A Closer Look at the Pacing of God of War (2018)
The 2018 God of War was one of the most refined games of its generation. For a AAA game with high production value, it seems hard to pinpoint what exactly makes it great. But if I were to pick one defining aspect, I would say it is the pacing.
Right after seeing the credits roll, the first thing that came to my mind was how smooth it was to get through such a heavily-packed game. As someone who regularly works 60 hours per week, I have play sessions that are relatively sparse and far in-between. This makes pacing the most important factor to keep me interested, and it is what God of War does extremely well.
The pacing of God of War can be discussed on three different scales: how the world is unveiled, how the core gameplay loop unfolds, and how the story gets told.
Let’s start with the world. Unveiling the world of God of War is not only about showing its mythological attractions, but more importantly introducing the player to the ways he/she/they can interact with the world. The game starts in an area called Wildwoods, it is where the player acquires the basic set of tools to deal with the central challenge of the game: combat. It acts as a tutorial area that lets the player progress in a mostly linear way. This prevents the player from being overwhelmed while not yet familiar with the game’s language and mechanics. As the game progresses, the player is then free to explore new areas in the open world. This gradual approach is similar to other games like The Witcher 3, but it goes even further to make the world feel dynamic and multi-dimensional. The game world itself is gradually changing in creative ways. For example, when the world serpent lifts its body, new lands are exposed as the water level is lowered. In this way, there is always somewhere completely new to explore. More importantly, the world is also changing with the player. As the player gets familiar with the current challenges, the game lays out new puzzles and new tools to solve them. This grants the player more ways to interact with the world and makes the unlocked areas filled with new stuff to do. With a dynamic world that is revealed at a gradual pace, God of War manages to keep the player interested in its world by always presenting something new.
However, the game cannot be fun without a rewarding gameplay loop. God of War’s core gameplay loop mainly consists of combat and exploration, with the upgrading of characters and gears connecting the two. Here the term pacing applies to how these elements bring different experiences and how they mesh with each other. God of War’s combat is fast and engaging, but it can also be intense and stressful. I cannot count the times I fell to the Valkyries and each win felt extremely narrow. In contrast, the exploration, which for the most part contains traveling and puzzle-solving, is mostly slow-paced and serene. Traveling is often where the characters share stories and have conversations while the puzzles require more thinking than fast-paced maneuvering. To make exploration even more rewarding, the game provides various combat challenges and a deep upgradable customization system. This blend of challenges and the room for upgrades keeps the player motivated during explorations. Another area where the pacing of the gameplay loop shines is how it builds up suspense and hype for the upcoming challenges. For instance, the final boss Baldur is introduced in one of the very first scenes. Throughout the game, we get to gradually learn about his identity, motives, and struggles, which tremendously helps build up the final fight. This also creates different levels of intensity between the combat scenarios, which prevents the interest curve from being flat and static. By comparison, while Doom(2016) uses a similar approach in its combat and exploration, its fights always throw everything at the player. This makes it easier for the player to feel fatigued and ultimately bored. Overall, God of War creates a well-paced gameplay loop that is well balanced between emergent and player-driven actions.
Last but not least, God of War tells the story in a clever way. On the surface, God of War tells the story of a father going on a journey with his son to complete his wife’s last wish: spreading her ashes from the top of the highest mountain in Jotunheim. This story is structured in a way similar to “saving the princess” in Super Mario, where the princess is always in the next castle until the end. It serves as a reason for the characters’ journey and an objective that is always visible to the player. Under the surface, the game tells a more nuanced story of how the father-and-son relationship evolves. In this story, each character has a clear development arc, and it is with the actions of the player that the story unfolds. Though the boy’s change of character in mid-game is arguably too sudden, the game empowers the player’s agency by creating the illusion that the player’s actions drive the character’s story. The game also tells a story of its world, by scattering bits and pieces throughout the mythological lands, which rewards the player’s effort in exploration. In this way, the game creates three stories told at three different paces, each with a different purpose. The result is a world that is lively, relatable, and full of mysteries.
