God of War: Sons of Sparta Review

PlayStation’s God of War is a legendary franchise that takes a risky new direction with its latest release, God of War: Sons of Sparta. The series has previously reinvented itself, shifting from the hack-and-slash fixed camera style of the original trilogy to the over-the-shoulder open-world adventure of the more modern mainline titles. Now, Sons of Sparta takes the series into the realm of Metroidvania 2D action, while still placing a heavy focus on story and characters.

Game Name: God Of War: Sons of Sparta
Platform(s): PlayStation 5
Reviewed On: PlayStation 5
Publisher(s): Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer(s): Mad Cat Studios, Santa Monica Studio
Release Date: February 12th, 2026

Off To A Slow Start

The story of God of War: Sons of Sparta is presented as Kratos before the events of the original game, telling a story to his daughter about the events of his youth. This initial framing piques your interest as a player, but the slow pacing quickly drains that early momentum. That sluggish feel also translates to gameplay, making the first few hours basic at best and boring at worst.

Once you pass the first three hours, the pacing across narrative and gameplay starts to show noticeable improvement. As you progress, more combat options unlock and traversal becomes smoother. These changes inject more enjoyable moment-to-moment gameplay that is initially missing from the experience, helping carry the experience toward a satisfying conclusion.

Like God of War But Not Really

Gameplay in God of War: Sons of Sparta starts off simple. Your attack button is Square, you dodge with Circle, jump using Cross (or what I still call X), and block with L1. It does the job and is easy to learn, but lacks the depth to remain engaging, at least early on.

While that lack of depth lingers throughout, the gameplay gradually expands to offer more options. As you defeat enemies, you earn Blood Orbs, which can be spent at campfires to unlock new abilities, including additional attacks and counters. Many of these moves require holding L1 or R1 while pressing Square, meaning the game never becomes overwhelming to control. This trade-off between limited depth and expanding options makes the experience harder to engage with in the first few hours but ultimately results in one of the more accessible entries in the Metroidvania genre.

Enemies come in various shapes and sizes from skeletons to bats, a cyclops and many more. The variety is decent, but I was disappointed in the boss fights for most of the game since they often just feel like bigger versions of enemies you have already encountered. That is until the last few fights which are genuinely interesting and force you to use most of the abilities you’ve unlocked. God of War: Sons of Sparta only has one issue in combat, it uses a system that means even just touching an enemy will cause you to take damage. In most fights this isn’t a problem but when facing off against multiple foes it becomes extremely difficult to avoid taking some damage.

From a traversal perspective, you gradually gain access to items and abilities that improve movement around the map, including a double jump. Items such as the Bust of Lycurgus and the Gifts of Olympus allow you to reach previously inaccessible areas and unlock new paths through the world.

While exploring, you’ll find unique armor pieces, shield components, and spear parts. Each item comes with its own perks and can meaningfully impact gameplay when equipped, from increasing defensive capabilities to automatically performing counterattacks or helping uncover hidden items. Shield and spear components can also be upgraded at campfires using resources found throughout the map, in a system reminiscent of the more recent mainline entries in the franchise.

Presentation

Presentation is, quite frankly, odd. There is nothing bad about the visuals in isolation, from the 2D pixel characters and foreground elements to the almost hand-painted backdrops. God of War: Sons of Sparta is a nice-looking video game, but it rarely evokes that distinct God of War identity through its art direction. The visuals lean almost too playful and colorful, lacking the darker, brooding, and visceral tone that defines much of the series.

This contrast feels even stranger when the UI for upgrading weapons and gear appears almost directly lifted from God of War: Ragnarok, creating a tonal disconnect between the stylised world and the familiar interface.

Audio, on the other hand, feels far more aligned with the franchise. The soundtrack embraces a 16-bit inspired style, and the music frequently shines throughout the experience. However, because the visuals drift from the series’ traditional tone, the audio can sometimes feel at odds with what’s happening on screen.

Accessibility

On the accessibility front, God of War: Sons of Sparta doesn’t offer the same depth of options seen in the last two mainline entries, but that’s largely because it doesn’t need them. As a 2D experience, it remains highly playable and includes most of the major accessibility features you would expect from a modern release. It isn’t perfect, but few games are when it comes to accessibility.

Performance

Playing on PS5 Pro, God of War: Sons of Sparta delivers a stable experience. I didn’t encounter a single bug or noticeable frame drop during my time with the game.

Performance may dip in the post-game challenge mode, which supports co-op play, though I was unable to test this myself.

Summary

In isolation, God of War: Sons of Sparta is a very good video game, with strong visuals, excellent music, and simple yet effective gameplay driving an ultimately interesting story. However, as a God of War title, it is held back from true greatness by early pacing issues and a presentation style that feels somewhat tone-deaf to the rest of the series.

If you’re a fan of the franchise’s story and lore, Sons of Sparta is absolutely worth playing, particularly for how it expands on Kratos’ past. However, if you’re looking for deep, mechanically demanding combat, this entry may leave you wanting more.

If you enjoyed this review, explore more of our in-depth video game reviews across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of God Of War: Sons Of Sparta was provided to us for review purposes by Sony Interactive Entertainment. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.