Speaking at Devcom, God of War’s Cory Barlog revealed some interesting behind the scenes information about the development of the game. In its initial stages, the team was considering using Egyptian mythology as the base.
Barlog said that the team’s vision for a new God of War was in its infancy at the time God of War Ascension was released. At the time, there were two ideas being floated for where to base the next game in the series.
Some team members were keen to see Kratos engage with Egyptian mythology. Others were keen for the Norse setting we eventually saw. So who did Sony Santa Monica decide? According to Barlog, he was the tie-breaker.
God of War Egypt
Barlog shared a concept image for the Egyptian based God of War (above) and spoke of the difficulties he had in getting people to share and understand his vision. Early in development, Kratos’ character model was the same one from Ascension which clearly doesn’t fit the Norse theme.
Barlog said there was little support for the idea of Kratos as a father. Additionally, early playtesters thought the game bore little resemblance to other God of War titles.
Eventually, as we all know, Barlog and his team would have their way and release God of War to rapturous applause. We gave it our very first 10/10 review, which you can read here.
Thanks, Gearnuke.