so, i haven’t played all (and most) of the gow games, but i will give the chronological order for them.

sons of sparta, ascension, chains of olympus, god of war (2005), ghost of sparta, gow 2, gow 3, god of war (2018) and gow ragnarok.

if you want to know kratos story before the norse games, gow 1, 2 and 3 will suffice. sons of sparta is the newest gow game and it’s a 2d metroidvania. santa monica is developing not only laufey (the third installment of the norse games), but also a remake for the greek games

now, many ppl have not played the greek games, me included. you can definitely play gow (2018) and gow ragnarok without playing them, and i honestly think it adds to the mystery surrounding it (imagine putting yourself in atreus shoes somewhat lmfao)