The Definitive God of War Ranking

One thing that used to define the PlayStation brand was how, more often than not, they were willing to leave behind some of their most successful franchises from years past in order to try something new. Obviously, it’s not 100% their approach these days, with increased development times making some of their franchises feel like they’re in rotation longer than before. But, before, it absolutely was their approach besides a few outliers that are still with us today. Franchises like Gran Turismo, Ratchet & Clank, and, more importantly, God of War. 

The lifespan for the God of War franchise has been fascinating to follow. Originally released early 2005 during the twilight years of the PlayStation 2, the original God of War was the unlikely hit that could. Showing a level of scale previously unseen in both character action games and in gaming, an incredibly easy to use/incredibly addicting combat system paired with unflinching brutality, God of War left an indelible mark in PlayStation history, cementing its protagonist, Kratos, as one of the PlayStation brand’s most iconic characters and becoming one of the biggest system sellers in the process. Then, after six entries spread over two consoles and a handheld, with declining sales and critical reception, the franchise reimagined itself in the PlayStation 4 era to new critical and commercial heights. And the reimagined game and its sequel quickly rose to the top of the pack when it comes to the most beloved games in the current PlayStation pantheon.

With the franchise recently celebrating its 20th anniversary, it is time to look back to celebrate a franchise that, in this writer’s humble opinion, has never had a single bad entry. Even the “weaker” entries in the series provide a bloody fun time. So it’s time to look at the franchise that has ravaged two pantheons so far, with hopefully many more to come.*

*Note: the rankings will include the entries released in all main PlayStation hardware and the PSP, but it will not include the mobile and web browser offshoots. These are based on a recent replay of all in 2025.

9. God of War: Chains of Olympus

Coming in at the bottom, relatively speaking, is the franchise’s first PSP offshoot.

Released the year after God of War II in Sony’s beleaguered handheld, the most impressive thing about God of War: Chains of Olympus was how seamlessly developer Ready at Dawn was able to recreate the console experience with little to no compromise. Comparing this game to its console siblings, you’d think Sony Santa Monica made it, an astounding feat considering the PSP’s relatively underpowered nature compared to the PlayStation 2. And the game was no slouch, either, providing a brief but effective prequel set five years before the original God of War that gave us a taste of Kratos’ plight as he was in the middle of indentured servitude towards the gods of Olympus. While lacking many memorable boss fights and set pieces compared to its siblings, and while having an alternate weapon that was borderline game breaking, Chains of Olympus still delivered the goods for a handheld entry and boded well for Ready at Dawn’s next swing on the system.

8. God of War (2005)

The original 2005 entry may look very dated nowadays, but the ambition on display is still palpable, even during a revisit. Originally directed by Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe, the “Greek Myth mixed with Nu Metal” shines strong in this entry, depicting our official first taste of antihero Kratos as the game takes us through his journey to defeat Ares to atone for the sins of this past. And it’s past that is effectively unveiled the more you play. From his introductory battle against the Hydra to his journey to the Desert of Lost Souls to uncover Pandora’s Box, the original God of War is a swiftly-paced, addicting, violent romp that birthed this long-running franchise. And while many entries would build upon the foundations of this one, there is a purity to this first game that’s still fun to revisit today.

7. God of War: Ascension

A victim of the “law of diminishing returns” when it launched in 2013, God of War: Ascension gets a bad rap in the pantheon of the series, and it’s sometimes justified, but sometimes unfairly so. There is no doubt Ascension suffers from being the sixth entry in a “long in the tooth” formula. It’s a prequel story with not much material to work with after the PSP entries delivered on pretty important backstory. You could tell, with the inclusion of the Furies and Aegaeon the Hecatonchires, the meaningful Greek material had well and truly dried up. 

But despite those drawbacks, Sony Santa Monica didn’t phone in this installment. God of War: Ascension showed them at the peak of their visual and design chops to balance out its issues. Even with some questionable combat changes that felt like change for change’s sake, the level design and artistry on display is some of the best in the Greek era, and some of the design choices around combat eventually found more meaning in the Norse era. Plus, while the multiplayer component may have seemed tacked on at first glance, it provided something unique in the landscape that deserved more eyes on it than it got. While reimagining the franchise after the reaction to this one was justified, if you go back to it, you’ll notice it’s a much stronger entry than its reputation suggests. I wish it was available more widely besides the PS3 streaming option on PlayStation 5, but it works well enough there.

6. God of War III

The original conclusion to the main Greek trilogy is still one of gaming’s greatest spectacles, and it’s a defining moment for the PlayStation 3.

For a console that took years to find its stride, God of War III, alongside Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, served as the definitive proof of what the console was capable of, delivering a visual experience almost unrivaled by its competitors at the time. Kratos’ war on Olympus, alongside the Titans, delivered one of the most epically bombastic opening moments in gaming, and it’s one that I feel hasn’t been truly topped besides some of the high-point spectacle moments of a recent game, like Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XVI. As for the level of carnage on display, if you are yearning for bloodlust, for good and ill, God of War III provides one of the most violent action games ever, with the graphical quality showcasing it all in gruesome, gory detail. It’s almost too much, and that relentless brutality does make Kratos’ final chapter slightly more uneven in its pacing and more one note compared to the rest of the trilogy, with a story that felt very disorganized and patched together in the end. It falls shy of being the very best game of Sony Santa Monica’s original trilogy, but its collection of high highs remain an indelible memory in the franchise’s history.

5. God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Released at the tail end of 2010 in the final days of the PSP, Ready at Dawn’s follow up to their original franchise offshoot had to share the limelight with the more explosive (and frankly, more important) console brother, which is ironic when you consider the game they delivered was actually slightly better than Sony Santa Monica’s big trilogy capper.

While not a complete reinvention of a formula on its fifth entry, God of War: Ghost of Sparta actually comes out ahead for delivering one of the more exciting romps of the Greek saga, with arguably the best story told in the era. Written by Cory Barlog, director for God of War 2 & God of War (2018) before his first departure from Sony Santa Monica, Ghost of Sparta tells the originally planned follow-up story to the original 2005 entry and provides much needed context that better recontextualizes the stories in the second and third entries of the main Greek trilogy. Kratos’ journey to find his long lost brother Deimos gives him more range outside of his usual brutal screaming, and the resolution to the tale fully explains Kratos’ bloodlust that got out of control in the latter part of the Greek trilogy. While not quite at the level of scale of a game like God of War II, God of War: Ghost of Sparta is the strongest prequel game of the Greek era, with some gameplay additions introduced that would be later fleshed out in the final console entry before the switch to the Norse era of the franchise.

4. God of War: Ragnarok

God of War: Ragnarok bucked the trend from the previous era of the franchise to deliver a definitive ending to the Norse saga with its second entry. The result was the biggest, largest, longest, and most expansive God of War game ever, something it took advantage of to its benefit and to its slight detriment.

In the benefits side, the second go at in the reimagined formula allowed Sony Santa Monica to better hone in on the character action roots of the franchise to prove Kratos could still be an excellent, expansive combatant in the new era. The combat was chunky, expansive, and incredibly fun, and with the improved verticality, way more complex than the first reimagined game. The story told here also expanded on the scope from 2018’s reimagining, with more characters besides Kratos and his son Atreus coming into the limelight compared to the more insular approach of the previous game. And the way the game resolves Kratos and Atreus’ journey was very touching, paying off the complicated relationship between the two which was put through the wringer in this installment. 

With that said, being the biggest, largest, longest, and most expansive God of War game did come with its own caveats. For one, the gameplay split of Kratos and Atreus made the pacing of the game laborious in many spots, and, as hard as Sony Santa Monica tried to make Atreus fun to play, his sections early on were a drag and paled in comparison to our favorite Spartan, who felt better than ever. The decision to get the entire Norse saga done in this entry definitely prevented it from leaving on an agonizing cliffhanger like God of War II before it, but there’s also a nagging sense that, despite the game’s comparatively gargantuan length, some elements of the Ragnarok tale felt very rushed and underserved. It added just enough caveats to the experience that, despite being a clear improvement over many areas of the 2018 reimagining, it held it back from being a definitively better game than its predecessor. But the things it got right (from its story, visuals, and combat), it got so right, and it makes the places where it zags not damage it so much. God of War: Ragnarok stands tall alongside the best games in the series, even if it’s not quite the best.

3. God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla

What would happen if you could take the strongest elements of God of War: Ragnarok, distill it to an essence, shed off the weaknesses, and put it all through a rogue-like? That’s basically God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla to its core. Released as a big free DLC a year after the main game came out (and with the caveat that you need the main God of War: Ragnarok game to access it), I’m singling out this piece of content in the ranking because, for my (free) money, this is actually better than the main God of War: Ragnarok game, and it’s one of the best things that has come out from the franchise. 

Set at an undisclosed time after the ending of the main game, Ragnarok: Valhalla follows Kratos as he goes through Valhalla in the ultimate reckoning of all his past deeds back in the Greek era. If the two Norse games showed us a man coming to terms with his past to attempt a path to a better future, Ragnarok: Valhalla is the moment Kratos faces it all head on. He finally faces the demons of his past that allows both the Norse and Greek eras to intersect in a way that’s a great payoff for longtime fans of the series, all working on a rogue-like structure that brings to mind a game like Supergiant Games’ Hades. The rogue-like nature allows the game to focus on everything God of War: Ragnarok did best without getting dragged down by the protagonist switching, pacing problems, and level design limitations of the main game. While it does make me question where the series can go from here based on the ultimate conclusion to Kratos’ personal character arc, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is otherwise a triumph for the franchise and a great showcase for Sony Santa Monica trying something different and nailing it.

2. God of War II

The glorious swan song of the PlayStation 2, God of War II is the game that cemented the franchise as a PlayStation staple and sent out Sony’s super successful console on the highest of high notes. 

Building on the solid foundation of the 2005 original, Sony Santa Monica eschewed moving the direct sequel to the already released PlayStation 3, instead focusing on the mastered PlayStation 2 to deliver one of the greatest character action-based games ever.  From riding Pegasus to the island of Typhon to making your way to the Sisters of Fate before your fateful rematch with Zeus, God of War II is the epic realization of the series’ Greek ambitions, with the gameplay and scale taking everything the original one did and improving on it tenfold. 

The game’s near perfect mix of combat/exploration/puzzles worked so well, it helped offset a story that, despite its glorious scale and spectacle, wasn’t as compelling a story as the one in the original game. The game simply tells you that Kratos has now become a rageful monster, yet it never tells us why beyond the surface (God of War: Ghost of Sparta would finally deliver on that answer some three years later). It is the one area that prevents God of War II from being the very best God of War game ever, but when it comes to the other areas, it’s masterful in a way many character action-based games still dream of.

1. God of War (2018)

This is Sony Santa Monica’s masterpiece, and it’s the perfect example of how you rejuvenate a franchise without fully rebooting it.

After the softer critical reception and tepid sales of God of War: Ascension, Sony Santa Monica suffered a major impasse with their once highly venerable franchise, where it forced the studio to reevaluate if it had a future. This led to the return of God of War 2 director Cory Barlog to try to think of ways to reimagine the franchise. Through a hard 5-year process that included a pushed up timeline after the studio’s attempt at a new IP collapsed in 2014, Sony Santa Monica bet the house on this reimagining, as they were now one failure away from shutting down. It’s an unthinkable moment for a studio that gave the PlayStation brand one of its more important franchises. But the results and the reception for this reimagining speak for themselves.

Sony Santa Monica brought Kratos successfully to a new mythology, with a completely different vibe and pace from the games that came before while keeping enough hallmark touches that unmistakably retains the spirit of the franchise. Completely eschewing a full-on reboot, director Cory Barlog set a goal to prove there was more to Kratos than the unlikable monster he had become by the end of God of War 3. The game expertly set this new entry as a new beginning that anyone could enjoy, while long time fans could be thrilled at witnessing Kratos’ coming to terms with his murderous past and his attempt to absolve his past deeds, all while trying to regain his humanity via his son Atreus. While very similar in vibes to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, the reimagined God of War made this approach completely its own.

For a franchise known for its bombast, God of War (2018) was a masterclass in restraint, doing so much with conceptually so little, to deliver on one of the PlayStation 4’s very best games. While there is much that its direct sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, improved upon, the restraint this first reimagining showed is still a thing of legends. There is a reason why when people think of God of War nowadays, they think, first and foremost, of this specific game: a timeless classic.