The first reviews of God of War Ragnarok have appeared on the aggregator OpenCritic. The game did not turn out to be perfect, with some game journalists voicing complaints. The average score is 94, based on nearly 100 reviews.
Among the abundance of “10 out of 10” and “5 out of 5” ratings awarded by IGN, VGC, and Push Square, there are lower scores as well.
GameSpot gave it a 9 out of 10, while Game Informer rated the game 9.5 out of 10. However, there are even sharper reviews. Standing out among the multitude of high scores was a reviewer from IGN's Korean division.
In his view, God of War Ragnarok resembles a rushed DLC for the previous game. The story failed to impress him, and the core game design hasn’t budged an inch since God of War (2018). He felt the sequel lacked innovation. The journalist expressed hope that Santa Monica Studio will return with fresh ideas and surprise everyone once again.