How to Start Playing God Of War Games (Recommended Order)

With the release of God of War Ragnarok, many players don’t know where to start. Since there are 7 games in the main story of the series, there will be plenty of games for you to play. Hence, it can be a bit confusing to get the right order to enjoy the story in the best possible way. So, in this guide, find out how many games God of War has and in what order you should start playing them.

How many games are in God of War?

There are 8 main games in total, including the God of War Ragnarok game.

• God of War (2005)
• god of war 2
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• god of war 3
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta
• Ascension God of War
• God of War (2018)
• God of War: Ragnarok

There is also a mobile game known as God of War Betrayal. Apparently it’s canon, but doesn’t add much to the story. So don’t play this game. Speaking of story, here it’s about the order in which you have to play them.

In what order should you start playing God of War?

There are three ways you can start playing the series. You can either start with God of War (2005) to play in release order or start with God of War: Ascension to play in chronological order. And finally, you can start with God of War (2018), where the game takes place in Norse mythology, as opposed to the previous 6 games which were set in Greek mythology. You can still learn about Kratos’ past in this game. Before we move on, there will be minor spoilers about some of the games. So, here are all the orders you can play games:

Start with release order

• God of War (2005) is the game that started the entire series. Without going into too much detail, the story revolves around Kratos, who is tasked by Athena with finding Pandora’s Box. This will give him the power to defeat and overthrow Ares. After this game, you can play other games in the following release order:
• god of war 2
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• god of war 3
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta
• Ascension God of War
• God of War (2018)
• God of War: Ragnarok

Start in chronological order

God of War: Ascension is the first game in terms of chronology. The story in this game takes place after Kratos is tricked into killing his family, which infuriates him and breaks his blood oath with Ares. Here you walk the path of how Kratos breaks this oat and find out why he began his service to the Gods.

The chronological order of the games is as follows:

• Ascension God of War
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• God of War (2005)
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta
• god of war 2
• god of war 3
• God of War (2018)
• God of War: Ragnarok

Start with Norse Mythology

This God of War (2018) story takes place several years after the events of God of War III. Now Kratos lives his life in Midgard with his son, hiding from him that he is God. The story begins with the death of Kratos’ wife Faye. Her last wish is for her ashes to be released from the highest point of the Nine Realms. So, the players follow the path of Kratos and Atreus, fulfilling Faye’s last wish. While the mysterious Scandinavian god Baldr attacks them. You only have two games from Norse mythology.

• God of War (2018)
• God of War: Ragnarok

I suggest you also check out our guide to all games to learn more about the order of play and the whole history of all 7 games released so far.

That covers this guide on how many games God of War has and which game you should start playing. While you wait for the release of Ragnarok, check out our guide to the list of all the characters in Norse mythology.