During State of Play on February 12, Sony had a big surprise in store for all fans of the franchise God of War : a spin-off, retro as can be, about Kratos’ childhood. The mythical hero had not heard from him since the release of Ragnarök in 2022. If players thought that the fifth opus, allegedly set in Egypt, would be the next to land on PlayStation, they were sadly mistaken.
But not completely either, because God of War : Sons of Sparta is different enough from the main games to set it completely apart. In theory, the announcement of a game like this is already the assurance of a good experience for a player like me. The metroidvania genre is my favorite, and I’m an absolute fan of the franchise God of War. Two games that have firmly entered my top 3 are Hollow Knight et God of War (2018). Sons of Sparta had the potential to rise to the top. However, the dream ends there.
Rough formwork
It won’t take long to understand that mixing these two worlds was only a good idea on paper. In practice, Sons of Sparta turns out to be much less exciting than its potential. With this spin-off, Sony wants you to forget the Nordic arc of the license for a while, to better return to the era of ancient Greece. We play Kratos in his youth, while he tries to find his place among the Spartans. He is accompanied by his brother, Deimos, younger and more reckless, whose ardor must often be calmed.
Against the backdrop of a worrying disappearance in the village, the two young people set off to discover their surroundings and face dangers new to them. We’re talking about monsters of all kinds, ranging from mythical creatures to simple ghosts. To be honest, the bestiary of Sons of Sparta doesn’t have much consistency with the rest of the franchise, but it’s a detail I’m willing to turn a blind eye to.
The narration, on the other hand, is much less mysterious than what one might expect from a metroidvania and is even rather linear. The boys set themselves a quest from the first minutes, and each interaction with third party characters will lead them to their objective, without much deviation by “side quests”. At least we don’t risk getting our brushes tangled.
It’s more in the exploration part that the surprises start to appear… more or less. As in any good metroidvania, the map is cryptic and the quest objectives are not clearly displayed. It is up to the player to search in his environment and with the clues on the map for the paths that can be followed. The problem is that the progression is much less surprising than it seems.
Most paths are blocked by default, and enthusiasm for the platform is non-existent. Absolutely everything is visible to the naked eye, although sometimes inaccessible unless you have the right skill. But again, Sons of Sparta does not exploit at all (or very little) backtracking which is nevertheless an essential component of the genre in long-term stimulation. Here, once the area is explored, there is little chance that you will be suggested to return for one reason or another.
Retro… or just dated?
The spin-off is contained and deliberately focuses on an overall retro aesthetic. If we find in the menus the modern artistic direction of the God of Wareverything else is in pixel art, in 2.5D. An atmosphere to which I am usually not very receptive, but which bothers me less when we deal with the childhood of a much older character normally. We will say that we are on the theme.
But my tolerance for the retro part ends here. We no longer know if it is out of artistic conviction or simply a lack of conviction that the studio decided to make the user experience more catastrophic. In some respects, Sons of Sparta could have been developed more than 20 years ago and it would have been unchanged. The map is only made up of blocks of colors, without shape or flavor, which has nothing to envy of the plan of the living space of an apartment, or the mapping of a robot vacuum cleaner. There is almost no creative work on this inseparable medium in this type of game.
Added to this is the impossibility of skipping dialogues and cutscenes, which superficially extend the lifespan for moments that are not really impactful or immersive. Even in combat the sensations are average as victorious misunderstandings quickly arise. Most enemies don’t have the ability to change platforms, so you just need to find the hiding place with the right angle to defeat them. Resource management is not a problem either, and we almost never found ourselves short of save points. Even the skill tree seems rather sketchy. The challenge is found in small (mini) doses, especially in boss fights, which will delight beginner players and disappoint those looking for a certain level of challenge.
The only real strong point is the music. Catchy and nostalgic, it sometimes has the effect of a gaming session on an arcade machine, which is surprisingly refreshing when compared to the heavy epic scores of the main games. This will be the only notable audio element, in a good way at least, because we note problems with sound balance despite the good idea of having dubbed the game in French. This localization is also available in the interface, although we note certain translations not carried out in the weapon details. A detail, yes, but unworthy of the quality PlayStation is known for its rigor.
Did we really need this?
PlayStation’s decision to shadow drop the title instead of making it an event is suddenly much more understandable. I even come back to regret this exit, proof of an allocation of human, financial and time resources in the service of some spin-off, while these same resources could easily have been allocated to the continuation of the main franchise.
In the best case, Sons of Sparta is a not unpleasant interlude which will keep you busy for a few hours if you hold on. At worst, this spin-off can really be considered a disgrace compared to the quality of work that Santa Monica Studio has accustomed us to. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is my case, but I don’t see a single reason that would make me return to the title at a time when proposals of the genre are numerous, more accomplished and do not rely on a franchise thinking that it is a free pass.
Recently, for example, we were entitled to Hollow Knight Silksong, for less than 20 euros, but also the excellent Nine Sols for less than 30 euros, or Blasphemous 2 which stands out in pixel art aesthetics, for less than 15 euros. We can only hope that the announced remake of the first three opuses will be of better quality, but there are normally few doubts on this subject. The attention paid to the opuses of the main franchise has always been particularly careful.
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