I don't get how people say a sequel is too much like the first game, it's a continuation so of course it is lol. Was God of War 2 much different than the original game? Was Halo 2 a lot different than Halo? How different are the COD games each year? Racing games are the same basic game with different tracks with each release. I could go on and on about that, I don't want to add spoilers here but there are some things that are very different from the 2018 game in this one you just have to play it for a couple of hours to find that out.
The 2018 game was a reboot of the series, fully 3D camera instead of a fixed position, different mythology, Kratos isn't just a one-dimensional character anymore etc so they weren't going to reinvent the wheel again with the sequel to that game. So far this is the best game I've played this year and it's not even close, Forbidden West and Elden Ring don't touch it IMO, obviously everyone else is entitled to their own opinion as well and I still have a long way to go before I'm anywhere near done with this game but I have high hopes considering people have been saying it gets better and better the further you get into it.