Williams was adamant, for instance, that a hugging mechanic be placed amid a climactic battle of the 2005 title, where Kratos would have to lend his wife and child health to keep them protected during the fight. It was meant to play out as a manifestation of Kratos’ dreams and nightmares, as players already knew the ultimate tragic fate of his family.
It also planted a seed that Kratos could eventually evolve, though that would be more than a decade in the making.
“It was so metaphorical,” Williams said recently in the offices of Santa Monica Studio. “He was fighting the demons within himself, but he was giving his life to his family. That always stuck with me. That could be a thesis for a change in the character, which we took and ran with.”
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“God of War” (201
and, even more so, “Ragnarök” are examples of games that challenge the player to never set down the controller. Even plot expository moments that explain, for example, Kratos’ fraught relationship with the goddess Freya are delivered with forward momentum.
Barlog says that was the argument he used to persuade David Jaffe, director of the first “God of War,” not to cut the midbattle hugs.
“We were really excited about what we could do in the game,” Barlog says. “We make games. And it’s really neat and fun to do cinematic things, but how can you actually feel like the player has agency?”