The biggest news to come out of PlayStation’s State of Play wasn’t just that there was a new God of War game, but that Kratos was sitting this one out and his wife, Faye, was taking the starring role. God of War Laufey’s game director Ariel Lawrence and Santa Monica Studio creative director Cory Barlog spoke exclusively to IGN ahead of the showcase to explain why.
“We’ll always tell stories about Kratos, but I think for us, it was just a chance to talk about somebody who was so pivotal to the beginning and get to know them and push beyond into this new world and give us some place to be surprised and see how things connect. So for us, it’s not a departure; it’s more of an expansion.”
Barlog explained that he knew way back in 2018 that Faye was a character that he knew he wanted to explore, and God of War Laufey is the way to do it. “The character to usher us into this sort of new world is this character, who is such an anchor to the rebirth of where we were going with the franchise.”
He points out that Faye has been key to the recent games, even if she wasn’t always front and center. “She was omnipresent but visually not represented. In 2018 she was a feeling; she was a phantom and a specter but one whose tendrils stretched out through the entirety of the narrative, and it gave her this interesting sense of power inside of it. It was like, man, it would be so interesting to see who she was before, but it also would be interesting to see how things continue forward.”
It’s clear too in the footage shown, which represents the first 20 minutes of the game, and in the discussions with Lawrence and Barlog, that Faye is just as brutal as her hubby when it comes to combat.
“Kratos is like a brick wall, and he’s a little stoic, but it’s just that his brutality is different,” said Lawrence. “How do we show somebody who’s his equal as she is? So when we looked, we got to think about all the [Santa Monica] games. The Greek era had an influence on Faye. The Norse era has an influence on Faye. So going to our more agile combat roots but also retaining our companions, our gritty closer combat. How do those marry together and then make something that’s uniquely Faye-feeling while still being a Santa Monica game?”
There’s no release date for the game just yet, but you can find out more in the full interview with Lawrence and Barlog on IGN.
Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.
