God of War Ragnarök’s PC port is great, but thanks to Sony stubbornness, all we’re talking about is that stupid PSN controversy again

Sony has once again drawn ire from PC gamers by adding a PSN requirement to God of War Ragnarök.

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Along with the highly anticipatedFinal Fantasy 16, the biggest game to land on PC last week was God of War Ragnarök — the critically acclaimed sequel to Santa Monica Studios' first modernGod of Wartitle that released in 2018. Originally launching in November 2022 as a PlayStation 4 and 5 console exclusive, it’s finally arrived on Steam two years later as part of Sony’s wider effort to bring first-party PlayStation games to Windows PC in recent years.

Tempted as I was to hold off on playing the game until I get home from family travel next week and can hop on my beefy desktop rig, I ultimately chose to dive in right away on my Razer Blade 15. After all, even though my 2021 model with an RTX 3070 Mobile GPU, an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 360Hz FHD display is a few years old, it still gives strong performance and meets theGod of War Ragnarök PC requirementsfor playing on High settings. With that in mind, I proceeded to spend many hours this past weekend hacking and slashing through Kratos' latest odyssey — and so far, my experience has been great.

On High and at 1080p, I’ve found the performance of the Ragnarök PC port to be excellent, with my Blade 15 achieving an average of 70-80 frames per second (FPS) in exterior areas and upwards of the high 80s and even 90s in interior ones. It’s notperfect, as there’s the occasional FPS dip or mid-combat stutter here and there, but these occur so infrequently that I don’t really consider them a problem. And honestly? After how rough many other PC ports have been in recent years (cough,Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), it’s nice to get ones like this that are polished and stable. I wish they came more often.

Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your hardware specs and chosen settings — something made apparent by somenegative Steam reviewsthat mention issues with stutters and crashes. Frustratingly, though, most “thumbs down” ratings from players bring up an issue that has nothing to do with performance at all: the fact that God of War Ragnarök requires players to sign in with a PlayStation Network (PSN) account and remain online in order to enjoy the game.

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At first glance, asking fans to create a PSN account doesn’t seem like a big deal, as they’re free to make and Microsoft has put similar requirements in some of its own games without noteworthy controversy. The difference, however, is that PSN isn’t available in over 170 countries and territories worldwide, effectively preventing anyone who lives in these regions from buying Ragnarök. The hook into PlayStation’s network here also doesn’t benefit the player in any way, and just seems to be a form of always-online DRM that forces you to stay connected to the internet while playing the single player title.

Predictably, players are pretty vexed about this, just as they were whenSony implemented a similar policy for Helldivers 2earlier this year and thendid it again with Ghost of Tsushimaearlier this year. The firmeventually reversed its decision in Helldivers 2’s casesince the requirement came long after the co-op shooter’s February launch, though it stuck to its guns in Ghost of Tsushima’s. In Sucker Punch’s action-adventure game, though, a PSN sign-in is only needed for its co-op mode, which makes the requirement for it in Santa Monica Studios' single player-only Ragnarök uniquely irritating.

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As a result, Ragnarök has gone through a bit of review bombing, with 30% of its ~4,600 reviews negative and most of those zeroing in on this issue. “Separate accounts for single-player games should never be required,” readsone reviewfrom user SeismicPik. “I would understand if it was optional, but it’s not (for SOME people it is, it depends on regions). People can view this as petty all they want, but stuff like this should not become common practice.”

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“The game is amazing and I’m really enjoying it, however I can’t recommend it in it’s current state,” writes player fiend inanother. “A single player game requiring a Sony PSN login and not being able to play it offline? Really Sony? Are you serious?”

Sony hasn’t explained why it’s so stubbornly committed to integrating PSN requirements into its new PC ports, though the likely answer is that it’s willing to take the hit to its reputation to implement more DRM. Evidently, it must not be missing a significant amount of revenue from customers in the 170 regions PSN isn’t usable in, though those players are no doubt upset that they can no longer enjoy some of PlayStation’s best games. So much for “Play has no limits.”

Overall, it’s just sad that the arrival of a great port for a great game has been marred by this recurring PSN debacle, and that some aren’t able to play Ragnarök even though they were able to enjoy its predecessor a few years ago. I hope Sony eventually budges, though I’m far from confident that that will actually happen.

God of War Ragnarök |was $59.99now $51.89 at CDKeys (PC, Steam)

God of War Ragnarök is the second chapter of Santa Monica Studio’s epic duology. With new threats bearing down on them, Kratos and his son Atreus are grappling with what prophecy dictates and what they choose, with new gameplay options, weapons, and more. It’s now officially available on PC, and with these deals, you can save a nice chunk of change when you pull the trigger on it.

Also see:Deluxe Edition (CDKeys, PC, $61.19)|PS5 version (CDKeys, $46.49)

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).