Video games and parenting aren’t always on the same side.
Children want to play more and parents are keen for them to do less.
God of War, is a new game on the PlayStation 4 with a difference. It’s particularly interesting for parents because it features not only the usual gruff hero, Kratos, but also his son.
What soon becomes apparent as you play the game is that he will need to guide his son through the world so they can work together to take down enemies.
It’s a game that I’ve enjoyed playing in the evening when the kids were in bed.
So I was keen to work with PlayStation to get more dads to experience the game.
And with Father’s Day on the way, it was a great time to do it. As you can see in the video, we had a dad’s evening in, playing the game and helping Kratos and his son, Atreus, take on the forces of evil.
It was fun, but what the other father’s were more surprised by was the level of substance to the story that includes the death of Atreus’ mother near the beginning.
Seeing Kratos’ gruff tone with Atreus as they faced this loss or as they took on a range of enemies triggered conversation between the father’s playing the game.
“It’s good to see a dad saying it how it is”, said one father.
“He doesn’t mind telling him he’s no good at something, does he”, said another.
The game, which has won critical acclaim on PlayStation 4, looked great. I knew that before our session. After playing together though, I was also impressed by the level of genuine fatherhood that the game presented.
It’s been called Dad of War in jest, but it actually delivers on this combination of battling and parenting. We rounded off the evening with some Instax printed photos. The retro-polaroids got us talking about our own children and how they’d respond if we were as direct with them.
If you’re looking for something for father’s day then God of War is a good option. Just don’t blame me if it triggers his inner gruff dad.
