Since its inception, the series God of War has always shown that it has the potential necessary to affect a furrow that would have crossed multiple videogame generations, remaining anchored for a long time to the hordes of fans accumulated in each of its chapters. After 13 years from the release of the first episode it is in fact evident how this impression was correct since the saga, appreciated since the beginning, has shown itself full of initiatives and has come to count 7 chapters that have kept the players anchored. to the screen. However, after a prosperous period full of productions that lasted for several years, the series fell into total silence, making God of War: Ascension the last game in which it would have been possible to play the role of Kratos. After 3 years of not hearing about the saga anymore, a theatrical announcement arrived during the Sony conference during E3 2016 broke the silence: God of War would be back, thus reviving fans' enthusiasm for the series.
Although the fans were anxious and the wait began to become unbearable, for a long time we have not heard about the release date of the game. The press blackout, however, was broken a few days ago: on January 23, in fact, a new trailer was released and at the end of it, like a bolt from the blue, the official launch window of this new one was announced. God of War (on April 20, 2018). Much to everyone's surprise, what we have been shown is a very different Kratos than what we have been used to seeing for over a decade: it is in fact evident that it is a less angry Kratos, conspicuously older and, pass me the term, more "human"; certainly less vindictive than the one seen in the previous chapters, but which now has a new task to complete: this time alongside Atreus, his son, a totally new and mysterious character that we only got to know through the trailers published.
The times when Kratos attempted to climb Olympus on the shoulders of the titans are long gone and, although the reason for this change is still unknown, it is now possible to see him grappling with all the prominent personalities of Norse mythology: it is in fact possible to notice the World Serpent, known among the Scandinavians for its peculiarity of wrapping the entire "middle earth", the name with which the world we know is defined in this mythology, or even Mimir, or the guardian of the source of wisdom. What happens in the trailer is not completely clear and well explained, certainly for a specific intention of the producers; What can be deduced, however, is that Kratos and his son Atreus will find themselves carrying the lifeless body of the mother on what is identified as the peak of the realms. From the very first words of Kratos it is possible to notice a clear departure from his past characterization: he is now shown to us as wiser, perhaps with the desire to live a quiet life in the company of his son, a will that is however compromised by the upheavals present in the game plot.
Atreus he is certainly one of the most interesting characters to analyze, as he is totally new to the world of God of War; currently it is only possible to launch into speculations without concrete proof relating to its characterization: what we know is, in fact, its name, taken from a prominent figure in Greek mythology (the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus), whose literal meaning is “Indomitable”, “intrepid”, but which could also be understood as “blinded by evil”. At the moment we cannot say if this name was chosen as it represents the character of the boy or if only as a tribute to Kratos' past, but it will certainly be possible to deduce it in the course of history.. As we can tell from the trailers, Atreus most likely he is not aware of his father's undertakings in the previous chapters, and in fact the secrets kept by Kratos would seem to be a reason for a quarrel between the two. In any case, it is possible to notice how even in the boy something relative to the nature of the parent is manifesting itself, even suggesting that the focus of the entire game could drastically shift on his figure.
Despite this new God of War promises very well, the end of the third chapter has left everyone with more than a few questions: what happened following the closing events of God of War III? And how did it come to a sequel? At the moment it is only possible to speculate based on information relating to Norse mythology and potential links to the events of the series. For a good understanding of what follows it is appropriate to have concluded the first 3 chapters, as there will be spoilers related to them. As all those who have concluded the third chapter will know, the story of Kratos seen so far ends with his presumed death on Mount Olympus, which occurred by his own hand by piercing himself with the sword in order to free the hope taken from Pandora's box. . So what events allowed the story to continue? Taking into consideration the trailers published on the last chapter, it is perhaps possible to draw some clues for speculations, absolutely not confirmed, but which could hide a grain of truth.
As we can guess from some trailers, the so-called “World Serpent” appears in the game, corresponding to the figure of Jörmungandr from Norse mythology, which envelops the whole world while constantly biting its tail. In addition to him, a wolf also appears, probably identifiable as Fenrir who, according to Norse mythology, frees himself from his chains only when Ragnarǫk, the "twilight of the gods" begins. According to legend, this devastating event would only manifest itself when Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, stops biting his tail. Considering the presence of the snake and the wolf, we can therefore hypothesize that Ragnarǫk has already occurred. According to the well-known work Gesta Danorum by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, in the final moment of this event, in the renewal, the rebirth of Baldr also takes place, a figure of Norse mythology represented precisely the demigod of hope, killed by the blade of a magic sword. Hope is also recurring in God of War, being what Kratos takes from inside Pandora's box; furthermore, Kratos is also eliminated by a sword blade.
That the guys from Santa Monica Studio took inspiration from the Baldr story to start the story of this new chapter? Yes, it is only hypotheses, so they must be treated as such. What we can say with certainty, however, is that God of War truly promises the best and we can only be pleased to have confirmation of this. For new news, insights and speculations related to the world of video games and more, stay connected here on Resources4Gaming.
