STACK #162 April 2018

GAMES

FEATURE

who you’ll eventually encounter, is said to be a serpent that is as long as the world. His backstory is very interesting. We actually did an awareness campaign called The Lost Pages, where you can learn more about Jörmungandr – that’s the name of the World Serpent – and how he ends up being an ally to Kratos and Atreus. He’s a little bit of a different character in the real Norse present. Brokkr and Sindri, who are the smithing elves, they

writer and pulling from his own family where, you know, he has a son who’s five years old. His wife’s Swedish, his son speaks Swedish better than he does.” The admiration for Barlog is clear in Kaufman’s voice – having him back seems like a dream come true. “Cory was really the advocate championing bringing this game into a father-son journey, but our studio as a whole, we are maturing, too. We kind of joke that the old God of War was our college years, when anything goes and you could make these over-the-top brutal moments, with larger than life monsters. It was like, ‘let’s create the most f–n’ crazy moment we can. Now, we’re maturing. The studio’s maturing, games in general are maturing, and our game has to grow with it. All of those things bundling together was a signifier to us. Cory encouraged the studio to push the game in a different direction.” And that’s what happened. God of War has made the jump to Norse mythology, but Kaufman tells us they also considered Mayan and Egyptian before settling on Odin and his ravens. “The Norse universe is really the one that offered us the most rich backdrops in terms of characters. In Norse, there are three races that are constantly at war with each other.” Kaufman believes this is the perfect predicament do drop our mate Kratos into. “The really interesting thing is Kratos doesn’t really know what he’s in the middle of. He’s landed on the shores of Scandinavia and he’s really unfamiliar with the Gods and the conflict around him. It isn’t until he sets out on this journey with his son, Atreus, beyond the protective boundaries of his home, that he starts to slowly realise he’s in a whole new world. That’s a really fascinating world for us to be in.” With the game featuring a significant twist on Norse mythology, Norse enthusiasts will be pleased to know that Kaufman and his team consulted the Prose Edda – in Kaufman’s words the “Norse Bible” for their research. “We pulled out elements that we thought fit our game best. So, the World Serpent,

God of War in numbers 3 platforms that the original God of War released on in 2005 4.24 million units of God of War II sold by June 2012 4 primary writers on God of War III 2 novels based on the God of War universe 23 months to develop God of War: Ghost of Sparta 5 multiplayer modes on God of War: Ascension

are in Norse mythology as the creators of Mjolnir [Thor’s

hammer] and Odin’s ring; they are exactly the same in our game. There are a whole bunch of other tie-ins that as you’ll play, you’ll explore.” Finally, God of War’s camera is now over the shoulder, more akin to

Horizon Zero Dawn or The Last of Us . This, according to Kaufman, was just another part of the revamp. “We knew right at the beginning that along with evolving the character, we had to change up the gameplay in a dramatic fashion. But it came with a real strong ‘why?’ The ‘why’ was Cory and the team really wanted to bring the fan into the journey. Now, you are much closer to the action than ever before, and you’re seeing the journey through Kratos’s eyes. This God of War game is all about showing you what you want to see. I think we just wanted that more cerebral thinking experience when you’re experiencing the world that other action adventure games have done such a great job at. "The other reason for shifting the camera was the combat – giving the player the ability to control the camera, to bring them closer to the action. We thought that was going to add a lot more strategic depth and choice to the game.”

• God of War is out April 20

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