Top 7 of the most outstanding titles in the saga developed by Sony Santa Monica Studio: Kratos’ journey is more alive than ever.
Some assumed that the God of War sequel (the 2018 version) would somehow be present at the PlayStation 5 presentation event. Two years after its release, the saga starring Kratos has returned to the front line. With a title that reformulates the gameplay, changes the setting and reinforces the narrative with stories centered on its main characters. All in all, two years is very little time for a product with a very high budget. The Ghost of Sparta will still have to wait for its moment before brandishing its ax again, as it is now Aloy’s turn and his Horizon: Forbidden West. And while God of War looks to the horizon, in FreeGameTips we look back and take stock of everything that has given us so far.
Sony Santa Monica wasn’t always one of Sony’s big studios, but it didn’t take too long to start paying off. The team was founded in 1999 and started working at Kinetica, a project that was launched in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Since then, after carrying out a few support assignments, David Jaffe managed to get the Japanese company to allow him to work on a title of his own that he had in mind for a long time. Years passed and God of War became a reality for PlayStation 2. Its success was such that the sequels have come to the present day.
Every playable system wears out at some point regardless of the quality it treasures. In the case of God of War, with a decade of life and many games on the market, Ascension made it clear that the formula had been almost completely exhausted. For this reason, in Santa Monica they squeezed their heads in order to find a way to continue without the product feeling worn out. The answer was found by Cory Barlog, who, together with his study, developed an idea that had meandered through his mind for a long time. He didn’t get Square Enix’s approval in his time at Crystal Dynamics, as a developer of Tomb Raider, but Sony gave him the opportunity to do so on his return.
The results have spoken for themselves, although have you managed to be crowned among the best in the FreeGameTips Top? Without further ado, let’s look at the results.
7. God of War: Chain of Olympus (PSP, PS2)
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The chains of Olympus are not easily broken, but Kratos is not one to give up. PSP, Sony’s first portable console, did not give up either, facing the Nintendo DS with a different strategy. Sagas like GTA, Final Fantasy or God of War were transferred to this system with products that could have been released on desktop consoles. The task of designing a God of War experience for PSP fell on the shoulders of Ready at Dawn, creators of The Order 1886, who took the baton from Sony Santa Monica and were in charge of developing several titles in the saga. This particular video game served as the basis for Ghost of Sparta, an even more rounded product.
Despite the fact that PSP did not have the power of PlayStation 2, Ready at Dawn managed to transfer all the playable and visual essence to the small Sony laptop. It is true that the adventure lasts a sigh, but the time at the controls with Kratos allows us to enjoy an action game that in those days looked spectacular and was played almost as on a desktop. This original project is a plot prequel to God of War (from the original version), so our protagonist is still in the service of the gods.
6. God of War Ascension (PS3)
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Everything has a beginning and everything has an end. Kratos’ story was completed, then, with the end of the character’s vengeful circle. God of War 3 was the culmination of a plot that had started a long time ago, while Ascension was threading the first story lines, its origin. Paradoxically, Ascension functioned as a conclusion to the saga as we knew it. At this point, the situations that arose in the video game left a certain sense of déjà vu. And it is not because the game did not enjoy impressive moments, but because its gameplay had been squeezed to the maximum in the previous installments, so that the proposal was perceived as too conservative. The departure of God of War from PlayStation 3 also marked the end of the generation. That same year, in 2013, Sony welcomed the PlayStation 4, later with a remastered version of this game and the third chapter.
There was a time when all games had to incorporate a multiplayer mode yes or yes, regardless of the nature of the proposal. At Sony, many were the titles that received this extra. Some passed without pain or glory; Others, like the one in The Last of Us, are still fondly remembered (in fact, Naughty Dog is working on a standalone product for Part 2, though there’s no release date yet). God of War Ascension added a multiplayer for up to eight players that implemented several submodes in which the fighting system characteristic of the saga was combined with other more common elements of successful multiplayer modes.
5. God of War (PS2)
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The development of Twisted Metal Black was complete, so David Jaffe intended to develop a new intellectual property that had been flying over his mind for a while. In response, Sony promised him that would be the case, but first he would have to lend a hand to the team in charge of Kinetica, a futuristic speed game he worked on for a while. Dark Odyssey was the original name of the project, a title that changed just like the name of the protagonist himself, who did not like the marketing team. The department asked the studio to submit proposals, until they finally got the name, the white smoke: Dominus went on to become Kratos.
From a playable point of view, the genre hack and slash was taken as a base. For combat, the developers looked at the great Japanese action video games and established bases that more or less remained unchanged for many years. Sony Santa Monica devised a system of fixed cameras to underline the spectacular nature of the image. Combos, speed, puzzles, QTE and violence were other elements that Kratos has dragged along throughout all the deliveries. As a vengeful god, his intention is to leave Olympus clean of divine beings. Getting it will not be so easy, but by insistence it will not be. Without a doubt, the first God of War put up scaffolding for everything that would come next.
4. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP, PS2)
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Ready at Dawn met with note in its premiere in the saga. With Chain of Olympus, the studio was able to understand the bases of God of War to translate them into a quality product, one of the best of the already classic PSP. Their experience with Sony sagas (they also published Dexter on the same system) allowed them to get even more out of the hardware. God of War: Ghost of Sparta didn’t reinvent the wheel, that’s true. All the elements that we see are present in other products in the series to a greater or lesser extent, which does not mean that it was not a merit that they reached those levels of quality. Visually it is a sublime video game that at the time was surprising to see it move on a portable console; playably, he was not far behind either.
The story lets us see the personal side of Kratos, with a character who continues to be a true mythological monster, but who longs to find his brother Deimos in the underworld. Atlantis, with all its dreamy creatures, returns us to a reality where the character fights endlessly, solves puzzles and undoes the threads of his story. The plot has never been the main point – with the exception of God of War 2018 – but it has always placed an attractive context that helps us to be stunned by the scenes and the film sequences.
3. God of War 2: Divine Retribution (PS2)
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Let’s get apart! Did anyone believe that Kratos had fallen? The God of War may have lost the favor of the rest of the gods, but this being of divine nature is not one of those who surrender when stumbling over a road stone. Stripped of his powers, the warrior raises his weapons against Olympus and sets out on a new path of death and destruction beyond the starry sky. In God of War 2, the address passed to Cory Barlog, although David Jaffe was still on the team (he later said goodbye to Sony Santa Monica). This sequel can be summed up in a few words: more and better. Graphically, it goes one step further than its predecessor, while refining the rest of the sections.
It’s not the kind of project that takes a giant step when it comes to its playable system. From the beginning, the saga has maintained a conservative approach, but much more spectacular. Massive final bosses, puzzles that merge with the scenarios, a progress system that works through artifacts (the orbs), which allows us to improve the skills and weapons of the character. Despite the fact that the Swords of Chaos, the ones that chain him to his destiny, are the main weapon, the character can also get additional ones. In summary, God of War 2 is one of the best titles in the series, so it deserves to be in the Top 3.
2. God of War 3 (PS3)
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If God of War 3 had to be defined in one way, the term “apotheosis” would probably have to be used (a word that conveniently comes from ancient Greek). As the SAR says, in the Classic World it was used to grant the dignity of the gods to the heroes, while in the case of Kratos, who is rather an antihero, his apotheosis is to finish off Zeus, his father. It is the last link of Olympus, the most powerful god, but our protagonist is willing to do anything to perpetrate his revenge. All in all, the word “apotheosis” can not only be used to talk about Kratos, but we extend its use to the game in general.
Everything is maximized in God of War 3. The formula started in that 2005 video game was perfected to the sublime. He was especially impressed by his spectacular audiovisual bill, which showed a Kratos about to achieve absolute power, something that reflects in some clashes against final bosses of madness. Like other video games in the saga, its script was not what stood out the most, although the product as a whole managed to become one of the best action titles of the generation. At FreeGameTips we have doubted its position in this Top, but we were clear that it should be in the first two, whatever happened.
1. God of War 2018 (PS4)
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We have already said that Cory Barlog left Sony Santa Monica for a time in search of new professional challenges. The idea that arose in his mind was to create a sequence video game, something that did not arouse applause from Crystal Dynamics … rather the opposite. Seeing that his ambitions were not going to be met with the Tomb Raider saga, the developer decided to leave the studio and find a place where his vision could come true. The answer was to look back at his past and return to the previous company. “I was already talking to people about new positions at Sony when I realized that [God of War] it was the video game that I could experience this with, ”acknowledged Barlog. Back then, the Kratos saga needed an urgent twist, a general rethink. That being the case, the studio designed a new sequel with a more narrative and character-focused approach. They left classical Greece aside to embrace Norse mythology. After the events narrated in God of War 3, the old God of War runs away from his past, marries and has a son, young Atreus.
The power of PlayStation 4 gave them the opportunity to design a spectacular product visually, something they had always promoted in the rest of the games in the series. However, the change of camera on the shoulder and its refocusing on adventure modified other patterns that had hitherto been immovable. Barlog wanted a slower and more tactical combat system, without causing a loss of identity. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said that players assume that a more leisurely match is synonymous with “boring” or “slow.” However, “we have incredible designers and many of them worked on the first title. Getting ahead and offering this different experience, but at the same time, maintaining that frenetic touch is very difficult to achieve. It took us years, years! ”
God of War is a more introspective work, a game that humanizes its characters and that shows us, almost raw, the fears of characters of divine nature, although with problems similar to human beings. Because yes, in almost all mythologies, the gods share similar emotions with mortals. This installment, with its open-world structure, is one of the best titles of the generation.
