I just completed God of War (2018)! This was my first exposure to the franchise, so I didn't go in expecting much. It was pretty tough on the highest difficulty, but I managed to pull through!
It definitely felt very long, but part of that is my fault as every time I got a new upgrade to clear new paths, I re-explored most areas I remember having a path blocked to see what I can find. I mostly did things blind except for finding some of the ravens and treasure locations at the end.
Favorite area: Alfheim. Dark elves have a complex enough move set to make them pretty fun to parry and their crit is cinema. The whole vibe of the palace area just felt very cool.
Least favorite area: Niflheim (mostly because of how long I spent there dying / grinding required materials for the realm tears), though the Muspelheim grind was also quite the challenge.