With how big and successful the Norse games have been, I’d almost forgotten Kratos was from Sparta. God of War: Sons of Sparta flipped the script on its audience once again by telling Kratos’ story from a wholly new perspective, in an adventure that is mostly enjoyable, if riddled with more than just a few missteps.
Sons of Sparta is framed as an older Kratos telling a story to his daughter Calliope. Before Kratos became the God of War we know him as, he was simply a bratty Spartan boy, just like his brother Deimos. This story feels very low stakes as a result, as we simply spend most of the game’s runtime traipsing through cities and wilderness with the boys while they try to prove themselves to their seniors.
It’s actually oddly refreshing seeing Kratos in this way. Whereas he’s often depicted as a grumpy dad in the reboot, or as a blood- and sex-crazed murderer in the original games, teenage Kratos comes across as quite genuine and even kinda likable every so often. The same cannot be said for Deimos, who is much more hot-headed and eager to put himself in danger just so he can prove he’s a great Spartan warrior. Weirdly enough, Kratos is considered the level-headed one in this pair.
God of War: Sons of Sparta is a 2D Metroidvania game, a far cry from the action-packed entries of the mainline series, and very clearly a passion project. You can tell, just based on the love and care that’s gone into making the backgrounds and environments look as pretty as possible. Even from the start, I found it hard to look away from the majestic mountains that formed the backdrop of Sparta, even as I was preoccupied with taking a cyclops down.
You’ll move through the 2D space, filling out your map as you go, progressing through the story and discovering optional paths along the way. It’s all classic Metroidvania stuff that works for the most part. You’ll unlock new weapons and pick up orbs that can be used to upgrade existing weapons and abilities, or unlock perks that can help you in other ways. The progression part of the game is excellent; as someone who perpetually suffers from lizard brain-itis, watching bigger numbers get bigger will never get old for me, and there’s an inherent satisfaction to be had from watching Kratos slice through enemies with increasing ease.
It’s a bit of a shame that Sons of Sparta starts you off with so few tools and weapons at the start. The more interesting stuff comes later, and once you start upgrading your shield, traversal abilities, and other fun pieces of gear for puzzle-solving and combat, things get more interesting. Even rudimentary things like fast travel come way too late in the game, which can make backtracking feel like a slog, even though backtracking itself is a staple of the Metroidvania genre. It doesn’t help that co-op doesn’t become available till you beat the game, which honestly doesn’t make sense to me from a design perspective.
Generally speaking, the game gets better the further you get into it, though I’d certainly understand if you end up dropping this one partway through.
However, Sons of Sparta really starts to show its cracks when it comes to the bosses and enemies. For a series that’s known for over-the-top action set-pieces, Sons of Sparta feels surprisingly subdued. I suppose there’s only so much you can do with a fixed 2D plane (but then again, not really? Look at games like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight), but boss fights often felt underwhelming due to how simple they are.
I found that the bosses’ attack patterns were often easy to spot and learn, which made combat feel trivial after a while. Most attacks are color-coded too, and combat is usually a matter of memorizing which colored attacks you could block or dodge. For a God of War game, you’d expect at least some sort of extravagant spectacle after finally felling a tremendous foe, but Sons of Sparta consistently disappoints on that front. Even the opening fight with the Cyclops, which is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the game, fell a little flat and left me rather unexcited for the rest of the adventure.
The same goes for regular enemies too, most of which will likely not surprise you if you’ve spent any amount of time with this genre.
It really is a shame because I genuinely enjoyed seeing a side of Kratos that had never been explored before. Deimos, too, shouldn’t be overlooked as this game’s secondary protagonist. I’d always been a fan of his brotherly dynamic with Kratos in the original games, and seeing them both as two young upstarts in Sparta could be heartwarming at times, even when they were being a little abrasive.
The good news, then, is that Sons of Sparta really isn’t a very long game at all. I clocked in at around 11 hours on the default difficulty setting, and found myself satisfied with the experience I got. For what it is, God of War: Sons of Sparta is a perfectly serviceable game that presents a story about Kratos that fans should absolutely check out. It suffers from its fair share of drawbacks, but as a one-time 11-hour romp through history, it gets the job done.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on PS5.
