Reshaping is the key to the continued success of God of War

The God of War series is an important fixture for the fourth generation of PlayStation game consoles. But when Kratos's journey to becoming a new god of war started in 2005, few could have foreseeed the angry god destroyer would be 20 years later. Where other long-running franchises also struggle to remain relevant to generations of multiple games, God of War has survived due to the willingness to change. The most important change, of course, is the radical 2018 reboot that sets Kratos apart from ancient Greece and immerses him in the Nordic mythical world. It has greatly changed the way the series is presented and played. But even before the acclaimed reboot, developer Sony Santa Monica implemented many smaller but interesting changes to ensure the series survives.

Reshaping will also be the key to the continued success of God of War in the future. When the series moved to its Nordic environment, the director Cory Barlog talks about his wishes “Entering the Egyptian era and the Mayan era and so on.” Recent rumors Again the Egyptian environment is proposed. Even if it is hopeful thinking rather than real insider news, it is understandable why people are eager to visit the Pyramids of Kratos: Ancient Egypt has a unique culture and powerful myth. But a new environment is just the beginning: wherever God of War is going next, it must reinvent itself in the same way as the one that made the very outstanding components of the series’ Greek trilogy very good, and updated (and improved somehow) for the acclaimed North game.

Of course, the series never shys away from the change from entry to entry. The original Greek game over a decade of leaps, refined their hacking and cutting games and polished it onto the mirror by unleashing God of War Chapter 3. At the end of the trilogy, Kratos can access an improved magic system to complement the combo-based melee rhythm and face larger challenges. The final chapter was built for PlayStation 3, which offers a significant improvement over the PS2, designed for the first two games, so the new camera angles can even better understand the 2010 graphics power.

Most of the content that defines these original games is lost in the restart. The Greek trilogy combines a large number of platform and puzzle game elements to help Kratos achieve his goals. These platforms were partially phased out from Nordic games, partly due to changes in camera angles – a new third person, off-shoulder perspective doesn’t help this approach. These puzzles still exist, but have been re-crafted to fit in a new adventure-first design for God of War.

We can see that this refit applies to many of the original concepts of the series. Starting with God of War of War, the game features battlefields, allowing players to set difficult levels and select opponents. These formed the most memorable moments in the original series, but were lost in the 2018 reboot. But Valhalla is the Roguelike DLC of Ragnarök, the god of war, featuring the return of the battlefield, which has been adapted into a new Nordic mythological environment. DLC's story returns to its past characteristics in a poetic reflection, DLC's story sees the Nordic god of war Týr, who invites Kratos to Valhalla to face his past ghosts. Returning to the series’ “Greek roots” through mechanics and narratives, Kratos’ story is complete.

However, the Nordic God of War is not only a reinterpretation of past ideas. The second iteration of the franchise includes a series of new additions, including the unique throwing mechanics of the Leviathan Axe, a battle-defined Pari system enabled by a series of shield types, in ragnarök, which allows for a magic spear that can be faster, explosive style of attack. These are the tools you travel across nine realms, each with its own specific enemies, visuals, and other different traits.

But while the mechanisms of combat and exploration are obvious changes, the creative divide between the original trilogy and Nordic diseases is most clearly observed in the Olympic story approach. In the second era, we feel how Kratos’ experience of his late wife’s loss and heartache, how that burns for him. He performed well against his son Atreus, and his uneasy relationship was at the heart of both games. Both discover unexpected hidden truths. This is far from the crueler storytelling of the original trilogy, and the more emotional approach is almost certainly the key to the enormous critical and commercial success of the Nordic era.

The fundamental change in God of War’s approach to mechanical design and storytelling is the result of another thinking in the franchise. The creators of the series say they don’t see Nordic games as a sequel in the traditional sense, but an extension of the Kratos journey. This attitude should be at the heart of future installments.

Of course, natural reshaping itself is not a foolproof way to make successful upgrades. Just look at Assassin's Creed, another series that often changes position and time periods. Ubisoft's long-running series has consistently profitable, striving to ensure continuous fan adornment for multiple consoles. After turning to an open world RPG design with Assassin's Creed origins in 2017, the series' legend linked to its basic Assassin's Guild has become increasingly vulnerable. A series that begins with the series linked to the story of Desmond Miles has lost a lot of narrative connective tissue, and the new era of RPG gaming ultimately proves that each pass is more divided. The widespread criticism has been targeting the growing content of the series – the classic “bigger” doesn’t necessarily mean better” argument – ​​but long-time fans are increasingly frustrated, the series departs from the assassin’s fantasy of power from the assassin roots to the Spartans and Vikings. Many believe that it would be better to act as a standalone RPG fantasy.

The series has tried several course corrections, starting with Assassin's Creed Sea City rage in 2023. Soft start and return to the Middle East roots of the series. It restores the gameplay and structure of the early game and provides a fairly short story that critics and fans have embraced well. This year, the shadow of Assassin's Creed seems to continue from a similar angle thanks to the launch of Naoe, a character devoted to stealth gameplay, the foundation of the original Xbox 360s game.

The mixed fate of Assassin's Creed's style shift shows that giving up success can lead to rifts in the fan base. This is something that the God of War series is cleverly navigated. On the surface, the Nordic series is a fundamental departure, but it has never seen what makes Kratos a fascinating character, nor the mechanical roots of the series. It identified the heart of the Greek trilogy – that was a fiery, relentless battle – and built something new. In every new game, the foundation supports new developments. More Spartan anger choices. Cool weapon. A variety of combat choices and opponents. The ability to play another character as a considerable majority of the story. All of these additions enhance what happened before and never dispersed the foundation that made previous games so successful. They have a clear sense of identity for the series and deepen the legend rather than annexing it. Follow-ups set in Egypt or elsewhere must continue.

Regardless of whether the rumors of the Egyptian environment prove true or not, anything that happens next must ensure that its evolutionary escalation remains what makes the God of War a successful thing. Back in 2018, this meant focusing on combat – the new game had to meet the standards of the Greek trilogy when slaughtering enemies. But the next God of War will surely be judged by its story, the true gem at the heart of Nordic doology. The character of Kratos develops from an angry monster encountered in the original series into a gloomy, complex father and leader, demonstrating the importance of writing in making the post-2018 game. Everything that happens next must be built on this power, while also working to make bold new changes that (hopefully) are remembered as the pinnacle of the God of War.

Chris Connor is a coffee and whiskey-driven culture Wordmith, published works at NME, Radio Times, Yahoo and more.