God of War Ragnarök PC review

Four years into Sony's big PlayStation PC initiative, you'd think the novelty of launching one of its huge tentpole action games from my Steam library would've worn off by now, but I still get a kick out watching the publisher's once-closely guarded exclusives emerge from their walled garden. Something about seeing Xbox button prompts on Kratos' axe or fiddling with a full suite of graphical settings before I even select «New Game» brings Ragnarök down to earth, shedding a layer of artificial importance that platform owners like to muster.

What is it? The conclusion to the God of War reboot series that began in 2018.
Release date September 19, 2024
Expect to pay $60/£50
Developer Sony Santa Monica
Publisher Sony
Reviewed on RTX 2080 Super, Intel Core i9 9900KS, 32GB RAM
Multiplayer No
Steam Deck Verified
Link Steam, Epic

Sometimes that works against Ragnarök, as playing it on the same platform where the most ambitious and unconventional videogames regularly blossom can highlight how safe and conventional the Sony blueprint has become. It also highlights how rarely we get accessible action games produced at such a high level of craft, scale, and beauty. Kratos and Atreus' second lap around the realms isn't as special or clean as the first, but Ragnarök is the kind of sequel that goes down smooth. 

As does this PC port, for the most part. Jetpack Interactive, the same outfit that handled the great 2022 God of War port, is back for the sequel with more solid (but not flawless) work.

Considering Ragnarök also came out on PS4 and looked pretty close to its predecessor when I played it two years ago, I'm not too surprised that this port flies on my aging RTX 2080 Super. At 1080p, I'm consistently reaching 80-100 fps (depending on the size of the area) with everything set to High and DLSS on Quality.

In a lot of ways, Ragnarök is a dream game for the PC gaming majority that's still rocking older hardware. That PS4 baseline means that you won't find technical wizardry on the level