God of War: Sons of Sparta Review (PS5)
Developer: Mega Cat Studios / Santa Monica Studio
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Released: February 12, 2026
ESRB: T – Teen

Sony announced God of War: Sons of Sparta at the end of the most recent State of Play with no prior warning and, then released it the same day. That is typically either a sign of confidence or a way to manage expectations. Having spent time with it, I think it is a bit of both.

Sons of Sparta is a 2D action platformer Metroidvania developed by Mega Cat Studios in partnership with Santa Monica Studio. Mega Cat Studios being the studio that makes new games for classic systems like NES and SEGA Genesis, as well as titles for current systems like the Angry Video Game Nerd game and the Backyard series of sports titles. Needless to say, this is a big step up for the indie studio, to be trusted with one of Sony’s most valuable IPs.

The game follows a young Kratos and his brother Deimos during their training at the Spartan Agoge, making it the earliest canonical entry in the entire franchise. The premise is solid and the story, written by Santa Monica’s team, is decent enough to hold your interest through the roughly ten-hour runtime. It’s certainly nothing groundbreaking, but it does what it needs to do. I don’t know who wanted teenage Kratos and his annoying brother though.

The gameplay is where Sons of Sparta makes the best case for earning its price tag. The combat is built around a spear and shield, which feels appropriate enough for a young Kratos who has not yet become the walking apocalypse fans know him to be, and the Gifts of Olympus divine artifacts give you enough variety to keep things interesting.

The boss encounters are highlights; Mega Cat clearly understood that God of War lives or dies on its big moments and delivered on that front. It is fun, it moves well, and it captures just enough of the feel of the Greek era games to scratch that particular itch.

As a Metroidvania, Sons of Sparta is pretty solid. It has a clean, easy to follow, map and enough areas to make a note of to remember to backtrack to once you’ve acquired the ability to open up whatever is blocking the path. The UI is also very clean, very reminiscent of the modern Norse God of War games.

The pixel art style is fine. Just fine. For a game built on the back of one of gaming’s most visually iconic franchises, Sons of Sparta looks competent rather than impressive. The environments are serviceable, the enemy designs are recognizable, and the animations do the job. But there are moments where the limitations of the format are obvious in ways that a more ambitious pixel art approach might have overcome.

Games like Blasphemous and Dead Cells have demonstrated that pixel art can be genuinely stunning for the classic style. Sons of Sparta mostly settles for adequately polished, almost too corporate.

The voice acting is the biggest stumble. Terrance “TC” Carson returning to narrate as adult Kratos is a genuine treat and one of the best decisions the game makes; his voice defined the character in its original form and is a treat to hear again.

But the rest of the cast is a significant step down. Antony Del Rio as young Kratos is passable, but many of the supporting characters sound flat and unconvincing in ways that pull you out of the story at regular intervals. For a franchise that has set the bar as high as God of War has for performance and direction, this is a noticeable weak point that cannot be overlooked. It’s whiny and annoying.

Sons of Sparta is a good time that could have been a great one. The combat delivers, the boss fights are somewhat memorable, and it’s nice to hear TC back in the role (albeit minor). At thirty dollars, it is priced fairly for what it is, and fans of the series will find enough here to make it worth their time, but non-fans of the mainline games might want to wait for a sale on this one.

Personally, while I enjoyed it and think it’s a mostly good time, I would have much preferred to play classic Kratos in a brutal 2D hack and slash/side-scrolling brawler than the adventures of young Kratos in a Metroidvania. So on that front, it’s disappointing for what it could have been.

God of War: Sons of Sparta gets a three out of five: Satisfying.