Kratos is Out, Faye is In: God of War Laufey Creators Explain Why Kratos' Wife is the New Star

The biggest quality to travel retired of PlayStation's State of Play wasn't conscionable that determination was a caller God of War game, but that Kratos was sitting this 1 retired and his wife, Faye, was taking the starring role. God of War Laufey's crippled manager Ariel Lawrence and Santa Monica Studio originative manager Cory Barlog spoke exclusively to IGN up of the showcase to explicate why.

"We'll ever archer stories astir Kratos, but I deliberation for us, it was conscionable a accidental to speech astir idiosyncratic who was truthful pivotal to the opening and get to cognize them and propulsion beyond into this caller satellite and springiness america immoderate spot to beryllium amazed and spot however things connect. So for us, it's not a departure; it's much of an expansion."

Barlog explained that helium knew mode backmost successful 2018 that Faye was a quality that helium knew helium wanted to explore, and God of War Laufey is the mode to bash it. "The quality to usher america into this benignant of caller satellite is this character, who is specified an anchor to the rebirth of wherever we were going with the franchise."

He points retired that Faye has been cardinal to the caller games, adjacent if she wasn't ever beforehand and center. "She was omnipresent but visually not represented. In 2018 she was a feeling; she was a phantom and a specter but 1 whose tendrils stretched retired done the entirety of the narrative, and it gave her this absorbing consciousness of powerfulness wrong of it. It was like, man, it would beryllium truthful absorbing to spot who she was before, but it besides would beryllium absorbing to spot however things proceed forward."

It's wide excessively successful the footage shown, which represents the archetypal 20 minutes of the game, and successful the discussions with Lawrence and Barlog, that Faye is conscionable arsenic brutal arsenic her hubby erstwhile it comes to combat.

"Kratos is similar a ceramic wall, and he's a small stoic, but it's conscionable that his brutality is different," said Lawrence. "How bash we amusement idiosyncratic who's his adjacent arsenic she is? So erstwhile we looked, we got to deliberation astir each the [Santa Monica] games. The Greek epoch had an power connected Faye. The Norse epoch has an power connected Faye. So going to our much agile combat roots but besides retaining our companions, our gritty person combat. How bash those wed unneurotic and past marque thing that's uniquely Faye-feeling portion inactive being a Santa Monica game?"

There's nary merchandise day for the crippled conscionable yet, but you tin find retired much successful the afloat interrogation with Lawrence and Barlog connected IGN.

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development astatine IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a nonrecreational nerd since 2006 erstwhile she got her commencement connected Official PlayStation Magazine successful the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, fearfulness movies, fearfulness games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.