreus was incredibly weak; the more he looked, the less he resembled Kratos!
After defeating the Mountain Troll, Atreus rushed to the dead troll's side with his dagger and repeatedly stabbed its head.
While doing so, he shouted about being unafraid, but while poking with the dagger, he accidentally strained himself.
Cowardly in battle, a heavy hitter afterward – utterly pathetic!
Watching Kratos carefully educating his son, Zack sighed.
The gap between father and son was too great.
Look at Kratos, still in his prime in middle age, with his fierce bald head, tattooed with killing intent, and his muscular body, plowing through everything in close combat.
He absolutely dominated that giant Mountain Troll.
And Atreus?
His small, thin body was afraid of the cold and wore fur, his eyes were timid, he only shot long-range arrows during combat and constantly shouted "Be careful, Father."
After the fight, he poked the corpse with a small knife and managed to hurt himself.
It was utterly embarrassing! The brash kid showed no sign of being a son of the God of War at all!
It was obvious. The next part of the story would likely be Kratos taking Atreus, this burdensome kid, on their journey.
And Atreus's performance reinforced Zack's belief that this guy was completely useless in a fight, reminding Zack of his experiences playing Dota and World of Warcraft with Ben.
Come to think of it, Zack didn't find the kid annoying anymore and even found him a bit exciting.
It was a shame the kid had a name in the game. If he could have customized the name to Ben, it would have been even more exciting.
However, it wasn't a huge problem, as he could imagine it himself.
"Son, stop panting. Who do you think I am? I'm your father. Stay behind your old man from now on, and watch how your dad tears apart the Norse gods."
"New God of War? I think 'God of War and His Burdensome Kid' would be more accurate."
Muttering to himself, Zack controlled Kratos to pick up all the dropped items from the boss on the ground. Then, he opened the interface and upgraded Kratos's axe with new skills.
As for upgrading Atreus's bow and arrow skills, he ignored them.
Upgrading skills requires items, doesn't it?
In the early game, with such limited resources, why would this mascot-like brat upgrade skills?
What use are his pathetic arrows? He should just follow his God of War father, Kratos, be a slacker, and occasionally pick up a kill.
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
---