Summary
- I chose God of War Ragnarok, which is the 5th game in the series. It takes the perspective of Kratos and his son Atreus who are trying to make their own fate. I chose this game because I really like the God of War games and this one was by far my favorite out of the series.
Game Play Analysis
| Formal Elements | |
| The Basics | NOTES |
| Name of the game | God of War: Ragnarok |
| The platform | PS5/PC |
| Time played (should be at least 30 minutes) | 2 hours |
| If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why? | Chances of obtaining runic attacks because for me it felt like I didn’t get enough of them to actually have a choice in which to use in different fights. |
| Players | NOTES |
| How many players are supported? | 1 |
| Does it need to be an exact number? | Yes |
| How does this affect play? | It means that only one player can play at a time. |
| Some types of player frameworks:Single Player – like Solitare.Head-to-head – 1 vs. 1, Chess.PvE – Player vs. Environment, or multiple players vs. the game. Common in MMOs like World of Warcraft.One against Many – Single-player vs. multiple (obvy).Free-for-all – Every man for himself (1 vs. 1 vs. 1 vs. 1..). Most common for multiplayer games, from Monopoly to Modern Warfare.Individuals Against the System – Like Blackjack, where the Dealer is playing against multiple players, but those players have no effect on each other.Team Competition – Multiple vs. multiple, i.e. sports.Predator-prey – Players form a circle and everyone’s goal is to attack the player on their left and defend themselves from the player on their right.Five-pointed Star – Eliminate both players who are not on either side of you. | It is PvE |
| Objectives/Goals | NOTES |
| What are the players trying to do? | They are trying to start defeat Odin while also trying to avoid their written fate that they saw in a prophecy. |
| Some common objectives include:Capture/Destroy – Eliminate all your opponents pieces (Chess).Territorial Acquisition – Control as much territory as you can, not necessarily harming other players (RISK).Collection – Collect a certain number of objects throughout the game (Pokemon).Solve – Solve a puzzle or crime (Clue).Chase/race/escape – Anything where you are running towards or away from something (playground game Tag).Spatial Alignment – Anything involving the positioning of elements (Tetris or Tic-Tac-Toe or that game at Cracker Barrel).Build – Advance your characters or build your resources to a certain point (The Sims).Negation of another goal – The game ends if you perform an act that is forbidden by the rules (Jenga or Twister). | The common objective is to beat all of the enemies , defeat a boss, or solve a puzzle, then move to the next wave of enemies, puzzle, or boss fight. |
| Rules/Mechanics | The player can use weapons to deal damage by either using it as a melee weapon or by throwing it. The player can also dodge, roll, or block an incoming attack to avoid damage. |
| There are three categories of (what the book Rules of Play calls) operational rules:Setup – the things you do at the beginning of a game.Progression of Play – what happens during the game.Resolution – How an outcome is determined based on the game state. | There is no setup whatsoever, as you get all your items from the beginning. During the game you can follow the storyline quests or you can partake in various side quests. After you complete the story, you can still do any side quests you didn’t do. |
| Controls | NOTES |
| What controls are used? | Left stick to move character Right stick to move camera R1 for a light attack/throw R2 for a heavy attack/throw R3 to activate rage L1 to block L2 to aim L3 to sprint X to evade O to interact Square to use Atreus’s actions Triangle for signature weapon ability Touch pad for Inventory and Map Options for the options menu |
| Was there a clear introductory tutorial? | Yes |
| Were they easy to understand or did you find yourself spamming the controller? | It was very easy to understand |
| Resources & Resource Management | NOTES |
| What kinds of resources do players control? | Experience points Hacksilver Crafting Materials |
| How are they maintained during play? | Experience points are gained by killing enemies Hacksilver and any crafting materials are gained by killing enemies, finding chests, or random loot drops |
| What is their role? | Experience points are used to upgrade your skill tree. Hacksilver is used to buy and upgrade weapons, armor, resurrections stones, and other items. Crafting Materials are used to craft or upgrade weapons or armor. |
| A resource is everything under the control of a single player. Could be the money in Monopoly or health in WoW. Other examples are:Territory in RISK The number of questions remaining in 20 Questions Objects picked up during videogames (guns, health packs, etc.)Time (game time, real-time, or both)Known information (like suspects in Clue) | The player is in control of what they unlock in the skill tree, what they craft, what they upgrade, and what they buy. |
| Game State | NOTES |
| How much information in the game state is visible to the player? | You can see your health bar, your rage bar, your runic attack cooldowns, and enemy health. |
| A snapshot of the game at a single point is the game state. The resources you have, the un-owned properties in Monopoly, your opponent’s Archery skill all count towards the game state. Some example information structures are:Total Information – Nothing is hidden, like Chess.Info per player – Your hand of cards is only visible to you.One player has privileged info – Like a Dungeon Master.The game hides info from all players – Like Clue, where no one knows the victory condition.Fog of War – In video games, where certain sections of the map are concealed if you do not have a unit in sight range of that area. You also cannot see other players’ screens, so each player is unaware of the other’s information. | Info per player and Fog of War |
| Sequencing | NOTES |
| In what order do players take their actions? | Players can take actions in whatever order they choose. |
| How does play flow from one action to another? | It flows pretty well, although with some combos there is a brief period of time where you are unable to do anything which can be annoying sometimes. |
| Some structures include:Turn-based – Standard board game technique.Turn-based with simultaneous play – where everyone takes their turn at the same time (like writing something down or putting a card down in War).Real-time – Actions happen as fast as players can make them. Action-based video games.Turn-based and time limits – You have this long to take your turn. | Real Time |
| Player Interaction | The interactions are either between player and enemy or player and npc |
| Some examples:Direct Conflict – I attack you.Negotiation – If you support me here, I’ll help you there.Trading – I’ll give you this for that.Information Sharing – If you go there, I’m warning you, a trap will go off. | Direct Conflict |
| Theme & Narrative | NOTES |
| Does it have an actual story structure? | Yes |
| Is it based on a historical event (or similar)? | No |
| Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play? | No |
| Does it have emotional impacts? | Yes |
| Also, look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)? | No |
| The Elements in Motion | NOTES |
| How do the different elements interact? | The difficult elements make it so the player must use combos and abilities wisely to avoid being defeated. |
| What is the gameplay like? | The gameplay is pretty fast paced, requiring good reflexes while also challenging you mentally with various puzzles. |
| Is it effective? | Yes |
| Are there any points where the design choices break down? | No |
| Design Critique | NOTES |
| Why did the designer make these particular choices? | To improve immersion. |
| Why this set of resources? | They use this set of resources to show that the player is much larger than the average humanoid, but it is also used to show the immensity of some of the monsters and gods you fight. |
| What if they made different decisions? | Immersion might be a little more difficult |
| Does the design break down at any point? | No |
| Graphics & Sound | NOTES |
| Does the game art pair well with the mechanics? | Yes |
| Did you find any bugs or glitches? | No |
| What about sound? | They sound was really well done and really added to the immersion. |
| Can you spot any technical shortcuts? | No |
| Various Stages of the Game | NOTES |
| To wrap up, some things to keep in mind (as if there aren’t enough already) as you play: | Watch your runic ability cool downs and look out for health gems on the ground during big fights. |
| What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them? | You face bosses that get progressively stronger as you get farther into the game. You overcome them by upgrading your gear and by generally having good game sense and reflexes. |
| Is the game fair? | yes |
| Is it replayable? Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience? | I would say it is pretty replayable because you can get different items in chests and such. However, that is the only thing that can really change if you replay it so it would lose replayablity pretty fast. |
| What is the intended audience? | People who enjoyed the previous games and that enjoyed games such as Dark Souls. |
| What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun? | The core is fighting enemies. It is very fun 🙂 |
This analysis form was adapted from https://notlaura.com/a-template-for-analyzing-game-design/