By the end of God of War III, Kratos murdered Greek mythology.
There's really no other way to put it: so many deities died that, for the most part, Kratos had single-handedly wiped ancient Greek mythology off the map. As such, it was only a matter of time before the series jumped to a new era. Sony confirmed this at its E3 2016 press conference, and when the nine-minute God of War demo started rolling, it wasn't long before fans had figured out where Kratos was.
To be honest, Norse mythology is a great fit for Kratos ... but as it turns out, the former God of War wasn't always destined for Valhalla.
In an interview with Eurogamer, God of War director Cory Balrog revealed that, for a while, no one knew where Kratos would end up. For a long while, the team was split between Norse mythology and sending Kratos to ancient Egypt.
"Egyptian mythology was the other [setting], and half the team was way into that. All of them had great reasons. I think, for me, as I looked at both of those, Egyptian mythology is about the pharaohs as embodiment of the gods on earth and there's a lot more about civilization — it's less isolated, less barren. I think at this time, we really wanted to focus on Kratos. Having too much around distracts from that central theme of a stranger in a strange land."
After watching the demo, it's easy to see the isolation that Balrog and the team are going for. Aside from a few enemies and the occasional fauna, Kratos and his son are alone for the vast majority of the video. Considering that the team is trying to focus more on the relationship between these two, it makes sense that something as civilized as ancient Egypt could draw away from that.
Of course, it just wouldn't be God of War without some serious god-on-monster brutality, and Balrog has assured fans that the series' trademark combat would return alongside Kratos. It's just that, in addition to the combat, there's much more of a focus on characterization and storytelling.
Hopefully, this new take on a classic PlayStation series works out: it's been a long time since gamers have gotten a proper God of War sequel, and the team is making some pretty drastic changes to the formula. It's always good to try and innovate .. but there's also a chance of making the series unrecognizable to longtime fans.
Sadly, it'll like be some time before fans get to take control of Kratos themselves, as Sony has yet to announce any sort of release window for God of War.
