God of War: Sons of Sparta Review

SonyThe latest Play mode it was full of unexpected surprises from both old franchises and now, but perhaps the most unexpected was the new one. God of War a title created by the studio about the height you can reach Santa Monica StudioAAA genealogy: Mega Cat Studios. A retro-first developer who made some of the most recent titles to be released for the Sega Genesis and NES, the concept of Cory Barlog same lending Kratos in another indie studio it was something that players would never expect from Sony Interactive Entertainment of 2026, where many of their signatures are collaborations with live service or power drawings of cinematic images and thousands of hours. God of War: Sons of Sparta represents a deeper take on Kratos’ origins, but is this trip to Laconia more than just a series of attractions?

Above, God of War: Sons of Sparta shares a bit with the drawn Kratos spending his afternoon buying his daughter Calliope a present and telling a story about his past.. Separate these moments of emotional storytelling, and you’re left with a Greek tragedy that could easily have been told about any other two Spartan brothers without delving into the rich story of David Jaffe and Cory Barlog’s franchise. The Olympian gods and the gifts they bestow on invisible sight fit the Metrovania formula without anything feeling inherently connected to the God of War.

Apart from the shaky ties that bind Kratos and his brother Deimos to this Greek tragedy A memorable story about the brotherhood of Sparta and how to abandon a man is to abandon Sparta. Kratos’ mission is very simple: find out what happened to fellow student Vasilis and bring them home safely. Along the way, there are a few other Spartans who help guide and shape Kratos’ first adventure, but none have the staying power of Deimos in the story. The two constantly banter back and forth as the straight man and the Manzai technique of the funny manwith Kratos often playing the stoic, determined older brother. Yes, there is a co-op mode here as promised by the developers, but it already has two strikes against it: it is not unlocked until after beating the game for the first time, and it is limited to a select number of combat challenges for the brothers to overcome.

What can make or break an exploratory platformer comes down to two main systems: exploration and how players interact with the environment, whether it’s through combat or solving puzzles ala Rain World and Animal Well. First thing I have to applaud Mega Cat Studios for: trying something new with the franchiseeven if it felt pretty bloated at the end of the 30 hours I spent running through Laconia’s various biomes. New abilities are given in a regular clip, with new gifts bestowed by the gods upon Kratos, all of which serve the dual purpose of slashing and killing.

Long before he was “gifted” the Blades of Chaos, Kratos was a proud Spartan of Agoge and only knew the discipline of spear and shield. As one weapon used during the journey, the player’s options are very limited compared to what one would expect from a God of War prequel. Among the two types of resources that Kratos can use in attacking Spirit, is a form of energy that boosts almost all of his attacks to deal less damage but create a different counter for that enemy. Complete it, and the enemy is left open for a Brutal Kill, perhaps one more inspired by God of War than anything else to be found in Sparta.

One thing that made the franchise so memorable was the dynamic combat, giving Kratos many different tools to kill his enemies. Reducing it to one weapon not only limits that freeform combat but also reduces it to something that doesn’t fit into the larger ethos of the series.. Even with the various gifts he receives from the gods, the combat feels stiff and goes against the grain of what Kratos will eventually become. Enemies, especially in later biomes or when Kratos’s level is lower than his opponent’s, HP sponges that take too long to deploy. The goal here is to use your normal attacks to fill up your air gauge and then hold R1 to boost your strikes to deal more damage (and restore a small amount of health for now). I get that Mega Cat Studios is trying to combine the orb sources of previous God of War games with the deliberate flow of something like DooM Eternal, where each attack is meant to return a certain resource or work better against a certain type of enemy. Unfortunately, despite the careful balancing of these other titles, not playing the way the devs intended makes regular battles drag and slow down the runtime..

What I have to give the developers credit for is how the different biomes of Laconia gradually open up to the player.. Inaccessible platforms and one-way obstacles are often scattered along the critical path for players to traverse when first traversing space biomes, only to return much later in the campaign with the tools needed to do so. Sometimes players will find a gift and learn how to use it to cut through the gameplay rather than just telling players clearly what all the tools are for (although there are plenty of tutorials to stop players if you want to sign up). What was not immediately apparent was that I thought I was missing something important, when a variety of trees were spread across Laconia, each bearing a single fruit. Since I could not free them or join them to remove them from the vine, I assumed they were meant to be sought after, and I could not collect them otherwise. It was by pure accident that I tried to pick and suck the fruit from the branch with the same suction power provided by the Lycurgus Bust that was used much earlier in the journey to collect the noxious fumes to safely pass through.

Midway through the adventure, Kratos will get a signature upgrade to take a snapshot of the room he’s in and create a catalog of points of interest when he crosses an obstacle that takes the tool away from him.. Granted, this was something I first saw in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but I’m glad to see other developers embrace this feature as we’re long gone from the days of designing maps and plotting points of interest by hand. Each biome also has its own different list of objectives and collectibles, so there’s no need to look around the world map to find that one metal bar you’re referring to for the ultimate crafting recipe.

If anything could detract from exploring God of War: Sons of Sparta beyond combat, it would be the long length of the journey. Most of Iga’s advanced Castlevania titles can be completed well in around 8-10 hoursdepending on your desire to finish. Here, with a trip that’s three times that long and a less exciting (even more complicated) fight, I was eager to get the credits before I hit the twenty hour mark. For $30, players will certainly get their money’s worth, even if the adventure isn’t as refined as the pixel art would suggest.

God of War: Sons of Sparta is a great Metrovania on its own, but it doesn’t live up to the Kratos lineage otherwise.. Raise your expectations for Kratos’ origin story, or go into this one with an open mind that it’s just another typical Greek adventure, and you won’t find your time in Laconia to be a disaster.

[Editor’s Note: God of War: Sons of Sparta was reviewed on the PlayStation 5 Pro. Review code was provided by the publisher.]

You can find more information about our general review process and ethics policy here.

7.0

WCCFTECH rating

God of War: Sons of Sparta