Polygon - Kratos will presumably acquire other weapons over the course of God of War. Considering his arsenal in the previous titles — and Barlog’s earlier statement that this game will take 25-35 hours to complete — I’d be surprised if he stuck with the ax and shield for the duration. Either way, I can say already that the combat in God of War feels like it has more possibilities than before, even at the start.
The combination of hand-to-hand fighting, ax, shield and Atreus gives Kratos a lot of combat options from the get-go in God of War. And that’s before you upgrade his skills, weapons or armor — or those of Atreus. Yes, there are separate skill trees for all these elements; in general, you spend a currency called Hacksilver on upgrading weapons and armor, and XP on unlocking new combos and abilities.
Geoff Keighley - I was blown away by God of War. Played first 2.5 hours last week. It's a faithful yet deeply evolved version of the classic series across every dimension: Combat, story, puzzles and graphical prowess.
this is going to be an epic -- and with tons of weapon and skill tree upgrades
The Verge - It’s not just the story elements that offer a more mature ethos on games; it’s the entire system of play. For the first time, there are serious RPG elements in a God of War game. Kratos will grow stronger and level up as players progress, and you’ll be able to customize armor, abilities, and weapons to favor different styles of play.
GameInformer - Don't worry! It's still a big part of God of War, and it's made the transition to a tighter third-person camera quite nicely. I understand purists may look at the new presentation and think, "I'm out." It's definitely different, but I was taken aback by how much it still feels like a God of War game.
Daily Star - Has Cory Barlog created a potential game of the year contender? That's as safe as houses.
The better question is, has Cory Barlog created THE best game of the PS4 generation so far? We're starting to think so.