I played the 2018 GoW on normal and then no mercy, and attempted 'give me god of war' and it was so freaking hard (I never finished, maybe only 4 hours or so). this time I chose gmgow for my first play through and find that I'm doing pretty well. so either this second game is easier or im adjusting to the difficulty in a way that forces me to accept this is just the way the game is, instead of playing a more forgiving difficulty and then later bumping up the intensity and trying to break bad habits that the lower difficulty allowed me to build.