God Of War Confirmed To Only Have Two Games In Current Series
It looks like this current God of War series is going a different direction, releasing only two games this time around. Is it the right move?
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After delaying the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok for a 2022 release date, Santa Monica Studios finally released a full-length trailer for the game, boasting its gameplay samples and mind-blowing cinematics. Judging by its trailer, the current series’ upcoming title has all the potential to overshadow its prequel. Shame it will also be the last entry in the God of War’s Norse saga and a conclusion to Kratos and Atreus’ story.
That’s right, God of War’s Norse saga will consist of only two games, opposing the seven Greek sagas which initially brought the franchise to the high level of fan acclaim it has now. According to IGN, the reason behind that decision is Santa Monica Studio’s desire to avoid delaying the story’s conclusion any longer than a decade after it started, considering that the first game took five years to develop, and the upcoming game took four, assuming it releases next year. Counting a third God of War game and its production duration, we’re discussing a span of approximately 15 years to complete a single narrative, and the Studio’s executives feel like that’s too stretched out.
Surprisingly enough, Santa Monica Studio’s viewpoint was well received by the franchise’s fandom, especially given the staggering number of modern-day cinematic and gaming releases which tend to drag out their respective storylines far beyond the point of necessity. In contrast, the franchise’s First era, also known as the Greek saga, took over a decade to complete, from the beginning of the development of the original God of War game in 2002 to the release of God of War: Ascension in 2013. That’s 11 years of game development for a single narrative.
2018’s God of War (unofficially called God of War 4) was never supposed to be a sequel to the original series but a reboot of the franchise. Luckily, the studio later settled on a middle ground between two opposites – leading to a soft reboot of the franchise. The entire game and its combat system were reimagined and redesigned, leading to a title that looks and feels drastically different from previous games. However, the developers incorporated the Greek saga’s narrative into the current storyline, using it as a foundational building block to form a new story revolving around Norse mythology. Unfortunately, using Greek mythology made little sense after Kratos killed most of the Greek Pantheon.
So, instead of spanning the Norse saga across three different games and then releasing four additional titles to expand the narrative like it was done with the First era, Santa Monica Studios have decided to keep things simple. The new saga in the God of War franchise will consist of only two games, arguably more than enough to tell a compelling tale. For those thinking that two games won’t suffice, the entire Greek saga consists of seven titles which cumulatively take 52 hours to complete. The main storyline 2018’s God of War takes only 21 hours to complete, or 51½ hours if a completionist is playing the game.
Besides allegedly allowing you to play as Atreus, the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok will undoubtedly conclude Kratos and Atreus’ story when it releases in 2022. The game will be available on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
