Kratos made his first journey towards Northern mythology in 2018 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. Currently, it’s available for PC, so a wider audience gets to taste the best Santa Monica Studio has to offer. Maybe it’s not enough, though; we want more. Therefore, we’re looking at the best games like God of War across various consoles and the action-adventure genre.
Selecting Games Like God Of War
Kratos’ new journey in the Northern realm is harsh, unforgiving, and story heavy. There’s much more to it, a formula of elements common on many PlayStation exclusives.Therefore, selecting games like God of War requires us to identify the elements of the title:
Genre: God of War is a story-driven single-player action-adventure game in third-person. It has hack & slash action, a semi-open world, and RPG aspects.Semi-open World: The story is linear, but Kratos, alongside Atreus, explores wide areas across its 17 episodes.Quest Design: God of War is linear. You progress through each episode to finish a quest, which is often defeating a boss or finding an item.Combat: The game has frequent combat scenarios and arenas. You use melee, ranged abilities, stabs, slashes, finishing moves, combos, and special skills.AI Companion: Atreus follows Kratos during the entire journey. The young archer has abilities you can command on battle or traversal. RPG Elements: Kratos levels up to unlock and upgrade skills. Moreover, they can get currency to upgrade or buy new gear. Setting: The title happens across the Norsen realm. You play on cold mountains and fields against monsters and gods from Norsen mythology. Character Arcs: The plot goes alongside heavy character arcs plus stellar voice acting and motion capture. Cinematic Value: The value comes through cut-scenes, voice-acting, thrilling dialogue, motion-capture, and great visuals. Theme: Kratos is father, mentor, and protector to Atreus. He wants to earn his respect by proving the value of self-control and patience rather than violence.Tone: The overall feel is visceral, gory, gritty, and grueling. Kratos is in constant inner conflict as you, the player, keep hacking & slashing enemies.
Overall, God of War is intense in the three ways that matter. The presentation is cinematic, relying on top-tier motion animation and voice-acting. Then, the story flows from beginning to end with heavy character moments and battles. Lastly, the action is frequent, violent, and addictive. Games like God of War should be similarly intense. Alternatively, they should mix cinematic values with brutal combat and a story-rich plot.
Games Like God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Our first pick is Ghost of Tsushima, which trades a semi-open design for an open world with extra freedom. And as an open-world game, you have the main quest, side quests, collectibles, and side activities.The game uses a similar formula, common for PlayStation IPs. It mixes its cinematic value with over-the-shoulder combat and character-driven stories. Moreover, the game’s aesthetics take influence from classic Japanese movies and culture.You play as Jin Sakai, a samurai in Tsushima island. In 1274, the historic Mongol invasion of Japan started on the island. You play during the era, but rather than losing the battle, you alone defeat the invaders and their leader, Kublai Khan.As a character-driven story, it also relies on inner conflict. Jin Sakai must relinquish his samurai honor to become a ruthless, treacherous warrior capable of victory. Like so, the title delivers its open-world action-adventure formula.That said, combat relies on parries, dodges, and sword skills. You can unlock abilities across various “Stances” (skills trees), as well as upgrade, find, or buy new gear. Overall, combat is less brutal but equally fun and violent.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade and God of War have obvious parallels. Both feature hack & slash combat, semi-open levels, linear questing, and a Norse mythology setting. Hellblade is not an AAA game, as it’s instead an “indie AAA” title.Moreover, and much to Ninja Theory’s credit, Hellblade is a story-driven game with a brilliant plot. You play as Senua on a personal journey. This inner conflict, a mental disorder, presents itself as an adventure across a dangerous land and shadow-like monsters.As you explore the areas, you’ll have to solve puzzles and platforming segments to move on. At all moments, you’ll be hearing voices in her head, leading Senua towards a journey of vengeance. She’s a warrior fighting across Hellheim against the “Darkness.”There’s combat as well, although it’s not as frequent as in God of War. Still, it relies on blocks, parries, dodges, attacks, and special abilities. The action gameplay is quite challenging.The game achieved critical and fan success and managed to open a new franchise. The sequel will continue with its Northern and Celtic setting. For the second time around, the studio will receive Microsoft’s backing.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
With over 800 awards, The Witcher 3 is one of the best Western RPGs of recent times. It’s also impossible to list story-driven action-adventure games without mentioning CD Projek Red’s masterpiece.You play as Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher. Witchers are a dwindling guild of mutated humans who lose their emotions in favor of power. They must defeat monsters while staying neutral to all other political affairs. The setting delivers an open-world, action-adventure RPG title. You play across various vast maps as you follow the clues to find your surrogate daughter. There’s the main quest to complete in each area,e plus several side quests. Either option is rich in stories, voice-acting, music, and heavy character moments. Moreover, as a Witcher, much of the content relies on defeating beasts taken from Polish mythology. You can dodge, parry, and attack with your sword, and you can also use magic, grenades, potions, and a crossbow. Either way, each monster has different skills, weaknesses, and behaviors. Lastly, you level up to unlock extra stats and skill points. You also explore the world for gear, crafting recipes, and crafting resources. All of these options deliver a fair amount of character progression choices.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
The PlayStation 4 has gigantic IPs, such as God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man. The latter is still not available for Windows, and it probably won’t reach the PC platform any time soon.But if you have a PlayStation, Marvel’s Spider-Man can check most boxes you are looking for as a God of War fan. It’s cinematic, fast-paced, heavy on combat, and intense on all of its core elements.You play as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in an original story. He faces off against various enemies while trying to keep his personal life in balance. As in most of Peter Parker stories, though, his personal life crumbles and falls apart every time he puts the mask on to help others.Combat is the core of the game. It’s acrobatic, intuitive, and fast-paced. You use kicks, punches, gadgets, and combos to take down your foes from a third-person perspective. Then, you level up to improve and unlock skills and find new gadgets and suits for combat.Lastly, the game features an open-world New York map. It represents the opportunity to deliver a parkour/swinging traversal that will take most of your gameplay. It’s one of the elements that take the game to great heights.
Monster Hunter: Rise
The latest game in the Japanese saga, Monster Hunter Rise, features similar combat to God of War. The difference relies on its open-world design and less on the story.You play as a hunter, a guild that trades monsters’ heads for money. As a hunter, you take on bounties and explore a map to defeat increasingly powerful creatures.The action-RPG combat happens in the third-person perspective. It’s fast, rather acrobatic, and challenging. It’s also difficult, as character progression depends entirely on the gear you get from the enemies rather than leveling up. Much like skills depend on weapons on God of War, Monster Hunter Rise characters also learn skills from weapons. That said, there’re 14 weapon types, each one presenting distinct combat mechanics. Lastly, the game has a co-op feature. You can hunt monsters at a party with up to four players. The difficulty scales the more players in the party, just like the bounty, the rewards, and the loot.
Devil May Cry 5
The Devil May Cry series debuted as a Castlevania off-brand. It’s, in fact, getting an anime adaptation for Netflix by the same creators as the Castlevania 3-season show. Also, the game uses the same engine as Resident Evil 7, the RE Engine.The fifth entry continues the same formula. It’s light on plot, light on cinematics, and heavy on combat. It’s a hack & slash from beginning to end, as you use a series of melee and ranged abilities to slay enemy groups with combos of colorful powers. You play as Dante, Neto, and Vergil. Each character has their own skills, but the gameplay remains fast-paced and easy to learn. Moreover, characters level up to unlock and upgrade skills, delivering new offensive abilities and buffs. The plot follows the characters facing a demonic invasion in Red Grave City. The setting delivers a similar quest design as God of War: the game is linear, and you play across 20 Chapters and linear levels. Moreover, the cutscenes are as eccentric and bombastic as you’d expect from a AAA Japanese title. Overall, Devil May Cry 5 is a rare game that appeals to RPG fans and action-adventure fans at the same time. That’s because it easily mixes the feel of defeating enemy hordes like dungeon-crawler games, the heritage of RPG character progression, and the challenge of skill-based combat.
Marvel’s Guardian of the Galaxy
Marvels’ Guardians of the Galaxy trades the high-fantasy setting for a sci-fi story. You play as Star-Lord, leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy team. In contrast, the rest of the group follow you as AI companions.That said, this is a story-driven action-adventure game in third-person. Like God of War, you play on semi-open areas on an otherwise linear level. Even so, there’re choices that affect how chapters and cutscenes play out.As Star-Lord, you shoot and use gadgets and tools for combat. The other crew members fight alongside, and the idea is to mix different attacks for strong combos, buffs, elemental damage, and status effects. You also command your teammates to perform certain abilities, much like Kratos and Atreus.The story is original, and it’s the core of the game. The misfit team crosses paths with iconic comic characters as they lead a fight against a chaotic enemy of their creation. The story is unpredictable, explosive, and offbeat. Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy has a different tone than God of War. Yet, it has similar gameplay mechanics and a similar design.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is the latest game by FromSoftware. It’s an open-world fantasy action-adventure RPG featuring tough combat and subtle narratives.You play in the Lands In Between, a vast world full of dungeons, castles, and complex fortresses. You’re to become the Elden Lord, but there’re no markers and no guides on how you can accomplish the tasks. It’s not a character-driven story, though. Instead, you customize a character, learn skills, and combine weapons, armor, and magic. You’re free to develop your play style in many ways. Regardless, it’s a Souls-like game relying on blocks, parries, dodges, and breaking enemy guards. The story is deep, but it’s not readily apparent. A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin wrote the game’s lore. You’ll be able to discover it via environmental clues, and other subtle matters.Lastly, the game features a multiplayer feature. You can use special items to “summon” other players to your realm and travel together. The game will balance both characters to the same level to keep the challenge fair.
NieR: Automata
NieR: Automata is an action RPG by Yoko Taro, a talented Japanese video-game maker. The title mixes dynamic gameplay, perspective changes, an open -world, and a deep character arc.The NieR sequel follows androids 2B, 9S, and 2A on a quest to retake the Earth from the machines. They are following orders from their creators, humans stationed on the Moon. Humans have endured centuries-long war against machines.The story goes through three playthroughs, which follow each of the androids. So, after finishing the game, you start over for a new story that further opens up the lore, and reveals game-altering information.The gameplay is in third-person. Characters level up to unlock more HP, upgrade gear, and learn or improve skills by slotting “chips” into their limited “chip slots.” Then, you hack and slash in third-person while dodging and blocking. Lastly, the presentation is stellar. Although the graphics are not spectacular, the music, voice-acting, and story are amazing. Moreover, the game delivers 2D scenarios, “space-shooting” segments, hacking mini-games, and plenty of dialogue.
Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition
Horizon: Zero Dawn is another PlayStation exclusive that debuted for PC recently. Like God of War, it mixes cinematic storytelling with action-oriented gameplay and an outstanding presentation.You play as Alloy, an outcast of the Nora tribe on a post-apocalyptic world. The young hunter takes on a journey to earn their people’s respect, though. Her quest will stop a new catastrophe while uncovering the origins of the mysterious mechanical creatures roaming the land. That opens up an open-world, action-adventure game with RPG elements. The action happens in third-person, as you use your spear, bows, grenades, and other tools to defeat the machines and other human enemies.Then, you level up to unlock new skills and passive bonuses and buy or find new gear. New gear unlocks new ammo, and different ammo types damage enemies differently, as foes have unique resistances, behaviors, and skills.All of those elements deliver the core loop of the title. You explore the land for resources and hunt creatures for parts you can use to craft ammo. It’s a frenetic title akin to Monster Hunter.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice focuses more on challenging combat and less on the plot. After all, it’s a FromSoftware game, which means the story is more subtle and secret across environmental clues.Even so, there’s a clear plot. You play as “Wolf,” a samurai bestowed with the power of resurrecting. After an enemy army captures your lord, you go through a series of linear levels to defeat enemies and bosses for your master’s sake.You can level up to unlock skills across various trees, but you lose XP on death. Sadly, combat is quite challenging. It relies on parrying, dodging, and blocking until you break the enemy’s guard for a strong counterattack. Moreover, you have a prosthetic arm, which allows you to install and use tools. It supports ranged ninja abilities like throwing stars. Lastly, you can also kill enemies with stealth on top of melee and ranged abilities. The setting is brutal and violent. It’s the 150ss Sengoku Japan, a place where you’ll face mythological creatures and enemies. The world, and the story, is twisted and dark.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar’s western game blew everyone away when it came out. To this day, it’s one of the most popular single-player games for PC, with over 15K concurrent players every day on Steam.RD2 is a single-player action-adventure, open-world shooting game. You play as an outlaw, and you ride, shoot, hunt, rest, and deliver bounties. You also level up three attributes and find better firearms. Even so, combat depends mostly on player skill rather than stats. The story followed Arthur Morgan in 1899. You’re between federal agents, hunting you down, and rival gangs trying to end your crew. It opens a conflict between survival and loyalty, and your choices lead to four distinct endings. Aside from a cinematic story, the world is rich in details and immersion. The visual quality is also top-tier, and the shooting mechanics are smooth but unreliable as era weapons were. Overall, Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best games of all time. If you’re a God of War fan, you’ll find its character focus and intense combat familiar.
Days Gone
Days Gone is a third-person action-adventure game with zombies. It debuted as a PlayStation 4 exclusive and then reached the Windows platform in 2021. The game also mixes horror and survival elements. The open world has scarce elements and resources, and you need resources to craft ammo, upgrade gear, and upgrade your bike. Hence, much of the gameplay is micro-managing your resources to survive the harsh lands.That said, you play as Deacon St. John, a bounty hunter. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. Here, there’re horde mechanics, dynamic weather, and many enemy types to defeat. The story focuses on the character. St. John is looking for a reason to live, which he finds in the bonds you create during the game. Along the journey, though, you’re mostly a scavenger, looking for valuables, weapons, and shelter. Lastly, the game’s exploration relies on using vehicles, like bikes. You roam the land freely to complete quests and side quests on a non-linear matter.
