David Jaffe, the creator of the God of War franchise, is clearly not happy with the treatment of Kratos in the new games. Be careful, his comments will surely create debate.
You’re no doubt familiar with the God of War franchise. It’s hard not to have heard of it, even if only by name. The death of the gods, the fury of a man with big red tattoos, Greek and Nordic mythology, a touching father/son relationship, in short, this license has been talked about in many different ways. But do you know who David Jaffe is? In fact, he’s the creator of the game series, and he has two words to say about what became of Kratos in the reboot.
Kratos from God of War Ragnarok, a bad idea for David Jaffe
Yes, we’re not talking about just anyone. Our man shook up the video game sphere in 2005 by bringing us the adventures of Kratos in Greek mythology. Since 2018, the torch has been passed to a new team which has put together a reboot. This time, there is no question of dealing with a main character driven by revenge. The god of war has calmed down, has had a child, and intends to take his role as a father seriously. However, that doesn’t stop him from expressing his rage from time to time.
Obviously, we are far from the impulsive young Kratos of the early days of the franchise. And David Jaffe has a little trouble digesting that, even if he no longer works on GOW games. He explained this in particular on his podcast, and his target is not specifically the opus released in 2018. He has a problem with its sequel, God of War Ragnarok. For him, Kratos’ treatment is not good, he has become smooth, too mature. In his eyes, there was a sudden change in direction, and originally the series was built around a violent hack-and-slash, which was not accompanied by a complex storyline.
If you’re going to build a new IP or you’re going to build a character in God of War lore and that character is dealing with the issues that you, who have aged, and the girls at the studio faced, that’s wonderful . Do this all day. But don’t take the character of Kratos, or Indiana Jones, to say “you know what, […] I’m older now and I’m really into family and I want to tell stories about fathers and sons and God.”
Very mixed reactions
It goes without saying that his comments were not welcomed with open arms by the community, far from it. “This is precisely what shows good development and not just an angry guy 24/7”. “It follows a logical evolution, however”. “It’s so much better now, so much more polished”, we can read in particular on social networks. There will always be people who agree, but we know these debates, they have been there since 2018.
Regardless, what’s in store for God of War in the future? Already, for now, we have a free Valhalla DLC to get our teeth into. It was launched on December 12, and its content is rather massive, especially for an extension offered by the studio. Looking ahead, Orion Walker, senior writer at Sony Santa Monica, hinted that God of War’s overall story will continue beyond this new free addition. “ Do you really think the credits are the end of the story? Come on… Come on, now “. Well, we’re a little unclear, but the idea is there. The license will still tell us great stories.
We can’t wait to see what happens, but in the meantime, trials lie dormant in the kingdom of Valhalla.