14 DAY TRIAL // God of War: Ascension is set to appear next month and Sony has just released the long awaited single-player demo for the upcoming hack and slash game.
After trying out the multiplayer beta stage for the game and coming away quite impressed, we decided to have a quick look at the single-player mode through this free demo.
Do Kratos' new adventures deliver the same epic experience or do the gods of Olympus frown upon them? Let's find out.
God of War: Ascension kicks off by introducing the Furies, mythical creatures obsessed with justice. As you can imagine, Kratos' decision to rebel against his arrangement with Ares didn't earn him any favors with the monstrosities, so they imprisoned him.
Their plan to torture Kratos for eternity soon backfires, as everybody's favorite rage-filled Spartan manages to break out and starts looking for the Furies in order to exact his revenge.
The demo then follows God of War tradition, allowing Kratos to take on all sorts of smaller enemies and a few more powerful ones, culminating with a big boss-like opponent that can withstand a lot of damage and also outputs plenty of punishment for Kratos, if he's not careful.
The combat has been tweaked a bit, as Kratos can now perform some more cinematic finishing moves. What's more, his rage meter, when filled, infuses each attack with extra power. Be warned, however, that taking any sort of damage results in the meter going down.
Unfortunately, blocking and parrying don't seem to have the desired effect, at least in the demo, as Kratos is surrounded quite a few times and can't really shield himself from all the enemies. What's more, room-clearing attacks like the whirlwind aren't available, so finding yourself surrounded by opponents becomes a big danger, especially for inexperienced players.
Even so, God of War: Ascension's single-player demo is quite impressive and will no doubt get people excited about the upcoming game, which arrives in March.
Until then, check out the gameplay video above.