God of War is, by most accounts, a very good game. Heck, we gave it our highest score, a 10. That’s pretty great, but as our founding review documents explain, a 10 doesn’t mean a game is perfect:

A score of 10 is the highest recommendation we can give. 10s represent ambitious games that succeed in ways few games have, and that we expect will be part of the gaming conversation for some time. These are the “must-plays.” However, this is not a “perfect” score. We’ve never played a perfect game.

What’s holding God of War back from being a perfect game? In our opinion, it’s that series mainstay and new father Kratos completely fails to tell any of those groan-inducing jokes that only dads can tell.

When we had the opportunity to interview the game’s talented voice cast during Tribeca Film Festival in April, we took steps toward correcting this disappointing omission. With the cooperation of Kratos’ voice actor Christopher Judge, we’ve created a mockup of the God of War that could have been. A God of War where Kratos fulfills his fatherly duty to embarrass his son at every turn. A God of War where Atreus probably has his dad muted on Facebook. The perfect God of War that could have been.