Next week, one of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s most highly-anticipated releases this generation, God of War, hits. And in the build-up to that release, the new title from Santa Monica Studio is all anyone can talk about.
Chatter, anticipation, and little kid screams of elation all amped up mid-week when the game’s review embargo lifted, and reviews from outlets all over came flooding in. For God of War fans, it was the moment of truth. It was quite obvious the game was going to be nothing less than good going off all of its pre-release promotional material, however, very few expected the type of reviews that rushed in.
Most surprises these days are bad, but for once, this was a good surprise. God of War is not just good, not just great, it’s amazing, at least according to the critics. Currently, it sits at a 95 on Metacritic, the highest review aggregate score of any new PS4 release, ever. The only games higher than it are two re-releases from the previous console generation, Grand Theft Auto V and The Last of Us, both arguably the two most decorated and prestigious games of their own generation.
The next closest new PS4 release to God of War is 2017’s Persona 5, 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, all which sit at 93, two points lower.
Now, it’s worth noting that at the end of the day critical review scores aren’t the be all end all. For example, the most popular game in the world right now — Fortnite — is almost 20 points lower than God of War on the same platform. In other words, great review scores don’t always translate to a game being well received by the public at large. However, it still is a notable accomplishment worthy of praise.
It’s also worth pointing out that in the coming weeks more reviews score could arrive that could lower the above score. However, given that said score would need to be lowered by two whole points, this seems unlikely to be an issue.
If some strange alternative universe collides with ours on April 20th, and God of War turns out to be a hated horrible mess, it will still — at the moment — be part of the history book of video games, as the best rated PS4 game of all time, and one of the best rated games across all platforms, ever.
Are you as excited for God of War as we are?! Look out for That Nerd Show’s review on the blockbuster and let us know what you think on Facebook and Twitter!
