I have had a bit of a hyperfixation with art books for games and hobbies since...forever. From the many beautiful Warhammer/ 40K/ Horus Heresy books, through little bonus concept art books accompanying certain editions of video games, to the full gorgeousness of the Dark Souls Collected Visions. So when I say this is absolutely up there with the ridiculous tomes from FromSoftware, and might even be my personal favourite due to the detail, organisation and insight into the creative process on display.

The artwork is mind-blowing, obviously, but the way the bitesize information relating it to the creative process of the game, and the delineate segments seriously elevate this art book. It's incredible to see the disparate designs and how they were refined and brought together under one cohesive creative vision and living, breathing realms.

If you like art books, making ofs, and God of War, I can't recommend this enough. I've played the game so many times at this point, but taking in this gloriousness is making me need to returns to the realms. ( )

There's so much detail, so much work put on this video game masterpiece, it analyzes the thought process behind every choice of object/scenery/outfit/character they had to create in order to make it look as realistic and accurate to the Norse mythology as they had planned initially. Definitely is it worth it, I recommend this artbook to every art lover even if they haven't played the game, and those who love they game and are eager to learn more about it. I was all over this book for the past two days, now my brain is full of Norse gods and mythological monsters... ( )

Fantastic artwork, but I would have liked more actual content explaining the thoughts and processes. How was it decided that Kratos would use an axe, and eventually get his dual blades back, how did the engine of the game help or hinder art development? Some input from the programmers as well as the artists would have helped.

That said, it was a very good book. Lots and lots of amazing artwork! ( )