It's always tough to go back to the earliest days of a character, especially one known for being stoic or serious. There's something lost when you find out John Marston was kind of a dork or Darth Vader with a little moppet with a bowl cut. God of War: Sons of Sparta can be a tough sell in that case. We've seen Kratos as an angry young man and a bitter older father, but was he really so different as a kid? The answer is ... well, yes and no. In many ways, Sons of Sparta feels slightly odd for the franchise, and in other ways, it feels right at home.

Sons of Sparta takes us back to the earliest days of Kratos' life, reliving a story of some of his earlier glory as told via a now-adult Kratos to his young daughter. Young Kratos and his brother Deimos have earned the right to travel outside of Sparta to prove their worth. When one of their fellow cadets goes missing, the two set out and find the missing Spartan. Along the way, they'll have to deal with the fact that Kratos is uptight and serious, while Deimos is hotheaded and prone to following his heart. There's also a tremendous number of terrifying beasts and monsters straight out of Greek mythology.

Sons of Sparta gives a terrible first impression. The opening hours of the game are incredibly slow-paced, rather dull, and leave you dealing with the uptight hall monitor that is young Kratos and his annoying younger brother, Deimos. It improves as the game goes on, but I was utterly bored by the two of them. It also represents a notable tonal shift for the franchise; it's more lighthearted and playful than you usually get, but in his case, I don't think that's bad. The framing device of the story is Kratos telling the story to his young daughter, and there's some obvious implication he's keeping some of the worst bits hidden for her own good. It's strange hearing the OG Kratos being a kind and empathetic father considering both the original games and how he ends up in Norse mythology. You have to assume that Kratos is an unreliable narrator, as it's difficult to imagine this Kratos being the same murder monster who was presented in the original games. Thankfully, the story improves once you get past the earlier tutorials, but I never grew to love Deimos or the young Kratos.

God of War has always trended toward having lots of hidden areas, and the recent games have often let you go off the beaten path. That's why a God of War Metroidvania feels like a perfectly natural fit. You might be young Kratos, but you're still going on a lengthy journey around Greece as you seek the lost Spartan and battle your way through the forces of evil. You get some pretty fun exploration items, like a magical stone head that can unlock doors, or a powerful sling that can hit distant switches, but they're not too unexpected for the genre. There's nothing too distinct, and the description of "God of War Metroidvania" mostly tells you what to expect.

Exploration in Sons of Sparta is quite good. The game takes from its source material and adds a ton of different items and collectibles. They'll let you upgrade your equipment, improve your stats, unlock new abilities or areas, and more. Generally, exploring off the beaten path offers some rewards, even if it's just a heavy dose of red orbs that you can cash in for new skills or weapon bonuses. There are plenty of hidden areas and rewards for backtracking, even if it takes until relatively late in the game for you to unlock the ability to fast-travel outside of a few specific locations. I have no complaints about Sons of Sparta's exploration, aside from a few areas being too large.

The combat in Sons of Sparta does a good job of trying to move the classic God of War-style combat to a 2D plane. While you lack Kratos's iconic blades and his throwing Leviathan ax, the spear and shield make for a good counterpoint. You can block, dodge, and parry, all in the fairly standard way of modern games. There are color-coded enemy attacks that can't be blocked and/or can't be dodged, so you need to get a good feel for the rhythms of combat so you can keep attacking. You also have a Spartan Spirit meter that fills up as you attack and allows you to perform special attacks for bonus damage. There's also a magic meter used for various special godly gimmicks, like a sling from Apollo and an ever-burning branch.

Its core problem is less the combat and more the enemy design. Most enemies aren't very interesting or aggressive to fight. They'll just slowly walk toward you or hang at the edge of a cliff and allow you to slowly poke them down. There's a small variety of enemies, and they aren't very interesting. I don't want to call them badly designed because they all serve their purpose, but they're mostly obstacles that get in the way of trying to move around rather than threats in their own right. This makes sense for a Metroidvania game but feels odd for a God of War title.

This stands out most with the game's boss fights. To their credit, they do a good job of trying to feel like a God of War fight, with huge sprites and pulse-pounding music, but most of the fights are kind of dull and forgettable. There's none of the sense of cinematic action present in the mainline God of War titles or even in other recent Metroidvania games, like Silksong or Mio. They're not bad fights, but they feel very safe. There's little ambition to them, just somewhat tougher enemies who go down relatively quickly. For a franchise known for its boss fights, it's odd that Sons of Sparta's skirmishes are probably the most unmemorable part of the experience.

To the game's credit, there's a lot of potential variety of combat. You can find different spear and shield parts that you can mix and patch to amplify your abilities. You might go for a build that emphasizes dealing critical hits to burn down enemies faster, or you might like one that builds Spartan Spirit faster in order to use more special moves. A shield that is better at parrying can help you focus on countering enemies. While I stuck with a specific build pretty early in the game, there's enough variety to give players the chance to optimize if they want Kratos to be a solid defensive brute, a dodging whiz, or keen on special moves and abilities.

If Sons of Sparta has one serious flaw, it's that it doesn't do anything particularly new or intriguing for the Metroidvania genre. It's a perfectly competent game but never reaches the excellent heights of some other recent games. It's about as standard a Metroidvania as you can get, and it feels like it misses out on the chance to make its mark with distinct mechanics or concepts. It feels like God of War title through and through, but if you're not invested in killing monsters as a young Kratos, then the $40 price tag might seem a bit high.

Visually, Sons of Sparta is a mixed bag. At first blush, the sprites look nice and high quality, and the background looks quite pretty, if somewhat basic. However, the character sprites and background graphics often clash, making it difficult to read what's on the screen. The sprite animations lack impact in a number of places, which can make dramatic boss fights feel slightly weightless and lackluster. It isn't terrible by any means, but I was less drawn to it as it went on. The music is fantastic, containing a number of booming dramatic songs that feel right at home for the franchise. The voice acting is largely fine, but it leans toward Saturday morning cartoons. That said, original Kratos actor TC Carson knocks it out of the park as he narrates the piece, lending a lot of flavor to the proceedings.

Overall, God of War: Sons of Sparta is a fun Metroidvania. It captures the feel of God of War, if in a somewhat more lighthearted way than usual. As a Metroidvania title, there's not much — either good or bad — that makes it stand apart from the pack. If you're a fan of the franchise and don't mind a look at the younger days of the Ghost of Sparta, then it's absolutely worth a shot, but the price tag might make it a heavy ask for more casual Metroidvania fans.

Score: 7.5/10