God of War Ragnarök

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God of War Ragnarök
God of War Ragnarök cover.jpg
Developer(s)Santa Monica Studio
Publisher(s)Sony Interactive Entertainment
Director(s)Eric Williams
Producer(s)Cory Barlog
Writer(s)Matt Sophos
Composer(s)Bear McCreary
SeriesGod of War
Platform(s)PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5
Release2022
Genre(s)Action-adventure, hack and slash
Mode(s)Single-player

God of War Ragnarök is an upcoming action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). It is scheduled to be released in 2022 for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation 5 (PS5). It will be the ninth installment in the God of War series, the ninth chronologically, and the sequel to 2018's God of War. Loosely based on Norse mythology, the game will be set in ancient Scandinavia and feature series protagonists Kratos and his teenage son Atreus. Serving as the finale to the Norse era of the series, the game will cover Ragnarök, a series of events that bring about the end of days and depicts the deaths of the Norse gods, which was foretold to happen in the previous game after Kratos killed the Æsir god Baldur.

In the months following the game's announcement in September 2020, many gaming journalists and websites regarded the sequel as one of their most anticipated games; the game won awards for Most Wanted Game and Most Anticipated Game from the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards and PlayStation.Blog awards, respectively. Originally slated for a 2021 release, the game was delayed in part due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on development, and also because of Kratos actor Christopher Judge's health problems in August 2019.

Premise[]

Taking place three years after the events of the previous game, Fimbulwinter, a great winter that spanned three summers, is drawing to a close. It is prophesied that Ragnarök will begin once Fimbulwinter comes to an end. A now teenaged Atreus, curious and confused by the revelations of the previous game, seeks the answers to questions about his newfound identity, as well as a way to prevent Ragnarök from happening. To uncover the truth, Kratos and Atreus must set out to find their needed answers. In doing so, they come in contact with the previously believed to be dead, the Norse God of War, Týr. Whilst traversing the nine realms, the duo must face new threats. Hoping to exact their revenge, Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, and Freya, their former friend and ally, now pose as serious threats to the duo.[1]

Development[]

A sequel to 2018's God of War was teased at the end of that game; it ended with the impending Ragnarök soon to happen, as well as a secret ending that showed a vision that the Æsir god Thor would confront Kratos and Atreus at the end of Fimbulwinter.[2] Although he did not officially announce a new game at the time, that game's director, Cory Barlog, confirmed that the 2018 installment would not be Kratos' last game,[3] and it was later revealed that future games would continue to be set in the Norse environment and include Atreus.[4] In April 2019, a teaser came in the form of a PlayStation 4 dynamic background theme; the side of Kratos and Atreus' boat had runes that translated to "Ragnarök is coming".[5] By the same time, in order to celebrate the first anniversary of the previous game's release, Barlog posted a thread of tweets on Twitter with pictures and a statement concerning the development process;[6] some fans deciphered that the first letter of each tweet spelled out "Ragnarök is coming".[7] During the 2020 PlayStation 5 Showcase event on September 16, a new God of War was officially announced for a 2021 release on the newer console.[8][9] The short trailer, which had a voice over by Kratos actor Christopher Judge, did not officially reveal the name of the sequel, but just like the previous teasers, the trailer stated that "Ragnarök is coming". This led some sources to believe the title of the game to be God of War: Ragnarök, though at the time, this was not confirmed by Sony. The tagline implied that this would be the start of Ragnarök in the God of War universe, which in Norse mythology is a series of events that bring about the end of days and deaths of the Norse gods.[10][11]

When the game was first announced in September 2020, it was only announced as a PlayStation 5 title. However, after Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) revealed their plans on supporting their previous console until at least 2022, speculation began on whether or not the new God of War would see a cross-gen release on the PlayStation 4 (PS4), as some other titles that were originally thought to be PlayStation 5 exclusives were also announced to release on PS4 (e.g., Horizon Forbidden West).[12] In an interview with The Telegraph shortly after the newer platform's launch in November, SIE's president and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan was questioned on if the new God of War would be a PS5-exclusive, but he had "nothing to say" at the time.[13][14][15] In June 2021, it was confirmed that the game would release on both the PS4 and PS5.[16]

By February 2021, neither Sony or the game's developer, Santa Monica Studio, had given any updates regarding the game's release, prompting Cory Barlog to tweet that the game would be out "when it's done".[17] In June 2021, head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, stated that Sony had decided to delay the game until 2022 "to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play."[16] Development was partly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,[18] as Hulst stated that there were issues getting access to performance capture and talent.[16] Santa Monica Studio issued a statement, saying that while they were focused on delivering a top-quality game, they also wanted to maintain the safety of those involved with the development.[19] The game's music composer, Bear McCreary, who also composed the music for the previous game, responded to the news of the delay, saying that it would be worth the wait.[20] In a series of tweets posted by Christopher Judge in late September, he said that he was the reason that the game was delayed due to surgery he needed in August 2019. Judge said that Santa Monica Studio allowed him time to recover and waited for him to rehabilitate before continuing production. He also revealed that he had briefly quit the game after finding out that Eric Williams would be directing the sequel. Judge was uncertain about Williams; however, Barlog, who instead served as producer for the sequel, was able to convince Judge that Williams was fully capable of directing the game, which Judge affirmed after working with him.[21]

During Sony's May 2021 investment filing, they included a title treatment for the game which stated the title as God of War: Ragnarök,[22] although the investment filing was later changed to state only "God of War". A report found that the logo used in the filing was unofficial and fan-made.[23] Following this, various media outlets were uncertain of the legitimacy of the title of the game.[23][24][25] In a statement to IGN, a representative from Sony stated that the game's logo and title were not yet finalized or official, and that the inclusion of the false logo in the investment filing was an error.[23] However, the game's title was in fact confirmed as God of War Ragnarök (without a colon) during the 2021 PlayStation Showcase event on September 9.[26]

During the 2021 PlayStation Showcase event, the game's first gameplay trailer was shown, featuring similar gameplay as the previous installment, while also showing that Kratos and Atreus would use a dog sled pulled by wolves to traverse across snowy terrain. It was also confirmed that all nine realms of Norse mythology could be explored; the previous game only allowed players access to six realms, with Asgard, Vanaheim, and Svartalfheim inaccessible.[27] It was also during this event that Eric Williams, who worked on every previous installment, was confirmed as the game's director, continuing the previous era's tradition of having a different director for each game. Williams revealed that Richard Schiff would play Odin, the king of the Norse gods; Ryan Hurst as Thor; Ben Prendergast as Týr, the Norse God of War; Laya De Leon Hayes as Angrboða; and Usman Ally as Durlin. In addition to Christopher Judge returning as Kratos, it was confirmed that Sunny Suljic, Danielle Bisutti, and Alastair Duncan would be reprising their roles as Atreus, Freya, and Mímir, respectively, and Robert Craighead and Adam J. Harrington would reprise their respective roles as the Huldra Brothers, Brok and Sindri.[28] Unlike the popular portrayal of Thor by Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Thor in Ragnarök will look closer to his depiction in Norse mythological literature, having a hefty build with long red hair and beard.[29] After the premiere of the trailer, Alanah Pearce confirmed that she was part of the development team,[30] and SungWon Cho announced that he would be providing the voice and motion capture for Ratatoskr, and worked directly with the writers to write his scenes.[31]

Also during the 2021 PlayStation Showcase event, it was confirmed that Ragnarök would be the finale of the Norse era of the series.[27] One of the reasons Santa Monica decided to end the Norse era with Ragnarök was due to the game's size and scale. The 2018 installment and Ragnarök each respectively took five years to develop, and they did not want to take another five years, totaling 15 years, to tell one story. Barlog also compared it to watching the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, stating that being able to condense the story to two games was similar to the feeling of watching that trilogy of films, as the consumer would feel they were told a complete story with a definitive beginning and end.[32]

Accolades[]

At the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards, the game received the award for Most Wanted Game.[33][34] It was also a nominee for Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards 2020[35][36] and was nominated for the same award at The Game Awards 2021.[37] It also received the award for PlayStation.Blog's Most Anticipated Game.[38] Various media outlets had also included the sequel on their respective lists for most anticipated games of 2021, prior to the game's delay to the following year.[39][40][41][42][43]

References[]

  1. ^ "First look at God of War Ragnarök". PlayStation.Blog. September 9, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  2. ^ Hurley, Leon (November 20, 2020). "God of War ending - what does it mean? Spoiler Warning!". GamesRadar+. Future US. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Paget, Mat (June 21, 2016). "God of War PS4 Doesn't Include Multiplayer, Won't Be Kratos's Last Game". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  4. ^ Stead, Chris (April 8, 2018). "Sony confirms God of War 5 will also be set in Norse mythology". Finder. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  5. ^ Avard, Alex (April 16, 2019). ""Ragnarok is coming": New God of War PS4 theme might be secretly teasing a sequel". GamesRadar+. Future US. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  6. ^ Barlog, Cory [@corybarlog] (April 21, 2019). "Reminiscing about how crazy the last 6 yrs has been so I thought I would create a GOW BTS THREAD of photos + thoughts. Buckle up, gonna' be long.