![]() Of course, given the fact that at its core, the God of War formula still entailed brutal, gory combat and high-octane set-pieces and boss fights, there’s no denying that there was still fun to be had in Ascension. It all felt like it was just going through the motions though, like it was constantly retreading very familiar ground. Clearly, it was a game made by a team that had run out of ideas on how to further expand upon the formula they were working with- primarily because the game’s predecessors had already done pretty much everything that could be done on that front. With God of War: Ascension, on the other hand, it was very much just a case of “more of the same”. 2010’s God of War 3 served as a perfect stopping point for the series in many ways, because with its sheer epic scale and its ridiculous focus on polish, it took the God of War formula to its absolute peak, and showed us things that its predecessors simply hadn’t been able to do. From level design to mechanical depth to storytelling and more, the God of War formula was one that simply did not have enough to it to sustain that many games. Nothing can take away from how good the vast majority of the Greek era God of War games were, but they were all also products of their time. Starting with the first game on the PS2 in 2005, in the space of eight years, Sony released six mainline God of War games across three platforms that all adhered very strictly to a very specific formula, and by the time Ascension came along, players were ready to move on to something new, and something with perhaps a bit more nuanced. It’s a mistake that video game franchises have made time and time again over the years. The biggest factor that contributed to God of War: Ascension’s relative failure was the plain and simple fact that people at large had grown tired of the series’ established formula by that point. All’s well that ends well, and God of War (2018) turned out to be just the kind of reinvention it needed to be, but what about Ascension was it that ended up necessitating it in the first place? What exactly makes it the series’ lowest point bar none? With lukewarm reception from critics and audiences, God of War: Ascension is perhaps the biggest (and probably the only) stumble from the series, to the extent that it made it abundantly clear that its established formula had run out of steam.Īscension’s failure to wow people was so severe, in fact, that it put God of War on ice for a good few years, forcing Sony and developer SIE Santa Monica Studio to completely rethink the series. In 2013, Sony released God of War: Ascension for the PS3, which is widely regarded to be the black sheep of the franchise. Of course, looking deeper into background of the 2018 title’s release makes its accomplishments even more impressive, because for a few years until it came out, the God of War franchise wasn’t doing too well. And yet, even with all of that in its rearview mirror, in 2018, the series managed to surpass any of its achievements with the soft reboot-slash-sequel titled simply God of War, which is the series’ biggest critical and commercial hit to date by far. Since its debut on the PS2 nearly two decades ago, the action-adventure series has delivered a steady stream of games that have seen great critical and commercial success, including the likes of the first three numbered God of War games, which all have Metacritic scores of 90 or above. God of War as a franchise is in the best shape of its life right now.
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