With just days remaining until God of War launches, a new trailer has been released that takes players through Kratos’ journey and shows how far the character has come.

Aside from the move away from typical hack-and-slash combat and the shift to an over-the-shoulder perspective, one of the biggest changes in God of War is the new Kratos. He’s still the Kratos that killed gods and titans without hesitation, but his past has taken a toll on him.

“Kratos has undergone a lot of change so that when he ends God of War III and is transitioning into this one, there is a period of time where he’s kind of wandering the Earth alone, and he believes being alone is probably better,” God of War creative director Cory Barlog said in the trailer.


Saying that Kratos has “hit rock bottom emotionally” and is ready to begin his climb out of that state, Barlog went on to remind players of one of Kratos’ flaws that’s seen so often in past God of War games. Kratos constantly put the blame on others throughout the series in an attempt to justify his own actions when he was wronged.

“His ways in the Greek era were ‘It’s your fault. I did something bad, it’s your fault, or it’s your fault, or it’s your fault.’ It’s never his fault,” Barlog said.

For anyone who’s played the past games, especially God of War III that’s mentioned in the trailer, this flaw is evident. Time and time again, Kratos gets called out by enemies for his hubris and lust for vengeance, typically right before he impales them on something or rips them apart. When speaking to Hephaestus the forge god, for example, the god blames Kratos more than once for the loss of his daughter Pandora, a loss that was a side effect of Kratos’ selfish journey. Kratos denies this by saying he did Hephaestus no wrong each time, right up until the moment that he kills the god.

But even though Kratos preferred to be alone for a while, Barlog said that the Spartan’s son Atreus will be the key to Kratos’ personal journey.

“That’s the importance of having Atreus involved in all of this,” Barlog said. “Atreus is the hand that pulls humanity out of his sort of dark heart, this thing that he’s stamped down. Because when he does do it, when he can successfully do it, it feels right, it feels earned, and it feels like you have accomplished something.”

Hear more about Barlog’s thoughts on Kratos’ journey in the trailer above and look for God of War when it launches on April 20.

Posted: Apr 17, 2018 10:33 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/04/16/god-of-war-trailer-evolution-of-kratos/