Is it time to revisit Kratos at his worst?

For all the implications of the title, Ragnarök’s story puts the emphasis on rebuilding. As in Mass Effect, you’ll spend a lot of time in sidequests salvaging regions trashed by your Asgardian antagonists at the world-tree’s summit. In Svartalfheim, realm of the dwarves, you can take time out to shut down huge Aesir smelters at the behest of Mimir, Odin’s old fixer, nowadays reduced to a head bobbing around on your belt. In Alfheim, you’ll free huge jellyfish creatures trapped in dark elf nests, and probe the origins of the latter’s enmity with the light elves. In Vanaheim, you’ll help Freya dispel Odin’s curses and come to terms with her memories of their marriage, while cleansing toxic gardens and exorcising corrupted spirits.

This theme of gradual repair and reparation carries over to the main story, albeit with the usual caveats about self-aware action games that can’t quite forswear their violence. Antagonists are just as often befriended as felled, and the theme of parental responsibility towards the younger generation is ceaselessly drummed into your ears. “We must be better,” Kratos intones, again and again, even as the game settles into a familiar rhythm of killing and looting that extends past Ragnarök itself to a postgame defined by valkyrie hunts, rare crafting resources, and regional clear-out operations.