God of War: Ragnarok had better Combat?

Okay, okay I'm not saying God of War 2018 had overall better combat. There was enough little improvements to made Ragnarok better. But only slightly. I've recently finished Ragnarok and I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with the game. Storywise, characterwise and gameplaywise. It's good, but not great. One of my biggest gripes is the removal of the bare handed moveset and skilltree. I'm completely baffled why they did this. I mean we have the same buttons, but they just deleted them from the game besides the stand combo, rushing light and heavy attack and the shield interrupt attack. Bare handed was one of my favourite ways to fight in 2018, but now it's mostly all gone. Pathetic and there's really no reason behind it. Urg. At least Odin was great.