r/GodofWar • u/Jaffaraza • 2d ago
Discussion Is anyone else afraid about the future of this franchise?
Apologising beforehand for the long post.
God of War: Laufey can answer so many questions about the mechanics of this universe. We could finally get a clearer idea of how the different pantheons actually coexist, how Greece links geographically and metaphysically with places like Egypt and the Norse realms, how Kratos ultimately went from wandering through Egypt to ending up in Midgard, and whether Everywhen is connected to whatever “higher existence” Athena reached after her death.
There are so many interesting questions about how all this works. The Greek gods were intrinsically tied to their world in ways the Norse gods seemingly weren't. Poseidon dies and Greece floods. Helios dies and the sun disappears. Yet none of that affects Midgard. And yet when the Aesir die, that cataclysmic shit doesn't happens to the nine realms. So how different and separate are these pantheons really? What are there boundaries between the systems? How much did the gods of one pantheon actually know about the others?
Laufey feels like the perfect game to start answering some of that because Faye is one of the biggest missing pieces of the story we've already been following. She knew far more than Kratos did, understood prophecy, knew what Atreus would become, helped set the events of the Norse saga in motion and somehow planned around her own death. Exploring her story and the Everywhen could actually make the existing saga/lore feel more cohesive. That's why I'm genuinely very excited for this game, and I'm also excited about what comes immediately afterwards.
Kratos has reached such an interesting point in his development. He's such a different man from Chains of Olympus/Ascension to the final cutscene in the Valhalla DLC. Does he actually become the kind of god he didn't believe could exist? Does he eventually receive the admiration shown in the prophecy?
Atreus feels nowhere near finished. He's only just started becoming his own person with some separation from Kratos. He's gone searching for the Giants, his relationship with Angrboda is only beginning, his relationship with Sindri is unresolved, and he's still figuring out what being Loki actually means. There's still plenty of meaningful story left for both of them.
The question I keep coming back to is: how does it end? Because I really hope it does end.
What I don't want is Kratos and Atreus endlessly moving from pantheon to pantheon because there will always be another mythology around the corner. Thousands of mythologies/religions have existed. Santa Monica could theoretically keep doing this forever for as long as it's profitable. That's what worries me.
I don't want to be six games further down the line thinking, “I don't really care what happens next anymore. This story should have ended three games ago.”
The thing that's made the franchise work up until now is the character development. Kratos is the story. Scandinavia or Greece were cool backdrops, but without the characters, these games would have been hollow.
My biggest fear is that God of War eventually becomes something like Assassin's Creed. I cared deeply about Altair and Ezio. There was a narrative backbone connecting those early games. I was invested. Eager to see how the story played out. The historical settings were fascinating, but there was also a larger story developing between installments and some sense that it was going somewhere.
Eventually, for me at least, Assassin's Creed became much more like a historical world tour. Here's Victorian London. Here's Ancient Greece. Here's the Vikings. Here's Baghdad. One protagonist and one setting gets replaced by another, while the overarching narrative becomes increasingly unimportant. Some of those games are still good individually, but I stopped caring about where the franchise itself was going.
I really don't want that to happen to God of War. I don't want to see the series flip from being centered around Kratos/Atreus, to them just being secondary to whatever pantheon or realm they're visiting. I don't want Kratos to explore pantheons indefinitely because he's too commercially valuable to retire, long after his meaningful character development has run its course.
There are probably another few fantastic games worth of story here. There are enormous unresolved questions and lots of potential character development of the core protagonists. I'd love to see that. But then I want an actual conclusion. Kratos doesn't even have to necessarily die. He could just decide to fuck it all off, be a source of wise council for anyone still interested and just, I dunno, learn how to fish better than Faye or something. Or a thousand other possible endings.
Whatever the ending is, I want Santa Monica to eventually be able to say "this is the end of Kratos and Atreus's story."
So I'm in this weird position where I'm probably more excited about the franchise than I've ever been, particularly because Laufey seems capable of answering some massive questions. But I'm also nervous about what happens if the universe becomes too expandable.
Does anyone else have that fear? I just hope Sony and Santa Monica have enough creative restraint to eventually give this story the conclusion it deserves and leave it there.
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u/Demetrius96 2d ago edited 2d ago
To put it plainly god of war ends when Cory runs out of ideas. Before GOW 2018 released he said many times that he has plans for games now, later and way later. So, I definitely think the franchise will have an end but with how things are now it’s far from over. I trust Cory and the team at Santa Monica and with Cory overseeing all the god of war projects I think the franchise is in good hands.
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u/Jamalofsiwa 2d ago
Only thing I worry about it’s how long they keep it going, Judge is 61 and you never know when things change
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u/Actual_Woodpecker56 2d ago
I think the world building is headed in a direction where eventually it will be some mixed world where different mythologies constantly intersect with each other. Like some trashy comic book, really.
The Norse Saga was mostly Norse, but I reckon this will be the last such saga at all (and lets be honest, Norse mythology had a lot more to offer than what they did with it in these two games)
And Atreus? I dont know. He is supposed to be searching for the Giants in other "lands", which again means that whatever mythology/saga his game will be set in, it will carry that Norse baggage with it.
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u/Neither_Internal_261 2d ago
Solid post. IDK why you got downvoted. I honestly haven't thought about it but now that you mention it, yeah I agree. It should have a solid end. Or at least, and end to the arc of Kratos (hot take) if they want to continue with Atreus going forward. They definitely wouldn't be the same games and should be rebranded if they do, like "Son of God of War" or something more clever.
That being said, I'm here for Laufey, wife and mother of Gods! Even though it may be "Wife of God of War" I'm confident that the story and gameplay is going to be absolutely lit and I'm excited to learn more about her! Just think, the wife of Kratos has gotta be a serious badass and it looks like we won't be disappointed.
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u/ledgehillcustom 2d ago
You are right that the overarching narrative of the AC games has collapsed. My take on this is that AC collapsed under its own weight. The number of titles, the insane turn around of a game every year, having 2-4 titles all in production at the same time. When managed properly this kind of franchise strategy is a challenge and Ubi is not winning any awards for good management.
God of War franchise on the other hand is primarily done out of 1 studio preventing situations of creative differences between studios. The release schedule is not as ridged so they won’t be producing as many titles to confuse the audience and the extra time allows for tight QC.
As long as the need for sales doesn’t drive them to push flagship titles in the series to other studios and the development timeline is kept reasonable I feel the series will continue to grow.
Like you I have loved the series from the start, I’m almost 50 so I was lucky enough to play them all as they released. I think making the Norse saga different in setting, camera perspective and the addition of a companion mixed up the formula to make it fresh yet combat and personality still felt authentic to the series. I think Laufey will do a similar thing, the perspective isn’t changing but the combat looks to be evolving to be more acrobatic and seems to incorporate magic more seamlessly than the runic system in the Norse saga. I’m excited to see what’s coming.
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u/GGG100 2d ago
I’m more concerned about the MCU-fication of the series. Why are these ancient gods talking like 21st century Californians? I was hoping that the modern speech quirk gets left behind in the Norse saga, as that seemed like a deliberate choice to contrast them with the more refined Greek gods, but it seems like that kind of writing will persist in Laufey and beyond.
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u/Kratos0289 2d ago
Begtse and Sekhmet were talking like Californians? lol
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u/GGG100 2d ago
Cubie and his little ribbon friend were.
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u/Kratos0289 2d ago
I’m sorry mate but that ship sailed in 2018 when the blue dwarf sounded like South American prospector and no one had a problem with it the reason why they do this is simply down characterisation I don’t know how this equals MCU as that style of dialogue has been done as far back as the 80’s and even then there was barley and humour in that entire trailer it was serious 95% of the way through
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u/MarquerasM 2d ago
We were in the same situation after God of War III; many people thought it was the end of the franchise, but then God of War (2018) came along and breathed new life into the series—all born from the mind of a man named Cory Barlog. So, as long as he is leading the franchise's planning, I feel 100% confident about it.