Reinvention Is Key to God of Wars’ Continued Success
The God of War series has been an important fixture across four generations of PlayStation consoles. But when Kratos’ vengeance-filled journey to becoming the new god of war began in 2005, few could have foreseen where the angry deity destroyer would be 20 years later. Where other long-running franchises have struggled to stay relevant for multiple gaming generations, God of War has survived thanks to its willingness to change. The most important change, of course, was the radical 2018 reboot that plucked Kratos out of Ancient Greece and immersed him in the world of Norse mythology. It dramatically changed both the presentation and gameplay style of the series. But even before that critically acclaimed reboot, developer Sony Santa Monica had implemented a number of smaller, but nonetheless interesting changes that ensured the series’ survival.
Reinvention will be key to God of War’s continued success in the future, too. When the series 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 once again brought up an Egyptian setting. Even if this is all hopeful thinking rather than genuine insider news, it’s understandable why people yearn for Kratos to visit the land of the pyramids: Ancient Egypt has a distinct culture and powerfully rich mythology. But a new setting is just the start: wherever God of War goes next, it must reinvent itself in much the same way as when it took the components that worked so well for the series’ Greek trilogy and updated (and, in some ways, improved) them for the highly acclaimed Norse games.
The series has never shied away from making changes from entry to entry, of course. The original Greek games evolved across the span of a decade, refining their hack and slash gameplay and polishing it to a mirror shine by the release of God of War 3. At the end of the trilogy, Kratos had access to a revamped magic system that complimented the combo-based rhythms of melee combat, and faced an even greater variety of challenging enemies. That final chapter was built for the PlayStation 3, which offered a substantial power increase over the PS2 that the first two games were designed for, and so new camera angles provided even better views of what was in 2010 a graphical powerhouse.
Much of what defined these original games was lost in the reboot. The Greek trilogy incorporated plenty of platforming and puzzle game elements to help Kratos achieve his goals. Those platforming sections were phased out of the Norse games, in part due to a change in camera angles – the new third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective just didn’t work for that kind of approach. The puzzles remained, but were reformulated to fit God of War’s new adventure-first design.
We can see this kind of re-fit applied to a number of the series’ original concepts. From God of War 2 onwards, the games featured battle arenas that allowed players to set difficulty levels and choose their opponents. These formed some of the most memorable moments of the original series, but were lost in the 2018 reboot. But Valhalla, the roguelike DLC for God of War Ragnarök, featured the return of battle arenas, which had been adapted for the new Norse mythology setting. This return to a feature of the past was poetically mirrored by the DLC’s story, which saw the Norse god of war, Týr, invite Kratos to Valhalla to confront the ghosts of his past. By returning to the series’ Greek roots both mechanically and narratively, Kratos’ story came full circle.
The Norse God of War games are not just reinterpretations of past ideas, though. This second iteration of the franchise includes a swathe of new additions, including the unique throwing mechanics for the Leviathan Axe, a combat-defining parry system enabled by a series of shield types and, in Ragnarök, a magical spear that allows for a much faster, explosive attack style. These are your tools for travelling across the Nine Realms, each of which has its own particular foes, visuals and other disparate characteristics.
But while the mechanics of battle and exploration are the obvious changes, the creative gulf between the original trilogy and the Norse duology is most clearly observed in the games’ approach to story. Across the second era, we feel the loss and heartache Kratos experiences for his late wife and how this fuels a fire within him. He is outwardly bitter towards his son, Atreus, and the pair’s uneasy relationship is at the heart of the two games. Both uncover unexpected hidden truths about themselves. All this is a far cry from the more brutish storytelling of the original trilogy, and the more emotive approach is almost certainly the key to the Norse era’s resounding critical and commercial success.
God of War’s radical shift in both mechanical design and storytelling approach is the result of a different kind of thinking when it comes to franchises. The series’ creators have said that they don’t view the Norse games as sequels in the traditional sense, but rather as extensions of Kratos’ journey. This attitude should sit at the core of any future installments.
Of course, radical reinvention on its own is not a foolproof way of generating escalating success. Just look at Assassin’s Creed, another series that has frequently changed location and time period. While consistently profitable, Ubisoft’s long-running series has struggled to secure continued fan adornment across multiple console generations in the same way God of War has. Following the 2017 shift to an open world RPG design with Assassin’s Creed Origins, the series links to its foundational Assassin’s guild lore has become more and more tenuous. What began as a series linked by the story of Desmond Miles has lost much of its narrative connective tissue, and the new RPG era of games have ultimately proved more divisive with each passing installment. General criticism has been aimed at the series’ increasing content bloat – the classic “bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better” argument – but long-term fans are increasingly frustrated by the series drifting away from its assassin roots towards Spartan and Viking power fantasies. Fantasies that many believe would have been better served as standalone RPGs.
The series has now attempted a couple of course corrections, starting with 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage; a soft reboot and return to the series’ Middle Eastern roots. It revived the gameplay and structure of the earlier games and offered a considerably shorter story, which was reasonably well received by both critics and fans. This year, Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks to be continuing in a similar vein thanks to the introduction of Naoe, a character wholly dedicated to the stealth gameplay that was foundational for the original Xbox 360-era games.
The mixed fortunes of Assassin’s Creed’s shift in style shows that abandoning what made a series successful can cause rifts within the fanbase. This is something the God of War series has skilfully navigated. On paper, the Norse series is a radical departure, but it never lost sight of what made Kratos a compelling character, nor the series’ mechanical roots. It identified the very core of the Greek trilogy – that fiery, unrelenting combat – and built something new atop it. And with each new game, that foundation supported new evolutions. More Spartan Rage options. Cooler weapons. A stronger variety of combat options and adversaries. The ability to play as another character for sizable chunks of the story. All these additions enhanced what came before and never distracted from the foundations that made the previous games such a success. They maintain a clear sense of identity for the series, and deepen the lore rather than annex it. That is something a follow-up, be it set in Egypt or elsewhere, must continue to do.
Regardless of if the rumours of an Egyptian setting prove true, whatever comes next must ensure that its evolutionary upgrades maintain what has made God of War such a success. Back in 2018, that meant a focus on combat – the new games had to live up to the standards of the Greek trilogy when it came to butchering foes. But the next God of War will surely be judged by its story, the true gemstone at the heart of the Norse duology. The development of Kratos’ character from the rage-filled monster encountered in the original series into a sombre, complex father and leader showcases how important the writing has been in making the post-2018 games such a monumental success. Whatever comes next must be built upon that strength, while also striving to make bold new changes that will (hopefully) be remembered as the pinnacle achievement of the next era of God of War.
Chris Connor is a coffee and whisky driven culture wordsmith, with work published at NME, Radio Times, Yahoo, and others.
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