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It’s because Kang’s show running mainly prioritises the already developed characters, leaving many characters to feel like they have little to do. The earlier seasons had a constant rotation of new characters coming in and being developed so the cast would remain strong after older characters died.
May 9, 2018 · God Of War creator Cory Barlog talks to GQ about how his ambitions for the game's look and characters, especially Kratos' son Atreus, caused a whole host of problems...
- Kratos and Atreus are in good, familiar hands.
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- God of War: Ragnarok Trailer Screenshots — PlayStation Showcase 2021
By Jonathon Dornbush
Updated: Sep 10, 2021 11:35 pm
Posted: Sep 10, 2021 11:25 pm
God of War 2018 shook up the franchise dramatically - as both 2018's director Cory Barlog and God of War Ragnarok's Director Eric Williams put it, that game tore the house down to its studs, only so they could build it back up again.
That radical reimaging of what Kratos' journey could be is one Barlog directed and shepherded through to its acclaimed launch, and though he had grand plans for the series, as he told us in our God of War spoilercast, he isn't directing Ragnarok. Williams, a veteran of the franchise who has been involved with it in some form or another since 2004 across many of its entries, is now sitting in the director's chair. In speaking with both Barlog and Williams following Ragnarok's first gameplay reveal, though, it's clear not only how integral Williams has been to the entirety of this new era of God of War, and how much he understands the responsibility of leading the charge.
"I've been with the studio a long time, this franchise means everything to me. I've worked on a lot of different games at a lot of different studios, and there were only a few that really felt like they could be home once I was done consulting and wandering around the landscape of video games," Williams told IGN. "It just happened to line up that 2018 was very successful. [Before that], we had a little bit of a rough spot with the studio and this was like, 'We're going to come back, rebuild it strong again, and have a good foundation for the future.
"Either we're really bad for each other or in this instance, we are really good for each other in the sense that we push each other beyond our comfort level," Barlog said.
That push resulted in IGN's Game of the Year winner of 2018, Santa Monica Studio's new God of War. At the time, Barlog spoke at the time of thoughts surrounding the story specifically told in that game, and so I was curious about how he and Williams addressed letting the latter take the reins, and what, if any of Barlog's original intent, was kept in the plans for the sequel now that Barlog was no longer directing.
"There was a lot of discussion in the beginning. A lot of me wanting to understand where his head was at, what was interesting to him," Barlog said. "There are obviously certain things where I'm like, 'Okay, I really want these things. They're laid out in the chronology and the timeline and I have some plans and then some hopes and desires.'"
But Barlog made it clear it wasn't as if he had demands for how Williams' vision needed to play out. He genuinely wanted Williams' take on things, and simply asked him to respect the storytelling that had come before, which of course Barlog had full confidence in him to do.
"It was much more of, 'What are the things that are interesting to you? Where is the true north of where you want to go? And then in doing so, if you choose to not want to do any of these things [we created], totally awesome. Just don't destroy what those things are. Either ignore them, move around them, but keep them somewhat in place so that we can build this larger latticework of what everything is.'"
And for Barlog, once he understood where Williams wanted to take things, and how it was built from a similar shared interest in exploring the emotional, relatable core of this story, he felt confident in what the future held.
"[When Eric landed on] 'This is what you're going to feel, and this is the conflict that exists between these two characters, but the details and the specifics of all of that are not known.' In my mind, [those specifics] didn't really matter because they're all driven by the engine of that idea. And [his take] was so solid that I was like, 'All right. Yeah, we're good. I have nothing left to teach you Padawan.' So then I just sort of took a nap for about two years."
Williams further elaborated on how, as he was trying to discover his in and what interested him most about taking on this sequel, he held onto a piece of advice Barlog gave him.
"One of [Cory's] best pieces of advice early on about this was, 'You've got to find your way in. If you can't, then we have to have a different discussion,'" Williams said. "I was already a little, 'Oh shit, this is scaring me a little bit.' But it's when you're uncomfortable, that's when you can do your best stuff because you're ready to grow. Finding the way in was tough. Once I jettisoned what I thought people wanted it to be, it was like, 'Okay, well what do I think is right for it?'"
"There's something that happens in boxing a lot. You'll have this very, very skilled young boxer and his father is his trainer, his coach, his manager, his everything. And it gets to a point where the kid is so good that it's time to go pro, right? That's where the promoters and all this stuff starts to come in and wants to pull him this way, and the dad's like, 'Stay with me. We'll do this right, you'll be champ forever. You go over there, they're going to send you to the wolves, you're going to get knocked out,'" Williams explained.
"And Kratos has this mindset. It's like, 'There'll be a time for this, but now is not the time. We don't need to go pick a fight. Let's just grow and be together and have this time.' But the kid, being young, wants to go, right? That young boxer wants to get out there, wants his title shot."
So what Williams is after with this new chapter in their story, is understanding, exploring, and giving validation to both those perspectives, and hopefully offering players something to connect with in turn.
"That's the good thing about the creative process and having somebody you can bounce off and be very fast with."
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"Atreus' got two names. He's already split by default, right? And I think those are really interesting things as you start to grow because, I'm sure as you remember, you get to a certain age in high school and it's like, 'Do I want to be this person? Or do I want to? Do I want to try on this personality this year?' You don't know who you are yet," Williams explained.
Feb 20, 2024 · In a new interview, Cory Barlog, the studio’s creative lead and director of the 2018 game, shared two compelling — and surprising — reasons for the decision.
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