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Every 'God of War' Game, Ranked From Worst To Best

Santa Monica Studio

Video games are a cultural staple at this point in our culture. What started as a fringe market for a niche group of young people has now become a phenomenon. Gaming has now become the most significant entertainment industry, surpassing movies, TV, and music.

With the pandemic lockdowns forcing people to stay in, gaming has grown even more and is expected to continue to do so.

 The industry’s evolution and growth have come from these consoles' improvements with each new generation. What makes consoles stand out is the quality of the games they exclusively offer only on their platform. 

One of the most popular exclusives is, without a doubt, God Of War. The God Of War franchise has sold over 51 million copies worldwide, and they have consistently ranked as among the best-selling videogames for Sony Playstation consoles. 

God of War, released in 2005, is ranked in the top 15 of all-time best-selling PS2 videogames with over 4 million copies sold. 

God Of War III, which was released in 2010, is the 9th best-selling PS3 game of all time with over 5.2 million copies. 

God Of War (the version released in 2018) is the best-selling PlayStation 4 game of all time, with over 19.5 million copies sold. 

As you can see, the popularity of the God Of War franchise has continued to grow with time in parallel with the growth of gaming. This franchise is now synonymous with PlayStation and is an example of successful exclusives. 

So what is God Of War about? 

God Of War centers around Kratos, a man whose father is Zeus and whose mother is Callisto. When Kratos was born, Zeus’s wife Hera was angry at Zeus for having him. She ordered that Kratos had to be killed, but he ended up being sent to the Spartans along with his mother. There, his mother gave birth to his brother Deimos. Kratos and Deimos grew up training in Sparta. Later on, Zeus learns of a prophecy that says one of his battle-marked sons is going to kill him in the future.

Deimos’s birthmark leads Ares to suspect that Deimos is the one who will kill Zeus in the future. Due to this prophecy, Zeus sends Ares to find and kill that son. Kratos tries to save Deimos from Ares but is ultimately defeated and left with a scar after being hit by Ares. Kratos vows to take revenge for his brother, going through the ranks of the Spartan army until he becomes a general. He then marries Lyssandra and has a daughter, who has a skin disease.

Due to Spartan tradition, which states that children must not have any weaknesses, he is ordered to kill her. Not wanting to do this, he goes on a mission to find a cure named ambrosia. He gives his daughter the cure, but he gets confronted by a barbarian army in the process. Found in a life or death situation, Kratos asks for help from Ares and vows to serve him. Ares helps him and gives him the famous blades of chaos, weapons attached to the body of Kratos. Kratos goes on to serve Ares in many missions.

During a raid in a village, he is warned not to enter a particular part from an oracle. He ignores the oracle’s advice and immediately kills everyone there, only to realize that he had killed his wife and his daughter. Realizing that Ares has done this, Kratos renounces his service to him and vows for revenge. The oracle paints the body of Kratos with the ashes of his wife and daughter, giving him a pale look that earned him his nickname as the “Ghost Of Sparta.”

As time goes on, Kratos battles Ares and, upon locating it, opens the Pandora’s Box. This enables him to obtain power that helps him defeat Ares. Realizing that he will never be free from his nightmares, he attempts suicide but is saved and then named God Of War.

Many years after he has defeated the Olympian Gods, Kratos has started a new life hidden in the lands of the Norse Gods. His wife passes away, and he begins a journey alongside his son Atreus to fulfill his wife’s last wish, which is to scatter her ashes at the peak of the highest mountain they know. After many battles, they fulfill her last wish, but not before Kratos has to reveal to his son that he is a god and that his future may be complicated due to this fact. 

This is a short summary of the plot that entails the God Of War story, so now let’s get into the ranking of the best God Of War games. 

There are eight installments in total, with the ninth installment being planned to be released in 2022. The new God Of War game will be titled God Of War: Ragnarök. Same as with the previous release, the new installment will be based on Norse mythology, breaking away from most previous installments based on Greek mythology.

9) God Of War: A Call From The Wilds (2018)

8) 'God Of War: Betrayal' (2007)

7) 'God Of War: Ascension' (2013)

6) 'God Of War: Chains Of Olympus' (2008)

5. 'God Of War: Ghost of Sparta' (2010)

4. 'God Of War' (2005)

3. 'God Of War III' (2010)

2. 'God Of War' (2018)

1. 'God Of War II' (2007)

 

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