What you need to know
- The critically acclaimed PlayStation exclusive God of War Ragnarök finally arrived on PC last week, nearly two years after its initial release on PS5 and PS4 in 2022.
- I played through several hours of the title on my gaming laptop this past weekend, and my experience with the PC port has been excellent thus far. Your mileage may vary, though.
- Unfortunately, the game has come under intense fire due to Sony's decision to make Steam users sign into a PlayStation Network (PSN) account and always stay online in order to play the single player game.
- These requirements mean that users in over 170 countries and regions can't buy the game, and also that you'll be kicked out of your session if you lose your internet connection.
- Notably, this isn't the first time Sony has drawn the ire of PC gamers over PSN requirements. This also happened earlier this year with Helldivers 2 and Ghost of Tsushima, though this is the first time the company has demanded the use of PSN for a single player experience.
Along with the highly anticipated Final Fantasy 16, the biggest game to land on PC last week was God of War Ragnarök — the critically acclaimed sequel to Santa Monica Studios' first modern God of War title that released in 2018. Originally launching in November 2022 as a PlayStation 4 and 5 console exclusive, it's finally arrived on Steam two years later as part of Sony's wider effort to bring first-party PlayStation games to Windows PC in recent years.
Tempted as I was to hold off on playing the game until I get home from family travel next week and can hop on my beefy desktop rig, I ultimately chose to dive in right away on my Razer Blade 15. After all, even though my 2021 model with an RTX 3070 Mobile GPU, an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 360Hz FHD display is a few years old, it still gives strong performance and meets the God of War Ragnarök PC requirements for playing on High settings. With that in mind, I proceeded to spend many hours this past weekend hacking and slashing through Kratos' latest odyssey — and so far, my experience has been great.
On High and at 1080p, I've found the performance of the Ragnarök PC port to be excellent, with my Blade 15 achieving an average of 70-80 frames per second (FPS) in exterior areas and upwards of the high 80s and even 90s in interior ones. It's not perfect, as there's the occasional FPS dip or mid-combat stutter here and there, but these occur so infrequently that I don't really consider them a problem. And honestly? After how rough many other PC ports have been in recent years (cough, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), it's nice to get ones like this that are polished and stable. I wish they came more often.
Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your hardware specs and chosen settings — something made apparent by some negative Steam reviews that mention issues with stutters and crashes. Frustratingly, though, most "thumbs down" ratings from players bring up an issue that has nothing to do with performance at all: the fact that God of War Ragnarök requires players to sign in with a PlayStation Network (PSN) account and remain online in order to enjoy the game.
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At first glance, asking fans to create a PSN account doesn't seem like a big deal, as they're free to make and Microsoft has put similar requirements in some of its own games without noteworthy controversy. The difference, however, is that PSN isn't available in over 170 countries and territories worldwide, effectively preventing anyone who lives in these regions from buying Ragnarök. The hook into PlayStation's network here also doesn't benefit the player in any way, and just seems to be a form of always-online DRM that forces you to stay connected to the internet while playing the single player title.
Predictably, players are pretty vexed about this, just as they were when Sony implemented a similar policy for Helldivers 2 earlier this year and then did it again with Ghost of Tsushima earlier this year. The firm eventually reversed its decision in Helldivers 2's case since the requirement came long after the co-op shooter's February launch, though it stuck to its guns in Ghost of Tsushima's. In Sucker Punch's action-adventure game, though, a PSN sign-in is only needed for its co-op mode, which makes the requirement for it in Santa Monica Studios' single player-only Ragnarök uniquely irritating.
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As a result, Ragnarök has gone through a bit of review bombing, with 30% of its ~4,600 reviews negative and most of those zeroing in on this issue. "Separate accounts for single-player games should never be required," reads one review from user SeismicPik. "I would understand if it was optional, but it's not (for SOME people it is, it depends on regions). People can view this as petty all they want, but stuff like this should not become common practice."
"The game is amazing and I'm really enjoying it, however I can't recommend it in it's current state," writes player fiend in another. "A single player game requiring a Sony PSN login and not being able to play it offline? Really Sony? Are you serious?"
Sony hasn't explained why it's so stubbornly committed to integrating PSN requirements into its new PC ports, though the likely answer is that it's willing to take the hit to its reputation to implement more DRM. Evidently, it must not be missing a significant amount of revenue from customers in the 170 regions PSN isn't usable in, though those players are no doubt upset that they can no longer enjoy some of PlayStation's best games. So much for "Play has no limits."
Overall, it's just sad that the arrival of a great port for a great game has been marred by this recurring PSN debacle, and that some aren’t able to play Ragnarök even though they were able to enjoy its predecessor a few years ago. I hope Sony eventually budges, though I’m far from confident that that will actually happen.
