In a lot of ways, God of War: Ascension was proof that Sony had run out of ideas.
The game may have featured all the hallmarks of a classic God of War game: giant bosses, a very angry Kratos and hundreds of dead mythological beasts, but it felt more like a soulless cash-grab than anything else. To be fair, Ascension did feature a few novel ideas — such as multiplayer brawls using the series' trademark combat — but nothing seemed to stick.
Long story short, the classic God of War games will always be remembered as a strictly single-player experience — and the newly-announced sequel isn't looking to break that trend. Speaking with LevelUp (via IGN), God of War director Cory Balrog confirmed that Kratos' PlayStation 4 outing wouldn't feature any sort of player vs. player combat.
It's not a surprising move by any means. True, Ascension's multiplayer mode wasn't awful, but it didn't really do anything fantastically, either — and for the most part, God of War fans simply don't care about multiplayer. Gamers want to be taken on a ride through ancient worlds and murder monsters with giant blades and axes, not wait in lobbies or fumble with character loadouts.
Multiplayer wasn't the only thing that Balrog addressed, however. After the game's reveal at E3, many God of War fans began speculating that the new focus on Kratos' family was a way for Sony to gently move away from the older character. Rumors concerning Kratos' death started popping up everywhere, leading some to belief that Kratos' next-gen debut would also be his final starring role.
As it turns out, that's not the case: Balrog also confirmed that Kratos will indeed continue on through the series. Obviously, no specifics on how or why this will happen were given, but it's nice to know that Sony won't be ditching such an iconic character for a much less interesting one for seemingly no reason (looking at you, Halo 5).
What's even better is that, despite the game's new focus on Kratos' son, players won't be babysitting anyone. Balrog spoke about keeping Kratos' son from being a hindrance, and that players won't have to stop fighting in order to go help him. All in all, it sounds a lot like Ellie from The Last of Us — and that's definitely a good thing.
Sadly, it'll likely be some time before gamers get to see more of Kratos — the new God of War currently has no solid release window.
