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| God of War: Sons of Sparta puts Kratos and Deimos centre stage long before the Ghost of Sparta ever existed. |
By Jon Scarr
God of War: Sons of Sparta is not the game I expected, and that's what makes it worth talking about. Instead of another massive over-the-shoulder brawler, Santa Monica Studio turned Kratos and his younger brother Deimos into the leads of a 2D Metroidvania set during their Spartan training days. It's a smaller, more personal kind of God of War. And it works better than it has any right to.
You play as a teenage Kratos years before the Blades of Chaos and years before everything falls apart. The whole adventure is told as a story adult Kratos shares with his daughter Calliope, with T.C. Carson back in the role. His delivery here is softer and more reflective than the older Greek games, and that tone carries through everything. This is a God of War story about who Kratos was before his world broke.
God of War: Sons of Sparta Details
Platform: PlayStation 5
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Developer: Santa Monica Studio
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Metroidvania / Action
Game Modes: Single-player
Brothers in Arms, Before It All Goes Wrong
The setup is simple and it works. A trainee named Vasilis goes missing during a field exercise, and Kratos and Deimos refuse to let it go. Following his trail takes you out of the training grounds and into wider Laconia, from camps and villages to ruins that Spartans would rather you never find.
What makes this worth your time is the relationship between the two brothers. Kratos buys into Spartan discipline and duty. Deimos questions everything, cracks jokes, and refuses to treat every order as sacred. Their back-and-forth on patrol and in camp does more character work than most of the big action sequences. You can see where their bond holds and where it starts to crack, long before the Greek trilogy tears them apart.
Sons of Sparta doesn't try to rewrite anything you already know. It fills in a gap. You get a much clearer sense of who Kratos was at thirteen and why he chooses to share this chapter with Calliope at all.
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The story keeps cutting between adult Kratos narrating and the brothers navigating Laconia together, temples included. |
Spear, Shield, and Reading the Room
Spear and Shield Combat
Combat is built around a spear and shield, and the whole kit feels tight. Light and heavy combos cover good ground, air pokes let you control platforms, and the spear's quick start-up means you can jab and get back out before a slower swing connects. It's not as weighty as the Norse games but it suits the younger Kratos well.
Reading attacks is the key skill. Enemies signal every threat with clear colour cues that pop against the background. One colour means block. Another means parry. A third means move now. Once that colour language falls into place, you start reading fights instead of just reacting to them. Stun finishers sit on top of all that. Regular hits fill a gauge, and when an enemy's stun bar maxes out, you trigger a brutal clear that drops orbs and resets the room. Chaining parries, rolls, and finishers together feels great when you nail a tough encounter.
Gear and Boss Fights
Gear comes from spear parts and shields you find across Laconia. New tips add fire, range, or critical bonuses. New shafts shift stats and combo routes. Shields change what you get out of blocks and parries. You can stick with a few favourites for most of the story and be fine, but testing a new setup against a tough boss keeps things interesting.
Boss fights are the clear high point. They hit harder, mix layered patterns with platform hazards, and make proper use of the arenas around them. Once you learn when to roll and when to trust the shield, they're tough but fair.
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| Boss arenas in Sons of Sparta make good use of the space around them — this one puts Kratos on a massive stone hand in the sky. |
Exploration and Backtracking
Exploration follows a standard Metroidvania structure with the agoge at the centre and routes branching out into wineries, temples, caves, and cliffside paths. New tools open blocked routes and quietly point you back toward areas worth revisiting. When it works, you get that rush of finally cracking a shortcut you spotted hours earlier.
Backtracking can drag, though. Kratos is slow on his feet, and fast travel points sit far enough apart that a long cross-map trek wears thin when you've guessed wrong on a route. Some paths stack multiple locks, so you open one barrier and immediately hit another. Once you accept that and follow the main path until your kit fills out, the exploration opens up nicely.
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| Laconia opens up as you unlock new tools, with villages, markets, and outposts all connected back to the agoge. |
Retro Looks, God of War Soul
Sons of Sparta goes for a retro look and pulls it off well. Sprites are sharp and expressive, and the animation makes enemy tells clear without being too telegraphed. When a minotaur drops its head or a harpy raises a claw, you have time to react. Movement reads well even when the screen fills up.
Backgrounds use a painted style that gives each area its own identity. Training yards are cramped and busy. Wineries stretch out with broken barrels and open views. Temple interiors stack statues and pillars around every path. The mix of pixel characters and more detailed backdrops can clash at times, but Laconia still has a strong sense of place throughout.
The soundtrack takes a chiptune angle on the usual God of War mood. Exploration sections get calm loops that sit under the action. Boss tracks hit harder and give big fights the intensity they need. T.C. Carson's narration is the strongest part of the audio, giving older Kratos just enough warmth when he talks to Calliope without losing his edge. DualSense haptics respond to hits and finishers, and load times stay short throughout.
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| The visual effects pop cleanly against darker environments, keeping combat readable even when abilities fill the screen. |
God of War: Sons of Sparta Earns Its Place in the Series
God of War: Sons of Sparta is not trying to replace the mainline games, and it doesn't need to. What it does is give you a complete, focused prequel that covers a part of the story the big games only ever touched on. The spear-and-shield combat is sharp, the colour cues reward you for reading the room, and the boss fights make proper use of everything you've built up. Backtracking drags at times and the scope is modest compared to what you're used to from this series. But if you're already into God of War and you have any interest in 2D Metroidvania games, Sons of Sparta is worth making room for.
God of War: Sons of Sparta Review Summary
Liked
- Kratos and Deimos relationship is the heart of the story
- Colour-cued combat rewards reading over reacting
- Boss fights are tough and well designed
- T.C. Carson's narration adds real warmth
- Strong sense of place across Laconia
Didn't Like
- Backtracking drags when fast travel points are too spread out
- Kratos moves slowly for a Metroidvania
- Pixel and painted art styles can clash
Overall Assessment of God of War: Sons of Sparta
Gameplay: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4.0 / 5)
Presentation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4.0 / 5)
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4.0 / 5)
Story / Narrative: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4.0 / 5)
Fun Factor: ⭐⭐⭐✨☆ (3.5 / 5)
Overall Value: ⭐⭐⭐✨☆ (3.5 / 5)
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