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(Image: SONY)

At E3 2016, PlayStation revealed their biggest PS4 secret; a sequel-come-reboot of God of War, with a trailer which nearly took the roof off with wild cheers in the Shrine Auditorium where the conference was held.

Fast forward 12 months to E3 2017 and God of War was back, looking bigger, better and more fleshed out than ever.

But the new trailer wasn't just more bombastic, it also provided some real depth to the wider story and this new Norse setting, be it giant serpents, Kratos haunting past or the strained father son relationship between the angry anti-hero and his son, Atreus.

However, with Sony not planning to release the game until early 2018, fans still have quite a few questions about this series bold new direction.

What prompted the change in camera angle? How will the boy play his part in the game? What still makes this a God of War with so many changes?

Thankfully, we've been able to revisit the game in the company of God of War's Director Cory Barlog, who as many might know, returned to helm the project at Sony Santa Monica - having left the studio in 2007 following the release of God of War 2 on the PS2.

The time in between allowed Barlog to stop over at Crystal Dynamics to help direct the cinematics for the new Tomb Raider, before eventually returning to forge his brave new adventure for the once Ghost of Sparta.

In our conversation, Barlog delves into how he pitched this interesting new direction for the character, changing gameplay mechanics, picking apart Norse mythology and his plans for the series and character beyond the 2018 release.

You left after God of War 2 and you returned in 2013 for this big new chapter in Kratos life. What drew you back?

It’s funny because Kratos goes on this journey leaving Greece at the end of God of War 3 and he kind of ends up wandering the earth for an as yet undetermined amount of time that we’re not telling anybody. I kind of feel like I kind of went through that a bit. Coming back, Kratos is arriving in this new place and I think that I too had reached a point where I think I was ready to take on something bigger.Rebooting the series, how did that elevator pitch go exactly with Sony?Initially, when I came back I said look we need to fundamentally shake things up. I think a lot of work needs to go into evolving the game, things need to change, we need to move this forward.When I was doing that with the team, we examined a lot of different avenues, I had thrown the idea of Kratos having a son early on and I think when it came down to it, every other idea seemed to be orbiting around that singular idea.

Finally, I just kind of said all right you know what, I think this is the one, want to push forward with, so I started telling other people about it.And how did they react?I got very strange reactions from team members at first. The elevator pitch was Kratos has a son. It was literally just that. Then I had to explore what that meant and all the little light bulbs started to turn on. Like, what kind of father would he be?

From a narrative point of view, what is Atreus bringing to the game?

Well, for one thing, Atreusknows multiple languages in the game and for me that one aspect helped highlight the idea of a stranger in a strange land.

Kratos has escaped a little bit of his past, but he is in this alien world and this kid is actually a necessity for him. He can’t understand some of the things people are saying, he can’t read writing on the wall, so to complete the goal they’ve set out to do, Kratos needs his son, just as much as his son needs him.

It's this symbiotic relationship and Atreus is the human side Kratos lost so long ago. On the other hand, Kratos is teaching him how to be a god, because to him being a god is this horrible disease so he’s trying to prepare him for what Kratos believes will be a life of misery.

So is Kratos still an anti-hero within this game, is he still trying to work against the gods?

I think he’ll never trust the gods, gods of any pantheon or any region anywhere, that’s never going to change. He also has an inherent distrust of everyone. I think he’ll never lose that idea that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

What's changed is that I think now Kratos has realised that everything he has done in the past hasn’t worked. His vengeance and blaming of others and saying 'other people did this to me'; now he's realised that’s not going to change him, so he needs to change himself.

In terms of Atreus, how does he impact gameplay without the game becoming one long protect mission?

First thing to know is there’s this game called Dead to Rights. In it, this guy has a dog which he can send out to do things, it’s like a projectile weapon. To me, that game mastered the ability to have a game with a companion which is never a burden. The dogs always an active participant and you enter into a risk reward system when you send him out. Whether that's to distract someone or grab their weapon.

In this game, you enter into similar situations and you are actively saying I’m entering into a risk reward scenario. We talked to a bunch of other studios who’d done this and some cautioned us against it. But we’ve established some core set of rules like, you don’t want this kid to be a burden, you don’t want him to be the reason you die, you don’t want him to steal your kills. Everything he does is helping you but not taking anything away from you. Player agency is so important.

It leads into the narrative as well, so while you're fighting, they’re talking about tactics, then when it's over the boy will be like so how did I do? And Kratos might be like not good enough, do this and this and this. So the child will process that as he’s not satisfied with me, I’m not strong enough - but it’s just Kratos trying to prepare him.A big theme of the game is Kratos mastering his own rage and the lesson he’s trying to pass onto his son. Don’t just get mad for no reason, use it, channel it, make it into a weapon so you can survive.

The camera angle change. Was that a gradual decision?This has been a very contentious subject for so long. I don’t think we would have made it if it had been gradual. I had to kind of rip the band aid off and say this is what I want and just deal with the months and months of fighting with the team.Finally, the lead combat designer Jason McDonald, who was a fan of having the camera much further back said ‘all right go away, leave me alone for a couple of days I am going to try something, I’ll some tests and I’ll come back to you’

So, we come back after the weekend and he goes, ‘all right, well first of all you are going to laugh because what I chose is very different to what I think you are expecting me to choose’ and then he explained he had something quite cool that was even closer than what I was even asking for and I was just like “WINNER!”Then when Jason started talking about it and talking about how nobody was really doing it like this, and he had a bunch of ideas of how we were going to be able to make it work, it was an exciting challenge.

From what we’ve seen so far, the axe also seems to be a focal point for a game, a character in itself, was that intentional?It was intentional, right from the beginning. There’s a lot of history, a lot which we haven’t told everybody and will be told throughout the game.

It is more than just a weapon, it is absolutely a piece of history that connects directly to them and connects to the rest of the world as well. It’s definitely important.

When you’re piecing this story together, how did you conclude we’ll have these bits of Norse mythology and not these bits - especially when it’s so dense?

The thing with Norse mythology is that there’s so much great stuff and so much bonkers stuff. In the research, we opted for things that spoke to us, elements we knew we could have a take on.

Even if it was a single line that referenced a small part of Norse. We have some parts which are actually based on one single sentence. Some of the characters are chosen in the same way. Like this persons one character trait is so fascinating we should really focus on that.

God of War (PS4)

God of War (PS4)

Looking at everything, you’ve changed the camera angle, Kratos is drastically different, combat has evolved, you’ve got the son thrown in too. So what is it about the game, in your mind, that still makes it a God of War game?

It’s interesting because, when you look at it, is Zelda Breath of the Wild still Zelda? Am I still Corey because I am different from when I was in high school? I think change is often regarded as bad because it’s difficult. That’s what’s interesting about the new story too, the change for Kratos is not easy, it is going to be a long road. But he is going to still be a lot of who he is for a long time and elements of the new start to bleed in.To me I don’t see it as throwing anything away. I don’t see it as totally fundamentally changing anything.

A lot of people said ‘Kratos story is done you should just get rid of him’ and I am like really? Because a lot of people talk about Mario and Link and has anybody seen a Zelda game and said Link’s story is done?

Even when the character is fundamentally different?

For me, I think it’s interesting to take this guy who is dark and very much the iconic representation of the anti-hero and then in some ways treat it like okay what would it be like if he wanted to change.

How difficult would it be for him just to have a moment, a single moment in which he went like there I can feel something.The example I would give is Wilson Fisk, in Daredevil season one. Now, King Pin is not a character you would think, if he had relationship troubles I’d be bummed for him. But honestly, when I watched season one of Daredevil I felt for Fisk. I related to him a little bit. Obviously, they make him really dark in the end and it’s really bad where he goes, but that sort of interpretation, there is some vulnerability there that is just unheard of for the character.Again, some people will say ‘oh you’ve changed King Pin’ but it’s like no man human beings are complicated, very complicated and nobody is ever just one thing.

The way you talk about Kratos now, it’s like the beginning of something. And clearly, the work that’s gone into this game, to create such a bold new chapter for the character, presumably this can't be a one-shot deal for you and the game?

For me, I am just trying to get this game done.

But I will say that when I chose this story, I had chosen it because I already outlined and mapped out stories for multiple games.

I have an arc in my head that goes well beyond this game and everything that we are doing in God of War, to me, is very much building towards that.

Like you see the second God of War game and it ends with Kratos going up to Olympus. Everybody said that it was the stupidest decision like why are you doing this, nobody wants a cliffhanger ending.

But I was like, whatever, this is awesome. This is telling people more to come, this is great.

And with this game, I think people know that we’re going to be here for a while.

Me personally, I know I’ve got a couple more of these in me.