The 20 BEST God of War PC Mods
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Brown
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Brown
Since 2018's "God of War" released on PC, players have gotten very creative with their mods. For this list, we'll be looking at the mods that offer not only quality of life improvements and performance boosts, but also fulfill some of gamer's most outlandish wishes for Kratos in the Norse realm. Our list includes Playable Atreus by Speclizer, Familiar Weapons by Omega Fantasy, Vulkan Launcher by Insanity, FOV Mod by erslava, and more!
Welcome to MojoPlays! And today we’re looking at the 20 best mods that make the already impressive 2018 God of War on PC even better. For this list, we’ll be looking at the mods that offer not only quality of life improvements and performance boosts, but also fulfill some of gamer’s most outlandish wishes for Kratos in the Norse realm. What’s your favorite go-to mod for God of War on PC and what mod would you like to see implemented in the most likely upcoming port of Ragnarok on PC?
One of the biggest benefits of playing on PC is by far the boost in performance, and while God of War 2018 is well optimized for PC, anyone with an overpowered PC knows things could always run a little better. Thanks to the Vulkan Launcher by Insanity, specifically those with AMD graphics cards, will see not only a boost in performance but also at least 10 more frames per second compared to those running on Nvidia cards which for anyone wanting to get the most out of the machine they likely spent a good chunk of their savings on is not an insignificant amount.
From his goatee to his glorious full beard, Kratos’ facial hair has become a staple of the character and just as much a part of him as his painted marks on his face. The beard Kratos sports in God of War 2018 has become so synonymous with the character, it’s actually difficult for even longtime fans of the series to imagine him without it. Thankfully we have Speclizer to give us a glimpse of a different side of Kratos and the results are… ehhhh. After spending so many hours watching Kratos’ manly beard brave the elements, there’s just something unnerving about seeing his clean chin. The mod also shaves Atreus’ head as well, giving both a much more youthful look, for better or worse.
If Baldur came looking for a giant, then we’ll give him a giant. With this mod by Speclizer, you can resize Kratos to be every bit the giant Baldur was expecting and even shrink him down to give Atreus a kid sized version to finally have someone to play with. While much of this does inevitably break the physics of the game, in that Kratos has a tendency to collapse on himself during battles when he’s too big and the issue of his missing head inside his armor, there’s no denying how much fun it is watching Kratos tower over his foes ala his true God form in God of War II when he assaulted the City of Rhodes.
The Blades of Chaos and now the Leviathan Axe are some of the most iconic weapons in all of gaming and instantly recognizable to both fans and non-fans alike. That being said, shouldn’t they always look their best? With JG7834’s Recolor mod, players can change the colors of both Kratos’ trusty Axe and cursed blades to fit their preferred style. The Axe and Blade Recolor mod allows players to mix and match axe handles and blades and even change the colors of the Blades of Chaos so as not to clash with Kratos’ current armor set. Combine JG’s mod with the Young Kratos mod and you can send Kratos back in time to Greece and relive some of the best memories gamers have with his iconic arsenal.
Given the larger-than-life scale of some of Kratos’ foes, it only makes sense that someone was inspired by the story of humanity fighting back against insurmountable odds. With the PATHS Reshade mod by LeviHeicho, one fan took his love for the Attack on Titan series -specifically Season 4- and took things back in time to the realms of the Norse Gods. With deeper color shades and enhanced lighting sources, this mod makes Kratos’ journey through the Norse realm more realistic but also more foreboding and manages to make the game feel like a brand-new experience.
Love it or hate it, the addition of armor in God of War 2018 definitely has its perks when tackling the games challenging combat, especially on higher difficulties or against those Valkyries that would make Dark Souls veterans throw their controllers. But for those longing for the old days of the bare chested Kratos slaughtering his way through the Greek pantheon, the invisible armor mod lets you fight the many creatures of Midgard with Kratos’ rippling muscles exposed in all their glory without sacrificing the benefits of whatever armor set you have equipped.
As Kratos explores the Lake of Nine and the Norse wilds of the Nine Realms, collecting materials for crafting and creating better stronger gear is paramount for survival. Likewise, his Leviathan Axe is by far his most versatile tool in his arsenal, so why wouldn’t he upgrade it for something that can not only fend off the many enemies in his path but also help him collect as many resources as possible? With HungrySharkZ’s Minecraft Axe mod, Kratos can replace his go-to weapon with Steve’s. Sadly, it still only works on enemies and not the environment. But with all the possible realms out there and the near infinite nature of Minecraft, who’s to say Kratos couldn’t end up there someday?
In a series as long running as God of War, you accumulate an arsenal of weapons that are synonymous with the games. While only the Blades of Chaos return in God of War 2018, Kratos has an entire armory’s worth of iconic weapons just waiting to be used against the Aesir Gods of Midgard. Not only can players use the Blade of Olympus, but they can also switch out Kratos’ now iconic Leviathan Axe for Thor’s legendary Mjolnir. Combine this mod with the Klassic Kratos and you can now imagine Kratos left Greece and immediately began his adventure in Midgard to terrorize an entire new pantheon of Gods.
God of War 2018 is undeniably a beautiful game even on lower settings. It’s just too bad we can’t see all of it sometimes. However, with DisablePP’s Fog Reduction mod, much of the ambient fog from areas such as Alfheim and Niflheim is greatly reduced. And most impressively or tragically depending on your point of view, we can now get a sense of the complete destruction of Jotunheim at the end of the game as with no fog draw distance, we can see all the mountains and the many giants that dot the land laid out before us.
While God of War on PC is one of the best optimized of Sony’s many recent PC ports, that doesn’t mean that some features were seemingly overlooked. One of the biggest trends in PC gaming, besides having the biggest and best machine, is having the widest monitor money can buy and being able to play your games like you’re sitting in front of an IMAX screen. While the PC port might have overlooked this feature, modders like erslava did not, and with the FOV mod, you can almost see the whole Lake of Nine in a single frame. Additional benefits of this extend to combat as well as with the expanded scope of your view, it’s unlikely anyone will be able to sneak up and catch the God of War off guard.
Taking a break from the ridiculous and nostalgic mods for a second and visiting a couple quality of life improvement mods that can help you get the most out of your experience with Kratos as he traverses the Lake of Nine. With the ReShade mod, the normal muted color palette of the original God of War release, which while already a visual stunner, makes all those colors pop with all the vibrancy the multiple environments have to offer. And the best part is, you don’t even need an expensive monitor to enjoy these improvements! The ReShade mod manages to breathe life into a game already brimming with it and gives a stunningly realistic look to this more grounded take on the God of War.
Arguably one of the main driving forces behind not only God of War’s sequel Ragnarok but many of the events of the 2018 game stem from the conflict between Odin and Tyr. While even in Ragnarok we never get the proper showdown these two deserve, Omega Fantasy couldn’t let this climactic battle go unserved, so we finally get to see the showdown of the Gods that leads to Ragnarok. Seeing the two Gods at the peak of their power is epic even if it is a reskin of the Stranger fight but at least we finally get to see Tyr pick up his spear and fight like the God of War he is.
Although God of War 2018 is one of the most beloved games in the series, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have its fair share of issues that slow the pacing. Looking at the chains in particular. Like any game featuring a wealth of collectibles, the game presents these items with description cards, but whereas many games will show the description only once when a new item is picked up, God of War does it in abundance, and you can’t dismiss the card for a couple of seconds while the description loads. Seemingly we weren’t the only ones annoyed by this oversight and while it doesn’t do away with them completely, MikeyRayy’s Less Annoying Item Card mod greatly reduces their time cluttering our screens.
Santa Monica’s sequel/reboot of God of War came out in 2018 and thousands of players have dumped multiple playthroughs and hundreds of hours into the story of Kratos and Atreus traversing Midgard. With the PC version not releasing until January 2022, many gamers undoubtedly had a moment of pause at the thought of losing all their New Game + progress and all the time they put into perfecting their personal build of Kratos. While replaying God of War is a joy no matter if you have to start over completely, with the Import PS4 Save mod, you don’t need to start over completely from scratch. All those hundreds of hours won’t be lost forever should you want to take Kratos’ journey on the best possible hardware you have available.
Kratos has certainly gone through a number of looks over the years, some better than others, not including unlockable skins, but the new “slow and old” Daddy Kratos has become the one synonymous with the character ever since the sequel’s 2018 release. For those yearning for a bit of nostalgia however, is the Kratos reskins which provides multiple looks both new and old for fans of the series. From classic Kratos from God of War games of old, to even Darth Maul Kratos, there’s plenty of options no matter what style you prefer your God of War to wear.
Besides the SSD, one of the best new features of the PS5 is the new Dualsense controller. The ability to feel the vibrations from every action as well as the haptic feedback from the triggers allows you to feel the resistance with every pull of the trigger. Sadly, God of War 2018 arrived too early for console players to experience these features but gameplayjk graciously created a mod to make sure PC players don’t suffer the same fate when playing with the Dualsense controllers. At least players of Ragnarok on the PS5 still got to take advantage of this game changing feature.
When he was first revealed, many worried the addition of Atreus would mean that God of War 2018 would end up being an extended escort mission of a game. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and as the game progressed, Atreus proved himself to be a very capable fighter. Now with the Playable Atreus mod, you can experience just how adept he can be. In what would be a glimpse into the future with a playable Atreus in future installments, watching Atreus zip around the battlefield unleashing a flurry of arrows at his adversaries is almost mesmerizing to watch. While the game isn’t quite sure what to do without both Kratos and Atreus on screen, it’s still fun nonetheless, glitches and all.
Kratos and God of War are one of the biggest franchises in the world and also one of the most recognizable protagonists in all of gaming. And much like fans of Lara Croft and Nathan Drake have Tomb Raider and Dude Raider, God of War deserves a counterpart as well. Silence Exterminator created a mod that allows fans to play through 2018’s God of War as a female version of everyone’s favorite Spartan and even went so far as to redub Kratos’ lines with a more feminine, albeit automated, voice to further immerse players in their new playthrough. Admittedly, due to this being a reskin of Kratos, his original armor offers little protection for his female counterpart, but also manages to unintentionally satirize the traditional “female armor” of many other fantasy RPGs.
Ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through the eyes of Kratos as he takes on the many dangers of the world of Midgard? Well now you can experience that sensation in 4K! While God of War III briefly allowed players to experience what it was like to not only be pummeled by Kratos through Poseidon’s eyes, but also take on the spirit of Zeus until the screen ran red, this mod allows players to experience not only the brutality of Kratos in first person but also the more meaningful moments as well. In a series where players have experienced all of Kratos’ major life events from a 3rd person or movie-like perspective, there’s something substantially more visceral and heartbreaking watching some of these moments from Kratos’ old and tortured eyes.
This one is just purely fun for the sake of fun. Kratos has always been one of the most serious video game characters ever created with barely any levity to be had so sometimes the player has to make their own fun. With Speclizer’s Resize Mod, Kratos can literally morph into almost anything you can imagine. Miss the unlockable “Big Head Mode” from days of gaming past? Not anymore! Kratos’ facial features can also be completely exaggerated to ridiculous proportions giving what would be some of the game’s most serious and meaningful moments an entirely new tone and is just something that is undeniably fun to play around with no matter how much of a purist you are.
Vulkan Launcher
By: InsanityOne of the biggest benefits of playing on PC is by far the boost in performance, and while God of War 2018 is well optimized for PC, anyone with an overpowered PC knows things could always run a little better. Thanks to the Vulkan Launcher by Insanity, specifically those with AMD graphics cards, will see not only a boost in performance but also at least 10 more frames per second compared to those running on Nvidia cards which for anyone wanting to get the most out of the machine they likely spent a good chunk of their savings on is not an insignificant amount.
Clean Kratos
By: SpeclizerFrom his goatee to his glorious full beard, Kratos’ facial hair has become a staple of the character and just as much a part of him as his painted marks on his face. The beard Kratos sports in God of War 2018 has become so synonymous with the character, it’s actually difficult for even longtime fans of the series to imagine him without it. Thankfully we have Speclizer to give us a glimpse of a different side of Kratos and the results are… ehhhh. After spending so many hours watching Kratos’ manly beard brave the elements, there’s just something unnerving about seeing his clean chin. The mod also shaves Atreus’ head as well, giving both a much more youthful look, for better or worse.
Resizing the God of War
By: SpeclizerIf Baldur came looking for a giant, then we’ll give him a giant. With this mod by Speclizer, you can resize Kratos to be every bit the giant Baldur was expecting and even shrink him down to give Atreus a kid sized version to finally have someone to play with. While much of this does inevitably break the physics of the game, in that Kratos has a tendency to collapse on himself during battles when he’s too big and the issue of his missing head inside his armor, there’s no denying how much fun it is watching Kratos tower over his foes ala his true God form in God of War II when he assaulted the City of Rhodes.
Axe & Blade Recolors
By: JG7834The Blades of Chaos and now the Leviathan Axe are some of the most iconic weapons in all of gaming and instantly recognizable to both fans and non-fans alike. That being said, shouldn’t they always look their best? With JG7834’s Recolor mod, players can change the colors of both Kratos’ trusty Axe and cursed blades to fit their preferred style. The Axe and Blade Recolor mod allows players to mix and match axe handles and blades and even change the colors of the Blades of Chaos so as not to clash with Kratos’ current armor set. Combine JG’s mod with the Young Kratos mod and you can send Kratos back in time to Greece and relive some of the best memories gamers have with his iconic arsenal.
PATHS Reshade
By: LeviHeichoGiven the larger-than-life scale of some of Kratos’ foes, it only makes sense that someone was inspired by the story of humanity fighting back against insurmountable odds. With the PATHS Reshade mod by LeviHeicho, one fan took his love for the Attack on Titan series -specifically Season 4- and took things back in time to the realms of the Norse Gods. With deeper color shades and enhanced lighting sources, this mod makes Kratos’ journey through the Norse realm more realistic but also more foreboding and manages to make the game feel like a brand-new experience.
Invisible Armor
By: paulscotttttLove it or hate it, the addition of armor in God of War 2018 definitely has its perks when tackling the games challenging combat, especially on higher difficulties or against those Valkyries that would make Dark Souls veterans throw their controllers. But for those longing for the old days of the bare chested Kratos slaughtering his way through the Greek pantheon, the invisible armor mod lets you fight the many creatures of Midgard with Kratos’ rippling muscles exposed in all their glory without sacrificing the benefits of whatever armor set you have equipped.
Minecraft Axe
By: Hungry SharkZAs Kratos explores the Lake of Nine and the Norse wilds of the Nine Realms, collecting materials for crafting and creating better stronger gear is paramount for survival. Likewise, his Leviathan Axe is by far his most versatile tool in his arsenal, so why wouldn’t he upgrade it for something that can not only fend off the many enemies in his path but also help him collect as many resources as possible? With HungrySharkZ’s Minecraft Axe mod, Kratos can replace his go-to weapon with Steve’s. Sadly, it still only works on enemies and not the environment. But with all the possible realms out there and the near infinite nature of Minecraft, who’s to say Kratos couldn’t end up there someday?
Familiar Weapons
By: Omega FantasyIn a series as long running as God of War, you accumulate an arsenal of weapons that are synonymous with the games. While only the Blades of Chaos return in God of War 2018, Kratos has an entire armory’s worth of iconic weapons just waiting to be used against the Aesir Gods of Midgard. Not only can players use the Blade of Olympus, but they can also switch out Kratos’ now iconic Leviathan Axe for Thor’s legendary Mjolnir. Combine this mod with the Klassic Kratos and you can now imagine Kratos left Greece and immediately began his adventure in Midgard to terrorize an entire new pantheon of Gods.
Fog Reduction
By: DisablePPGod of War 2018 is undeniably a beautiful game even on lower settings. It’s just too bad we can’t see all of it sometimes. However, with DisablePP’s Fog Reduction mod, much of the ambient fog from areas such as Alfheim and Niflheim is greatly reduced. And most impressively or tragically depending on your point of view, we can now get a sense of the complete destruction of Jotunheim at the end of the game as with no fog draw distance, we can see all the mountains and the many giants that dot the land laid out before us.
FOV Mod
By: erslavaWhile God of War on PC is one of the best optimized of Sony’s many recent PC ports, that doesn’t mean that some features were seemingly overlooked. One of the biggest trends in PC gaming, besides having the biggest and best machine, is having the widest monitor money can buy and being able to play your games like you’re sitting in front of an IMAX screen. While the PC port might have overlooked this feature, modders like erslava did not, and with the FOV mod, you can almost see the whole Lake of Nine in a single frame. Additional benefits of this extend to combat as well as with the expanded scope of your view, it’s unlikely anyone will be able to sneak up and catch the God of War off guard.
ReShade
By: RIMBUSTA WONKATaking a break from the ridiculous and nostalgic mods for a second and visiting a couple quality of life improvement mods that can help you get the most out of your experience with Kratos as he traverses the Lake of Nine. With the ReShade mod, the normal muted color palette of the original God of War release, which while already a visual stunner, makes all those colors pop with all the vibrancy the multiple environments have to offer. And the best part is, you don’t even need an expensive monitor to enjoy these improvements! The ReShade mod manages to breathe life into a game already brimming with it and gives a stunningly realistic look to this more grounded take on the God of War.
A Longtime Coming
By: Omega FantasyArguably one of the main driving forces behind not only God of War’s sequel Ragnarok but many of the events of the 2018 game stem from the conflict between Odin and Tyr. While even in Ragnarok we never get the proper showdown these two deserve, Omega Fantasy couldn’t let this climactic battle go unserved, so we finally get to see the showdown of the Gods that leads to Ragnarok. Seeing the two Gods at the peak of their power is epic even if it is a reskin of the Stranger fight but at least we finally get to see Tyr pick up his spear and fight like the God of War he is.
Less Annoying Item Cards
By: MikeyRayyAlthough God of War 2018 is one of the most beloved games in the series, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have its fair share of issues that slow the pacing. Looking at the chains in particular. Like any game featuring a wealth of collectibles, the game presents these items with description cards, but whereas many games will show the description only once when a new item is picked up, God of War does it in abundance, and you can’t dismiss the card for a couple of seconds while the description loads. Seemingly we weren’t the only ones annoyed by this oversight and while it doesn’t do away with them completely, MikeyRayy’s Less Annoying Item Card mod greatly reduces their time cluttering our screens.
Import PS4 Save
By: enzonahuySanta Monica’s sequel/reboot of God of War came out in 2018 and thousands of players have dumped multiple playthroughs and hundreds of hours into the story of Kratos and Atreus traversing Midgard. With the PC version not releasing until January 2022, many gamers undoubtedly had a moment of pause at the thought of losing all their New Game + progress and all the time they put into perfecting their personal build of Kratos. While replaying God of War is a joy no matter if you have to start over completely, with the Import PS4 Save mod, you don’t need to start over completely from scratch. All those hundreds of hours won’t be lost forever should you want to take Kratos’ journey on the best possible hardware you have available.
Kratos Reskins
By: R4v3nB14ckKratos has certainly gone through a number of looks over the years, some better than others, not including unlockable skins, but the new “slow and old” Daddy Kratos has become the one synonymous with the character ever since the sequel’s 2018 release. For those yearning for a bit of nostalgia however, is the Kratos reskins which provides multiple looks both new and old for fans of the series. From classic Kratos from God of War games of old, to even Darth Maul Kratos, there’s plenty of options no matter what style you prefer your God of War to wear.
Dualsense Adaptive Triggers
By: gameplayjkBesides the SSD, one of the best new features of the PS5 is the new Dualsense controller. The ability to feel the vibrations from every action as well as the haptic feedback from the triggers allows you to feel the resistance with every pull of the trigger. Sadly, God of War 2018 arrived too early for console players to experience these features but gameplayjk graciously created a mod to make sure PC players don’t suffer the same fate when playing with the Dualsense controllers. At least players of Ragnarok on the PS5 still got to take advantage of this game changing feature.
Playable Atreus
By: SpeclizerWhen he was first revealed, many worried the addition of Atreus would mean that God of War 2018 would end up being an extended escort mission of a game. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and as the game progressed, Atreus proved himself to be a very capable fighter. Now with the Playable Atreus mod, you can experience just how adept he can be. In what would be a glimpse into the future with a playable Atreus in future installments, watching Atreus zip around the battlefield unleashing a flurry of arrows at his adversaries is almost mesmerizing to watch. While the game isn’t quite sure what to do without both Kratos and Atreus on screen, it’s still fun nonetheless, glitches and all.
Mother Kratos
By: Silence ExterminatorKratos and God of War are one of the biggest franchises in the world and also one of the most recognizable protagonists in all of gaming. And much like fans of Lara Croft and Nathan Drake have Tomb Raider and Dude Raider, God of War deserves a counterpart as well. Silence Exterminator created a mod that allows fans to play through 2018’s God of War as a female version of everyone’s favorite Spartan and even went so far as to redub Kratos’ lines with a more feminine, albeit automated, voice to further immerse players in their new playthrough. Admittedly, due to this being a reskin of Kratos, his original armor offers little protection for his female counterpart, but also manages to unintentionally satirize the traditional “female armor” of many other fantasy RPGs.
First Person
By: SpeclizerEver wondered what it would be like to see the world through the eyes of Kratos as he takes on the many dangers of the world of Midgard? Well now you can experience that sensation in 4K! While God of War III briefly allowed players to experience what it was like to not only be pummeled by Kratos through Poseidon’s eyes, but also take on the spirit of Zeus until the screen ran red, this mod allows players to experience not only the brutality of Kratos in first person but also the more meaningful moments as well. In a series where players have experienced all of Kratos’ major life events from a 3rd person or movie-like perspective, there’s something substantially more visceral and heartbreaking watching some of these moments from Kratos’ old and tortured eyes.
Exaggerated Kratos
By: SpeclizerThis one is just purely fun for the sake of fun. Kratos has always been one of the most serious video game characters ever created with barely any levity to be had so sometimes the player has to make their own fun. With Speclizer’s Resize Mod, Kratos can literally morph into almost anything you can imagine. Miss the unlockable “Big Head Mode” from days of gaming past? Not anymore! Kratos’ facial features can also be completely exaggerated to ridiculous proportions giving what would be some of the game’s most serious and meaningful moments an entirely new tone and is just something that is undeniably fun to play around with no matter how much of a purist you are.
