On July 8, 2005, it hit the shelves of stores around the God of War world, the first chapter of the tragedy of Kratos, the Phantom of Sparta. While we wait to learn more about God of War Ragnarok, which should be released in 2022, we take the opportunity to retrace the history of the deicide warrior, from his appointment as god of war, to the soft reboot of 2018.
God of War: a saga that made history
Kratos, with his Blades of Chaos and his ashen complexion has over time become one of the most iconic characters in the PlayStation universe. Today the Ghost of Sparta turns 16 and the opportunity is propitious to find out how the God of War saga was born and what we can expect from the next chapter arriving in 2022.
The Spartan's first adventure enters development in 2002; the Santa Monica Studios had formed a few years ago and the project, then simply called Dark Odissey, was led by David Jaffe, as game designer, e Cory Balrog, lead animator today has become the face of the software house. The game was supposed to be based on Greek mythology and Jaffe's goal was to return all the rawness and classic myths, including blood, sex and betrayal.
The protagonist of this adventure should have been intentionally two-dimensional, since it had to represent nothing more than the concept of brute force. And here it is Dominus, the one who would later take the name of Kratos, the Spartan warrior moved by anger and revenge against the gods who had taken everything away from him.
Particolarmente interesting his ashen skin, the result of the presentation to Jeffe of a sketch not yet colored. The designer thought that pallor was a great way to make the character "wear" his sins, and it is from this idea that the definitive design of the Phantom of Sparta was born.
God of War was beginning to take shape, and the end result was a excellent hack 'n slash, characterized by a fast action and more accessible than the canons of the genre.
The tragedy of Kratos
Armed with Blades of Chaos and spells of various kinds, Kratos in the first God of War must recover Pandora's Box to obtain the power necessary to kill Ares, god of war. The Spartan warrior had sworn allegiance to the dying god, saving himself thanks to the gift of Blades of Chaos, but everything has a price. The blessing of Ares had also made him a slave to the divinity, to the point that in one of the many missions on his behalf he accidentally kills, blinded by rage, his wife and daughter.
The story of Kratos therefore takes up the classic canons of Greek tragedy, with a protagonist first consumed by his own ambition and then by the sense of guilt for having brutally killed his family, whose ashes are imprinted on his skin, hence the ashy complexion. . Hence his burning sense of revenge.
The plot of God of War then sees us begin the first steps in Kratos' path as a slayer of gods, a path that will see his apotheosis in God of War 3 in which we will hunt down the last remaining gods, this time to settle scores with Zeus, revealed to be the father of Kratos in God of War 2. Right in the second chapter Zeus kills Kratos, to try to limit its violence, which obviously has done nothing but anger even more the Ghost of Sparta, who from Hades goes up to the top of Olympus to redeem the wrong suffered.
The main strengths of the original God of War trilogy (and related spin offs) are two: the gameplay, frenetic and deep at the right point to be within everyone's reach, and the reconstruction of Greek myths which, obviously adapted for the context, demonstrate the enormous study of the boys of Santa Monica of the Hellenic phanteon.
God of War 2018
As we have seen so far, the God of War saga has always been proposed to the public as a series devoted to pure action, with a minimum introspection of the characters who alternated on the screen. Mostly Kratos was little more than a killing machine, and its psychological dimension was only partially explored in the two spin offs for PsP Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus.
This element is completely subverted into God of War, the soft reboot released in 2018 exclusively for Ps4. Kratos has aged here, has a son, and has retired to the remote lands of the north, where local, Norse gods do not know his identity.
This at least until a mysterious figure shows up at his door claiming to be aware of his dark past. From here begins the journey of Kratos and his son Atreus to deliver his wife's ashes to Jötunheim Mountain, which will culminate in some of the most epic bossfights of the entire series.
God of War 2018 is configured as a total paradigm shift for the series, also thanks to the desire of Cory Balrog to change the cards on the table. Kratos becomes here a simple but multifaceted character, who tries in every way to leave his past behind and to direct his son Atreus on a path that is not self-destructive like the one he traveled in the past.
The events set in motion in God of War, however, are just the beginning of a bigger story, which we can't wait to see continue in God of war ragnarok. A new trailer for this title could arrive any moment, perhaps within the fall season.
Read also: The review of Monster Hunter Stories 2 Wings of Ruin: a monster for a friend Offer
God of War Hits - PlayStation 4
- A renewed beginning capable of exciting new players and fans of the saga
- About 30 hours of gameplay to be experienced immersed in the pristine realms of Nordic folklore
- Take full advantage of the potential of PS4 and PS4 Pro
