Shovel Knight Gives a Solid Tribute to Kratos, AAA Gaming’s Worst Character

Hardcore Gamer: "Kratos is the worst.
Apologies to those of you who are extremely invested in the lore of the Ghost of Sparta, but you’re in love with AAA gaming’s lousiest protagonist. Now, my dislike for Kratos is completely separate from the largely irrational love I have for the God of War franchise."

[ValKilmer]

You're just jealous of his sweet pecs.

[Jalva]

Kratos is definitely one of the most bland personalities in gaming, there is no diversity to him, everything is just kill, destroy, vengeance, I'm not saying that God of War games are bad, I'm just saying Kratos is as dull as the come, he's like AC3's Connor on steroids.

[q8kik]

Everybody would've taken your opinion seriously if you didn't bash and downplay everything Playstaion.....

[ChronoJoe]

It seems like a relatively stupid critique to me. Akin to saying Rayman or Mario are bland personalities because they are simplistic in nature, lacking diversity.

These characters fit their respective experiences perfectly and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Kratos's anger effectively drive's God of War's gameplay, and ultimately I believe its this relentless rage contributes to making the God of War games as good as they are.

[S2Killinit]

But GOW's lure is the story itself. Kratos is like that by design.

[Th3o]

That's why he went on to be an icon and have some of the most influential games and personalities out there...yes.

He's a very uninteresting character that people call a total badass that has one of the most amazing voice acting...

yes...boring.

[Revolver_X_]

Don't know about you, but if someone was responsible for my wife and kids death, I wouldn't rest until there was justice either. Either way, Kratos is more of an anti-hero. He's not supposed to be easy to like. He's selfish and a one dimensional Neanderthal, but he's a badass, and that's all that matters.

[TrollsBringer]

While I agree with you, it's considered taboo to talk badly about PlayStation characters. Especially on N4G.

[breakpad]

agree with the article ..Kratos is one of the lamest character ever in gaming..unexplainable evil and malevolent with bad art design and idiotic macho attitude ...

[RocketScienceLvlStuf]

Hardcoregamer bashing something playstation? Say it ain't so /s

Business as usual for hardcoregamer

[HammadTheBeast]

I mean, the author says it himself:

"Nothing makes for good writing quite like disdain, and to be perfectly honest I enjoy writing critical pieces much more than I like dishing out praise (it’s was much easier to write my Driveclub review than it was to write my Transistor review, for example)"

[ValKilmer]

He's saying that he prefers reviewing bad games than good ones.

And Transistor was a PS4 console exclusive, so not sure what parallel you're trying to draw there.

[Blackleg-sanji]

The writer obviously hasn't met Asbel lhant(tales of graces)

[Zero-One]

At least he was sympathetic.

[Heyxyz]

Watch what you say...Kratos isn't someone who you want angry...

[pwnsause_returns]

why is he the worst? he did a nice thing to humanity in the end LOL

[Ron66]

Compared to other games in the hack and slash genre he is the worst.

[HammadTheBeast]

I prefer him to Dante.

[q8kik]

What?? Ryu Hayabusa is definitely the most bland character in the Hack and slash genre.

[Sevchenko211]

I'd say the worst AAA character is Adrian from watch dogs....the dullest bloke ever.

[Juanito]

Who?

[Rimeskeem]

I'm pretty sure that's the joke

[zsquaresoff]

Why don't you say that to my face you elfin mortal

[AceofStaves]

It's interesting how people have different opinions of characters. To me, Kratos is exactly the type of protagonist for a story like God of War's. We're dealing with Greek epics and mythology here, hardly the stuff for subtle multi-faceted characterization. Would that type of surface-level characterization work for more modern stories? Not at all. Our modern tales tend to be populated with somewhat more well-rounded and complex characters. Not Kratos.

[WizzroSupreme]

Last I checked, Waluigi was gaming's worst character.

[PhoenixUp]

No sir Master Chief is the worst character in AAAH gaming. The dude is so no and that Halo doesn't even use him in many marketing, just any random colored Spartan will do

[Kingdomcome247]

You must not have seen him front and center in the recent live action commercial. I feel as though 343i is looking to start exploring John117's humanity. OT: I love Kratos.

[Scrivlar]

I'd say the Chief and Kratos are pretty much the same. Not too much depth to the character, just a straight up badass motherf**ker.

[LightofDarkness]

You haven't played Halo 4. They added true dimensions to his character.

[CorndogBurglar]

I have played Halo 4, and you're right, he does get a bit emotional during it, especially with the whole Cortana thing.

But at the end of the day, he was still very queit and bland for the vast majority of the game.

[DEEBO]

Lol the GOD of WAR is one of the best character's in gaming and his tale would be cool as a movie.

He this badass killing machine warrior but loses to a barbaric warrior so he basically sells his soul for vengeance but it comes with a terrible price.

And he gets tons of pussy lol.

[one2thr]

Kratos, asked for power, given power, unknowingly kills his own wife and daughter, asked for forgiveness and to have those memories taken away, the "gods" promised him this as long as he fulfilled their orders, he did, they didn't follow through with their end of the deal, and he went on a literal insatiable rampage. Until all that was left was him and chaos. And chaos won, for now.

And then Athena was a "Higher Being", of some sort.

I think Kratos is awesome.

[SilentNegotiator]

Someone's desperate for hits. Kratos is no where near being worst or best.

[CorndogBurglar]

Master Chief is definitely more bland. And this is coming from someone who loves Halo.

The dude barely even talks......

[N0TaB0T]

I likened him to the Security Officer (Marathon) because of this.

[PFFT]

Not a big fan of the guy to be quite honest. But thats just my opinion.

[ZaWarudo]

He was bland as hell in GoW2 and GoW3, but GoW1, CoO and GoS delivered more depth to Kratos.

[kirbyu]

"AAA Gaming’s Worst Character"

Truer words have never been spoken.

[thelwebb100]

Kratos isn't that bland of a character as people say. GOW 1 introduced us to him but GOW 2 fleshed out Kratos's story and character greatly. The PSP games also showed more of a human side to Kratos. I think people are just judging Kratos from GOW 3 where he finally gets his revenge.