God of War (2018 or Ragnaraok)

God of War’s quasi-reboot in 2018 may have brought a number of gameplay and thematic changes to the much-celebrated PS2-era series, but none of it came at the cost of a satisfying action game. In fact, it’s arguably made the series even more impactful, with sharper, more visceral action. This year’s sequel, Ragnarok, didn’t disappoint either. In our review of the PS4 and PS5 title, Kotaku’s Zack Zwiezen noted:

Like its predecessor, Ragnarök is a third-person action-adventure; that means a lot of fights, and I mean a lot! Luckily, the killin’ is good, with combat feeling both heavy and responsive. Each swing of your axe or slice of your blades looks nice, sounds powerful, and feels satisfying. This time around you start out with both the awesome ice axe and the fiery Blades of Chaos.

This also means combat is a bit trickier from the start, with more complex engagements forcing you to switch up your weapons to counter different enemy types sooner. Eventually, you acquire a third weapon, a magical spear, that fits perfectly into the combat toolbox, but which I won’t spoil beyond that.