Though it takes place in the same world as the 2018 God of War reboot, and God of War Ragnarök, God of War Laufey surprisingly borrows some of the most defining characteristics of the original trilogy.
Developer Sony Santa Monica set out to create a game that combines the character-driven storytelling, and narrative focus of the Norse era with the acrobatic, stylish gameplay of the Greek era.
The developer touched on a few of its goals with the upcoming action game in a blog post shortly after the reveal, and it gives us an insight into what the team considers the broader pillars of the series.
Watch on YouTube
It’s clear from watching the extended gameplay demo that Faye plays completely different to Kratos. To anyone familiar with the Norse era of God of War, that was particularly surprising; this may be in the same engine, but we’re not working with the same systems, here. After snatching the sword from the corpse of a long-dead warrior, one of the first actions we see her perform is a dodge-counter. Her animations, and the rhythm with which she engages her enemies, are already faster than the majority of combat moves in the Norse era.
Immediately afterwards, Faye slides into an air juggle, a move which harkens back to the Greek era. As the footage goes on, we see her combo grapples into air juggles into ground slams. If you squint, it looks like a lighter version of Devil May Cry, which incidentally was a big inspiration for the classic trilogy. Compare that to the Norse era combat’s Souls inspirations, and the contrast becomes clear.
Image credit: Sony Santa Monica, PlayStation.
“One of our top priorities throughout the development has been handcrafting a uniquely fresh feel for Faye’s gameplay that will also meet the high expectations fans have for the series,” the developer explained in the blog.
While the camera may not appear to be as pulled back as you might expect from a game with that cadence of action, it does zoom out on occasion – especially when the character is airborne, and when performing certain attacks. Faye’s smaller stature compared to Kratos also helps with readability.
That fluidity in movement is clearly intentional, with the developer outright admitting to “injecting some old school, classic DNA of the Greek era” into how combat works in the new game.
From what we’ve been able to see, the focus on ramping up the speed, and responsiveness of combat hasn’t come at the expense of how chunky, and hard-hitting animations are. This is especially visible early on in sword combos, as well as when Faye uses her Jötunheim golden palm.
Image credit: Sony Santa Monica, PlayStation.
One of the earliest, and loudest, criticisms the God of War reboot received from long-time fans, was how different its combat felt from what they’ve come to expect from the series. Slowing down the action, and creating a new rhythm was a deliberate choice on the part of Sony Santa Monica, but many wanted a version of the classic action built with the new tech.
God of War Laufey looks to be promising to deliver just that, and it’s as welcome as the return of the jump button. Laufey is in development for PS5, but does not have a release date.