Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "GOD OF WAR SONS OF SPARTA IS THE WORST-REVIEWED GAME IN THE SERIES (SPOTIFY EXCLUSIVE VIDEO VERSION)"

Episode Date: February 21, 2026

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠The latest segment of Notorious Mass Effect dives deep into God of War: Sons of Sparta, the surprise shadow-dropped PS5 exclusive from Santa Monica Studio and Mega Cat Studios. Released February 12, 2026, for $29.99, this 2D action-platformer—marketed as a Metroidvania—explores young Kratos during his Spartan Agoge training alongside brother Deimos, framed by adult Kratos (voiced by T.C. Carson) narrating to Calliope.Analytic Dreamz breaks down the core premise, gameplay execution, and franchise implications. The ~12-hour experience features light/heavy attacks, parry/dodge mechanics, color-coded enemy attacks, and "Gifts from Olympus" abilities like double jump and slingshot. Exploration includes interconnected maps, collectibles (owls, lore, olive trees), optional bosses, and upgrades via blood orbs.Critically, it holds a 69 Metacritic / 70 OpenCritic score—the lowest in the 20+ year God of War series—praised for brotherhood themes and retro style but criticized for stiff combat lacking impact, shallow Metroidvania elements, limited backtracking encouragement, repetitive story loops, and basic progression. Visuals sit between retro and modern but lack cinematic scale. The co-op controversy—initial listings implied full campaign support, but it's limited to post-game challenge mode—sparked confusion and refund requests.User scores sit higher at 8.2, with some quick Platinum achievements. Analytic Dreamz examines if this low-risk spin-off serves as franchise maintenance amid Greek trilogy remake news, or falls short of mainline prestige.Tune in as Analytic Dreamz delivers a concise, no-holds-barred breakdown of this polarizing entry—serviceable but forgettable for many, yet a nostalgic Greek-era return for fans.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I was just sitting in my chair watching the Seda play, saying to myself, hold up now. I know the OG voice actor for God of War has to be revealing something special for this type of buildup. And guess what? At the end of already announcing, mind you, God of War, the trilogy remake, not even a remaster, a remake, meaning that from the ground up, we think it's probably should be a completely different game or else they should have took the word remake off and just say remaster. So I'm assuming it's remade from the ground up. But anyways, I digress. The main thing is the OG voice actor for God of War, continuing off of the trilogy remake announcement,

hyping up the next announcement for it to be God of War sons of Sparta. Shepherd, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Now, at first glance, you're probably thinking about, well, what's wrong with that? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I'm here to tell you, as when you look at the premise right it was shadow drop so yes it is available right now so you know shout out to santa monica for actually showing something that's available as soon as the uh gameplay showcase

ends you know i'm saying shout to them for that so if you don't know this game is developed by santa monica um megacad studios and of course when you look at it being marketed as a metrovania i do believe the 30 dollar price tag is not too egregious right it is 12 hours I was in length as far as the average playtime for a lot of gamers. And of course, the setting is Cretos during his teenage years having a little Spartan training, right? So the narrative is framed. Oh, that's cool. That's pretty cool.

It's framed by adult Cretos narrating to daughter. Calliope? How am I supposed to say that? I ain't okay. Hey, hold him now. Who don't they do. If y'all laughing at me? I try my best.

Calli, is that you said, Calliope? Actually, let's see what Jarvis is. You know what I'm saying? You know, y'all going to laugh at my pronunciation. Watch Jarvis pronounce it the same way. Calliope. Oh, okay, well, that's not it. That's not my same.

Yeah, that's not the same way I pronounced it. Calliope. I think this way you say. I don't even know, man. Whatever. Young Cratos. Demos, his brother, and I almost swore the game.

So that's basically it. The voice actor, you have T.C. Carson returns as adult crados narrator, not recast for Christopher Judge. That's interesting. Now, let's get to a criticism. The main thing is, you know, of course, I didn't play the game. So the main thing I do, especially when I don't play a game, is I look at the consensus. I look at the extremely positive.

I look at the extremely negative. And then, of course, I watch a plethora of reviews and try to see which side they fall off. Usually, the truth is in the middle. Now, everybody's came out and said that Credos does not feel like Credos, which makes sense because he's training, right? I don't think it's supposed to be like Credos. But the thing is, the gameplay loop that's repeated, makes no sense. The same brotherly conflict loop repeated, not a lot of meaningful franchise connections. So when you look at this game being generic Spartans, but then you have Credos and Demos, or Demos, hopefully I'm pronouncing it right.

You come to realize that the generic label put on a game with Credos on the front should not even exist. You know what I'm saying? You guys. See, that's the problem. Not when you're in historic run. I mean historic. I mean, 2018 God of War really changed the overall perception of Cratos. It was already great, right?

But it took it from a hack and slash to like a semi. I'm not going to say dark, Sozy. but the way that they took the over the shoulder more personal aspects of crados on display especially the life lessons he was given to traeus especially on the boat rise in god of war 2018 some of the greatest gems dropped like i remember one time i was playing a game right and i was on my boat and i don't even think you could go to this mission it was basically you was on your boat and it was like a flying character right and it was fighting something else and the Traitors was like,

showing me help out that person. And Cratus was like, you live longer if you mind your own business. And I was like, hold on, man. I felt like a little kid in that bow. I was like, dang, Cretto's really dropping some gems right now.

And then the overall progression of Atreus because of the gems that Cretus was dropping, which is immaculent throughout the whole show. And then you come to realize the OG God of War exists. You guys. See, that's the problem. I was like, how did this man go from

such a crazy adrenaline fiend killer to like a calm still a killer but such a calm gym fueled individual I was like hold on now is that your button but then you know what I'm saying I was like damn look at the state of hip hop

like what's going on? All my hip hop fans don't understand that but getting back into the gaming stuff so when you look at a son of Sparta it's safe to say you know a lot of people wasn't feeling this game I do believe the consensus as far as the interconnected map that was like positive as far as received that they say that when you look at the non-connective

the non-connected side of this game it doesn't make too much sense especially if you're going to drop this right in the middle of a hall of fame run with the 2018 god of war with the ragner on god of god of war and then of course the OG trilogy that already exists and then the final well i don't know if it's the final but i assume it's going to be the final crados game that's going to end off the trilogy but you know the main thing i was trying to get at is that crados is on the hall of fame run why water it down with such a i'm not going to say trash that's that's harsh but a very mid i don't even going to say mid because you know i want to specifically critique why this game is not up to snuff right um having a 2d game when we're already used to a 3d format with crados already that's a

red flag you know why are you doing 2d spinoffs when we're not even done with the 2018 new version of Credos trilogy, right? I think you should finish that first and then try to throw out a spin-off, like down the line. But all the resources, because this took resources from something, right? It took resources from something. And safe to say, we wanted the resources, all of the resources on the next installment of the 2018 version of Cretos. So, with that being said, I don't want to get too much into the game. The main thing I was just want to let you know how the game was being received current.

And of course, we're going to get into some review roundups. As far as sales, you know, interestingly enough, PlayStation players have finally once again, I'm not going to say once again, but they finally beat the allegations of not supporting their exclusives, man. Clap it up for them. As PlayStation players, I'm not going to lie to you.

When it comes to exclusives, it seems like you never wanted to support it. You know what I mean? Do you get an Xbox exclusive and supported like it's going out of style? But PlayStation exclusives for some reason, just for some odd reason, they don't support it like other platforms. But that's neither here nor there.

The main thing I wanted to say is they did support this PlayStation exclusive, as God of War, Sons of Sparta is currently the eighth most play game on a PlayStation platform. So shout out to y'all. Now, let's go right into that, well, let's go right from that into the co-op controversy. As you already know, a lot of people was upset about this as the game is listed as one to two players. And, you know, I'm no mathematician. but two is more than one right so come to find out there's no full game co-op you guys see that's the problem basically when the implied dual character experience uh well basically the implications is it's not

possible right it's only possible as a challenge mode only so you know as far as actually playing the entire game it's not a real thing you know playing an entire game with another person it's not available unless you want to be on the local couch co-op I know what you're saying I know what you're saying I know what you're saying just look at the state of gaming

I'm looking at it what is going on the state of gaming is everybody wants the own monitor wants the own system we're playing an online game who in the world is out here still playing local co-op you guys

see that's the problem like even Hayes Light Studios knew what the modern generation wanted as they have local co-op available but of course they have online as well so local couch co-op only is insane right not only that but if you have local couch co-op now you have a challenge mode who in the world wants to only play with their friends in the challenge mode instead of the actual campaign so there's no campaign co-op right and the

challenge mode only unlocks after finishing the main story i know that ain't who i think it is so that is the co-op controversy a lot of people is not enjoying that by the slightest um Now I'm not trying to like I don't want people get the indication now I'm just basically ridiculing this game I'm just letting you know as a 2018 Cratos connoisseur

I wasn't really aware of the OG God of Word trilogy I know what y'all saying oh blasphemous he's not a real gamer but when it comes to them having to complete the trilogy for the 2018 version of Credos that's why I'm waiting for

this son's a sparta just seems it seems like nothing but a distraction. Doesn't mean it's a bad distraction. It just means I think it's a distraction, which means that I can't really give it the praise that I want to because guess what? I'm still waiting for the trilogy of 2018 Credos.

We had God of War. We had God of War Ragnarok. And I'm waiting for that trilogy. Once y'all finish that trilogy, guess what? Y'all could do whatever. You know what I can make 20 games like this, you know, as far as I use the wrong hair. Y'all can use 20 games like this as far as I care.

You know what I'm saying? that's my main critique right getting into the conglomerates critique gaming boat the video that we've been playing right now basically they gave sons of sparta a nine out of ten so i was like hold them now one to where an actual good review because some of these other scores are not as high but i wanted to start with the positive gaming boat gave it a nine out of ten basically saying sons of sparta delivers tight platforming and generally satisfying combat despite its surprise release least it delivers a strong overall experience the platforming feels tight and responsive and the combat stands out with satisfying spear and shield mechanics that key encounters engaging throughout

shout out to game and bolt and that's where it stops because i'm not going to lie to you all the rest of the scores i'm not going to say it's just straight out trash but um i think the highest the next highest score is like an eight maybe even a eight point five but um play PlayStation universe I was like hold on now how you have a PlayStation universe giving this a 7.5 at a 10 so only may take your privileges not just point a PlayStation universe gave this a 7.5 at 10 basically saying quote a well-crafted if unambitious metrovania take on PlayStation's most violent franchise so at first you think he's given it kudos but then you said but then the quote said the most unambitious metrovania what in the actual you guys See, that's the problem. And of course, ending off for Games Radar, technically that games radar gave it a three out of five saying God of War, sons of Sparta struggles to deliver on the best of God of War or the best the Metrovania genre has to offer.

Because, you know, one thing about Metrovania games is people are going to start putting respect on well-crafted Metrovania games. It's kind of like Elder Ring. Like, it's not like Elder Ring because people can obviously see why Elder Ring is just above the pack when it comes to Dark Souls like games. The metrovania takes a lot of platforming expertise to make enjoyable as far as the gameplay loop. I remember playing a HoloNay Silk Song and I was enjoying the game. I enjoyed the platform and gaining around the environment. Now, backtracking was a little, it was a little annoying. But for the most part, you can tell when the metropania is actually good by the platform, based on the platformer, right?

So anyways, getting back into this, games radar gave it a three out of five saying, quote, God of War's Sons of Sparta struggles to deliver on the best of God of War on. or the best the metrovanian genre has to offer combat is dull and lifeless despite a handful of nice ideas and it's visually ugly and muddy goodness gracious even lacking in brutal finishers goodness they ain't holding back you guys see that's the problem this all feels quite tame it's not bad but serviceable struggles to excite especially in today's age yep and that's a sin for god of war Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on?

So as far as what's going on in the Suns and Sparta universe, they have to say a lot of people are coming out, they're saying it's not an atrocious game. You may enjoy it. But when it comes to the God of War franchises, it's not what we were expecting. And, you know, to fall below the prestige level that God of War asked for, but it's kind of like, I'm not trying to be blasphemous,

but it's kind of like if a game called Indromeda came out, and people critiqued it for not being at the level of mass effect. We're not calling in drama to trash. We're just basically saying it's not on a level of mass effects, so therefore it's a failure. It's a very high bar to use another analogy. It's like in sports terms, right? OKC.

It's like if OKC completely got out of, let me see. It's like if OKC was completely out of the playoffs at the start of the playoffs. Like it'd just be a complete failure. Why? Because not only are they expected to win it. No, no, no. It's like if they didn't even make the Western Conference finals. That's a better example.

Why? Because not only do we expect them to get to the finals, but we expect them to win it. With God of Word, we expect them to not only be a monumental story, but we also expect them to give us great gameplay along with a great story. And let's just say, God of War's Sons of Sparta did not meet that metric. Shepard. Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on?

With that being said, click my mind. link to you in my bio let me know on one of my social media is do you agree that god of war sons of sparta was a step back or are you enjoying it if you are enjoying it what is your favorite part about god of war sons of sparta