9/22/21

God of War: Ragnarök: The Next Great Step in Santa Monica Studios Coveted Series

In 2005 the first God of War game was developed by Santa Monica Studios for the
PlayStation 2. A new title that featured a character called Kratos, a spartan sent on a quest by
Athena to kill Ares. This quest would span over multiple games and lead to new plot lines that
follow Kratos taking down the Greek gods of Olympus. After taking down the Gods of Olympus
the game series seemed to be over, but instead shifted over to Norse mythology and followed
Kratos’s story in a new land with his son, Atreus. The most recent God of War game was
released in 2018 and received high appraisal for the dynamic story, characters, and gameplay that
gave the old God of War games a high revamp on what seemed like a new platform.

The expectation for Santa Monica Studios is high to make another masterpiece of a game
considering the last God of War won numerous awards for design, soundtrack, and even a game
of the year. With such high expectations there could be an unexpected failure that unintentionally
happens in the game. I reached out to former Rainbow Six Siege e–sports player, Alex Lake to
get his take on the game. He had a few key pointers on what he believed could make the game
underperform. “Something that could kill the game is if the series fails to branch out. This means
new mechanics, enemies, and mythologies. They did switch to Norse Mythology, but rinse and
repeat kills.”–Lake. I also spoke to mechanical engineer Mason Fors about any insight he might
have. “The game talks about a new revamped playing field and map, but so far from what I have
seen it just looks like the same thing, but with a little bit of snow added”–Fors. Alex Lake also
shows concerns for a game being unfinished and unpolished that would cause it to underperform.
“This could turn out to be like CyberPunk, a broken unfinished mess that was supposed to
showcase a next gen console.”–Lake. While the next gen consoles show promise for the future of
video games, God of War will also be available on the old gen, but only on the Playstation
Console.

While Lake’s concerns for the game’s future are something that everyone else is thinking,
IGN states that there will be a change in the evolution of both the combat, and the world itself.
Jonathan Dornbush writes that in an interview he had with creative directors Williams and Cory
Barlog about the innovation of the game. One of the quotes that were mentioned that was heavily
highlighted in the article was “Variety for variety’s sake is not a thing for us at all”–Williams.
This shows that the developers are willing to go above and beyond to make the next God of War
more enticing and interesting. Another interesting point of the development and direction of the
game is that this saga of the story will only last two games. The developers stated that taking 15
years to make a game trilogy is to long. Instead, they would rather the story be told in two very
detailed games. I tried to get ahold of someone who was currently working on the next God of War game but had no luck in doing so. God of War: Ragnarök is set to release in the year of
2022, with Santa Monica Studios as the developers and Sony Interactive Entertainment as the
publishers.