After the PC version of Monster Hunter Rise, another PC port that cannot be ignored in early 2022, God of War, will be officially released on January 15, thanks to the experience qualification provided by SIE, which allows us to play this blockbuster work that has been comprehensively improved on the screen a few days in advance.
Unlike simple port reproductions, the PC version of God of War is equipped with a large number of graphics technologies that require high-end PC hardware support, including resolution up to 4K, removing frame limits, screen space DO (SSDO technology, increasing light realism) and so on. NVIDIA graphics' deep learning super-sampling (DLSS) technology produces more beautiful images, and Reflex's low-latency technology allows players to react faster.
In addition, the game also supports a 21:9 widescreen display, keyboard and mouse operation, and PS4, PS5 gamepads, which of course can be regarded as standard optimization projects for the PC platform.
The work itself is a phoenix nirvana
There is no doubt that the momentum of the "God of War" series throughout the PS2 and PS3 eras of "man blocking killing, Buddha blocking the killing of Buddha" ushered in a turning point after the launch of "God of War: Ascension" in 2013, 4 canonical, 3 outer biographies (there is also a mobile game) seems to have excavated the protagonist Quintos's backstory, Greek mythological elements, even Zeus has been killed, who do you want to kill?
As far as the gameplay of the game itself is concerned, the action gameplay born out of a fixed overhead view is also doomed to have no unexpected innovation, and both players and creators seem to be in the expected predicament - continue to follow the old template, and the result can only be to smash this heavyweight brand that SIE has worked hard to cultivate.
After five years of silence, God of War, with a new storyline, landed exclusively on PS4 in April 2018, injecting a new lease of life into the console.
The story of the game takes place after God of War 3, the protagonist Kratos completes his revenge on the Olympian gods and lives in seclusion in the extremely cold and barren Nordic region, accompanied by him in addition to the cold weather, powerful monsters, Norse gods, and an important family member - son Atreus.
Compared with the Greek chapter, the new "God of War" in the new "God of War" quetos is obviously a little more human, rather than a crazy killing and revenge machine, he is like many old fathers who are not good at words in reality, and in the process of getting along with the adolescent Atreus, quarrels and conflicts break out from time to time, but when he really encounters danger, he will erupt into a powerful force in line with the prestige of the god killer, and solve the enemies who stand in the way, whether the other party is a monster, a ghost or a Norse god.
The plot tension of the game is obviously better than that of the Greek part, the portrayal of the characters is more detailed, real and comprehensive, obviously it is an action game from beginning to end, but through a large number of lines and cutscenes, players can experience the game atmosphere that is very different from the Greek part. If the ratio of battle content to plot parts in the previous series was 8:2, then the new God of War is at least 7:3 or even 6:4, and a large part of the game time is used to present conflicts, dialogues, and emotional exchanges between the two protagonists.
In terms of specific gameplay, God of War has changed from a fixed top-down perspective to a shoulder-crossing perspective similar to Resident Evil 4, and the player's perspective is relatively closer to the picture that the characters see in the game scene, and can get a further sense of presence when encountering the giant enemies of the series and the open scene.
In addition, a major innovation and challenge in the directing of the game is the use of the film and television "one shot to the end" approach, that is, from the beginning of the game to the end, as long as the protagonist does not die, the player sees a continuous screen that will not suddenly switch to other scenes, in addition to the components of showmanship, the production team also hopes to use such techniques to enhance the sense of presence of the game, giving players a more authentic and credible game experience, and the actual effect can indeed leave a very deep impression.
Secondary upgrade of the game's expressiveness
In fact, after the PS5 host was listed, the developer updated the performance improvement patch for "God of War" running on PS5, the main changes include supporting stable 4K/60 frame picture effects, PS5's SSD hard disk also allows the read time to be shortened to a certain extent, but in fact, "God of War" on the PS4 Pro host runs through interpolation to achieve "pseudo" 4K level screen, but the frame rate is very unstable, the average is only about 50 frames, to the lake surface of this open scene may also fall to 30 in an instant Frames are left and right, and the PS5 version has almost no fluctuations in the number of frames.
So this PC version is obviously the second upgrade of "God of War", the picture resolution is still up to 4K level, in the test machine public version of the 3080 graphics card and DLSS and other technologies, we can see more delicate material textures, ambient lighting effects, water reflections and all the dynamics are running at a more stable and smooth frame rate, resulting in a stronger sense of realism.
It is also an improvement in image quality, but for the work "God of War", the improvement and sublimation of the sense of realism is of realistic significance for the presentation of the core theme of the game, which is not the same as many other games that can only bring about visual improvement after being ported to the PC side.
The reason is very simple, the previous "Greek chapter" as a whole still gives people a strong fantasy color, and in the way of presentation, it is more like the imagination of the American cartoon, which is open and closed. The new "God of War" is more like a realistic father-son adventure story that takes place in a fantasy environment from the perspective of theme and form of expression, the character setting is more realistic, and the emotional conflict between the two protagonists is more reminiscent of live-action film and television dramas rather than facial cartoons.
Of course, whether the story itself or many scene settings still have a strong fantasy color, this point has not been weakened compared with the previous series, and it naturally has a more shocking expressive power under the strong screen special effects of the PC version, which you don't need to worry about.
Therefore, the stronger the "picture realism", the more convincing the storyline and character performance of "God of War", and the player's attention will be less diverted by the inherent problems such as frame drops and material defects that are difficult to avoid in the console version, so that they can devote themselves to the wonderful battles and cutscenes, which is a very strong feeling I had when I tried to play the PC version.
Therefore, compared to the host version that compromises in terms of frame number and screen quality in order to adapt to the functional limitations, the PC version is not only the complete form of "God of War" in the dimension of picture quality, but also a new peak of plot appeal, character attraction, and combat pleasure, and the improvement relative to the host version is all-round, which is a special bonus for this game.
summary
Frankly speaking, before really playing this "second upgrade" of "God of War", my expectations for the game experience are not high, after all, PS5 is also a very good next-generation console, the previous enhanced patch on the "God of War" screen quality, frame rate also brought an immediate improvement, the PC version is nothing more than a stronger screen expression on the basis of the PS5 version, I believe many people have similar views with me.
But after the actual experience, I did have a deeper understanding of the effect of "image quality improvement", a stronger sense of realism to bring further immersion, so that players have a more real feeling about the theme of the game, which is the unfolding that I did not expect before, and it is also the biggest reason to recommend this PC version to all new and old players in the series.
Follow, like, watch