I also noticed that this game is suddenly full of adorable Miyazaki-esque fantasy creatures.
The tone of this game is all over the place, the previous game was relatively light compared to the tragedy of the original series, but still had a somber tone with a foreboding ending. This game is just a farce.
I want to sperg out a bit about character development in the game:
Kratos: The idea is that he needs to let go of Atreus to do his own thing, but Atreus is fucking 16 and constantly shows bad decision making. So it boils down to him becoming a terrible helicopter parent who'll end up with his son committing 41%.
Atreus: Good writers would have Atreus' development complement Kratos by him learning to take responsibility for his actions. Appropriately to Current Year, Atreus learns that nothing bad is ever his fault, but someone else's.
Freya: Literally every Yass Slay Queen plot line you've ever seen, which is her defining herself by her hate for Odin while also defining herself as not being defined by her hate to Odin. She is also incredibly abusive to Kratos and Co. and highly manipulative and willing to sacrifice others, but it is empowering when a woman does it.
The idea of prophecy is basically "there is no assured future, just highly informed deductions". This is bullshit because:
1. The previous game had seeing the future, so it retcons that part.
2. This isn't some sci-fi setting where you have the mathematics to back up this idea. Especially as it's predicting actions of people who weren't even born yet, or didn't exist in their realm.
3. The predictions are comprised of so many convoluted parts it would have been impossible.
The reaction of characters to that idea of prophecy is basically "as long as you don't acknowledge you are being manipulated then you aren't manipulated". It really is that retarded.
In an earlier post I joked about Kratos' wife being a groomer, but thinking about it, she really does groom her unborn son into taking part in a terribly dangerous war for vengeance of her race. The game seem to realize it and say she tried to prevent them at the end, but she still sent them for a journey to bury her at the start of the previous game, that kickstarts the plot. It really is just the writers making sure no woman is a villain.
The game also tries to take a stance against toxic masculinity but it is really strange when Kratos does teach Atreus to not be a little bitch but that doesn't count despite how it is usually defined.
