The God of War collection has been an important fixture throughout 4 generations of PlayStation consoles. But when Kratos’ vengeance-filled journey to changing into the brand new god of struggle started in 2005, few may have foreseen the place the indignant deity destroyer could be 20 years later. Where different long-running franchises have struggled to keep related for a number of gaming generations, God of War has survived thanks to its willingness to change. The most important change, of course, was the novel 2018 reboot that plucked Kratos out of Ancient Greece and immersed him on the earth of Norse mythology. It dramatically modified each the presentation and gameplay type of the collection. But even earlier than that critically acclaimed reboot, developer Sony Santa Monica had applied a quantity of smaller, however nonetheless fascinating adjustments that ensured the collection’ survival.
Reinvention can be key to God of War’s continued success sooner or later, too. When the collection moved to its Norse setting, director Cory Barlog spoke of his wish of “going on to the Egyptian era and the Mayan era and so on and so forth.” Recent rumours have as soon as again introduced up an Egyptian setting. Even if that is all hopeful pondering reasonably than real insider information, it’s comprehensible why people yearn for Kratos to go to the land of the pyramids: Ancient Egypt has a distinct tradition and powerfully wealthy mythology. But a new setting is simply the beginning: wherever God of War goes subsequent, it should reinvent itself in a lot the identical method as when it took the parts that labored so effectively for the collection’ Greek trilogy and up to date (and, in some methods, improved) them for the extremely acclaimed Norse video games.
The collection has by no means shied away from making adjustments from entry to entry, of course. The unique Greek video games advanced throughout the span of a decade, refining their hack and slash gameplay and sprucing it to a mirror shine by the release of God of War 3. At the tip of the trilogy, Kratos had entry to a revamped magic system that complimented the combo-based rhythms of melee fight, and confronted an even better selection of difficult enemies. That ultimate chapter was constructed for the PlayStation 3, which provided a substantial energy increase over the PS2 that the primary two video games had been designed for, and so new digicam angles supplied even higher views of what was in 2010 a graphical powerhouse.
Much of what outlined these unique video games was misplaced within the reboot. The Greek trilogy integrated a lot of platforming and puzzle game parts to help Kratos obtain his targets. Those platforming sections had been phased out of the Norse video games, partly due to a change in digicam angles – the brand new third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective simply didn’t work for that sort of method. The puzzles remained, however had been reformulated to match God of War’s new adventure-first design.
We can see this sort of re-fit utilized to a quantity of the collection’ unique ideas. From God of War 2 onwards, the video games featured battle arenas that allowed gamers to set problem ranges and select their opponents. These fashioned some of essentially the most memorable moments of the unique collection, however had been misplaced within the 2018 reboot. But Valhalla, the roguelike DLC for God of War Ragnarök, featured the return of battle arenas, which had been tailored for the brand new Norse mythology setting. This return to a characteristic of the previous was poetically mirrored by the DLC’s story, which noticed the Norse god of struggle, Týr, invite Kratos to Valhalla to confront the ghosts of his previous. By returning to the collection’ Greek roots each mechanically and narratively, Kratos’ story got here full circle.
The Norse God of War video games should not simply reinterpretations of previous concepts, although. This second iteration of the franchise contains a swathe of new additions, together with the distinctive throwing mechanics for the Leviathan Axe, a combat-defining parry system enabled by a collection of defend sorts and, in Ragnarök, a magical spear that permits for a a lot sooner, explosive assault type. These are your instruments for travelling throughout the Nine Realms, every of which has its own specific foes, visuals and different disparate traits.
But whereas the mechanics of battle and exploration are the plain adjustments, the artistic gulf between the unique trilogy and the Norse duology is most clearly noticed within the video games’ method to story. Across the second period, we really feel the loss and heartache Kratos experiences for his late spouse and how this fuels a hearth inside him. He is outwardly bitter in direction of his son, Atreus, and the pair’s uneasy relationship is on the coronary heart of the 2 video games. Both uncover surprising hidden truths about themselves. All that is a far cry from the more brutish storytelling of the unique trilogy, and the more emotive method is nearly definitely the important thing to the Norse period’s resounding essential and business success.
God of War’s radical shift in each mechanical design and storytelling method is the consequence of a totally different form of pondering when it comes to franchises. The collection’ creators have stated that they don’t view the Norse video games as sequels within the conventional sense, however reasonably as extensions of Kratos’ journey. This angle ought to sit on the core of any future installments.
Of course, radical reinvention on its own isn’t a foolproof method of producing escalating success. Just take a look at Assassin’s Creed, one other collection that has steadily modified location and time period. While persistently profitable, Ubisoft's long-running collection has struggled to secure continued fan adornment throughout a number of console generations in the identical method God of War has. Following the 2017 shift to an open world RPG design with Assassin’s Creed Origins, the collection hyperlinks to its foundational Assassin’s guild lore has grow to be more and more tenuous. What started as a collection linked by the story of Desmond Miles has misplaced a lot of its narrative connective tissue, and the brand new RPG period of video games have finally proved more divisive with every passing installment. General criticism has been aimed on the collection’ growing content material bloat – the traditional “bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better” argument – however long-term followers are more and more annoyed by the collection drifting away from its murderer roots in direction of Spartan and Viking energy fantasies. Fantasies that many consider would have been higher served as standalone RPGs.
The collection has now tried a couple of course corrections, beginning with 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage; a mushy reboot and return to the collection’ Middle Eastern roots. It revived the gameplay and construction of the sooner video games and provided a significantly shorter story, which was moderately effectively obtained by each critics and followers. This yr, Assassin’s Creed Shadows appears to be persevering with in a comparable vein thanks to the introduction of Naoe, a character wholly devoted to the stealth gameplay that was foundational for the unique Xbox 360-era video games.
The blended fortunes of Assassin’s Creed’s shift in type reveals that abandoning what made a collection profitable may cause rifts inside the fanbase. This is one thing the God of War collection has skilfully navigated. On paper, the Norse collection is a radical departure, but it surely by no means misplaced sight of what made Kratos a compelling character, nor the collection’ mechanical roots. It recognized the very core of the Greek trilogy – that fiery, unrelenting fight – and constructed one thing new atop it. And with every new game, that basis supported new evolutions. More Spartan Rage choices. Cooler weapons. A stronger selection of fight choices and adversaries. The capability to play as one other character for sizable chunks of the story. All these additions enhanced what got here earlier than and by no means distracted from the foundations that made the earlier video games such a success. They preserve a clear sense of identification for the collection, and deepen the lore reasonably than annex it. That is one thing a follow-up, be it set in Egypt or elsewhere, should proceed to do.
Regardless of if the rumours of an Egyptian setting show true, no matter comes subsequent should be certain that its evolutionary upgrades preserve what has made God of War such a success. Back in 2018, that meant a deal with fight – the brand new video games had to reside up to the requirements of the Greek trilogy when it got here to butchering foes. But the subsequent God of War will certainly be judged by its story, the true gemstone on the coronary heart of the Norse duology. The growth of Kratos’ character from the rage-filled monster encountered within the unique collection into a sombre, complicated father and chief showcases how important the writing has been in making the post-2018 video games such a monumental success. Whatever comes subsequent should be constructed upon that power, whereas additionally striving to make daring new adjustments that can (hopefully) be remembered as the top achievement of the subsequent period of God of War.
Chris Connor is a espresso and whisky pushed tradition wordsmith, with work printed at NME, Radio Times, Yahoo, and others.