God of War

Don’t worry. Barlog hates escort missions too. He unambiguously stated a dislike of video game baby-sitting during my demo, and made it very clear that Atreus, Kratos’ son, will never be a burden. You’ll never have to actively go out of your way to look after him, and beyond that, you’ll often find him taking an active role in combat, providing you more options, on the fly, entirely of his own accord.

An example I witnessed today saw Kratos struggling to get an ‘in’ on an enemy who was blocking all his attacks. The big guy launched flurry after flurry of axe blows, to precisely no avail. But then things change. Atreus, aware of his dad’s - and therefore the player’s - situation leaps up and climbs onto the monster’s shoulders, distracting it and wrenching it from its defensive stance. A few axe strikes later, and the foe is staggering. But Atreus isn’t all automated. While the killing blow ultimately comes from son rather than father, it’s absolutely the player’s kill, Atreus’ leaping bow shot entirely the result of a manual controller instruction. And damnably cool it looks too. It’s time to stop thinking in terms of ‘I'm playing Kratos, and also, there’s a son’. In the new God of War, you’re really playing the both of them.

Don’t worry about the sedate, weighty pace of the slaying seen in the E3 2016 demo. This is not Dark Souls: Odin Edition. Kratos can still slice, dice, hack and wreck with the best of them. His personal reach might no longer match that of his old Blades of Chaos days (though there’s good reason for his switch to an axe), but in the demo I saw today he was clearly as fast, ferocious, fearsome and flowing as he was back in Greece. His attacks have more direct, heavy impact nowadays, but his crowd-control efficiency remains supreme. Fear not. When you want to spill blood, it will be spilled. And when you need to deal with threats from further afield, hey, you’ve got a son with a bow.

Greek urns appear in today’s God of War demo. Clearly, Kratos is not the only Mediterranean export to Scandinavia. Referencing this, Barlog tells me that in God of War’s narrative, all mythology exists simultaneously, distinct from, but respectful of, all the rest. Don’t expect the original God of War trilogy to be entirely forgotten. There will certainly be a character or two in the new game who knows of Kratos’ origins.

Though if all of mythology is canon, this does raise some interesting questions for the future. Kratos in ancient China for 2032?

The partnership doesn’t end on the battlefield. These two are going to be a unit through every aspect of their journey. That bit at the end of the Sony press conference demo, when Kratos asks Atreus what the World Serpent is saying? He does that because he doesn’t yet speak the language of the land effectively enough to communicate with the (seemingly) benevolent monster. Kratos might be training his son to fight and survive, but as the brains and the heart of the operation - far more in touch with the world around him both intellectually and emotionally - Atreus will, geographically and existentially, be his father’s guide.

Another point about that serpent. Consider how that scene would have played out in any previous God of War game. We have a gigantic, canonically known, mythological monster, appearing as a big reveal at the end of an area. We have a normal-sized Kratos, eyeballing it, face-to-face. Ordinarily there’d be only one way this would go down. Blades, brawling, and bleeding. But here, we have a conversation. We have an uneasy alliance. We have ambiguity, and nuance, and a Kratos being drawn into a world - and its monsters, and its people at large - in a capacity beyond ‘seek and destroy’. This is a very different journey for both Gods of War, series and protagonist, and it’s going to take much more than berserker rage to navigate it. Reliance on old skills and traits will only go so far. This path is going to demand growth, whether Kratos is entirely ready for it or not.

Barlog admits, as QTEs are discussed, that he was tired of God of War’s trademark, cinematic combat trick by the end of the second game. Thus, they’re not coming in anything like the same capacity, in the new one. That’s not to say that there won’t be huge, stand-out takedown moments. It’s just that from now on, they’ll be under the player’s control, triggered by the same actions and agency as everything else in the game. There’s a grab button. There’s a ‘hit with axe’ button. Players know how to use such things, so Barlog is going to trust them to know how to combine them at the right time for the right, destructive purpose. Much as God of War’s exploration won’t hint or dictate with collectible checklists or leading waypoints, its violence is going to let the player carve their own path.

rincon wrote:The combat will be awesome. Its GOW. All the weapons were awesome to use. If they made the blade of olympus work, then the axe is easier. It could that it is slightly worse without the blades of chaos, but in general that's hard to top because of how unique it was.

M99 wrote:Kratos always took the weapons of the people he killed. Which means somewhere along the line he is gonna wield Mjolnir (Thor's hammer).

rincon wrote:Talking about this, how I would like a remake of GOW 2.

ES wrote:Hopefully it tones down on the extreme puzzling from previous games

Warrior wrote:

rincon wrote:Talking about this, how I would like a remake of GOW 2.

Every GOW has been excellent so far, even the PSP versions that i have on PS3.
But, GOW 2, damn, it's my favourite episode of the series. I'm playing it right now, only a few moves away from the Kraken fight. I'm preparing myself mentally this boss is a pain in the ass.

RealGunner wrote:hmm God of War on April 20th and Dar Souls on May 25th

I have a month and 5 days to finish God of War. Sad!