God of War Director Talks About the Similarities Between Atreus and Kratos

One of the biggest changes in God of War is the introduction of Atreus, the son of Kratos. While the child isn’t a mirror image of his father, he does have quite a bit in common. Director Cory Barlog recently talked about why Atreus shows some of the anger that Kratos is known for, and it comes from his own experience as a father.

“That is such a weird splash of cold water to the face of a new parent, when you see the worst parts of you coming out in your kid,” revealed Barlog to the PlayStation Blog. “Oh, man. That just takes my breath away. I’m super neurotic, right? Sometimes I have a tremendously difficult time with patience. I’m probably a giant pain in the ass to work with…. I’m demanding at times, and very focused, and at times closed off. And I see that in my son, and it breaks my heart. And these are very minor things when you compare who Kratos is, and when he starts seeing the roots of what ruined his life manifesting in his kid. And he doesn’t understand or know how to fix that! Because none of us do. I don’t know how to fix that!”

If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out our God of War preview of the opening hours:

The other big change is that Kratos has a son named Atreus who is central to both gameplay and the story. I didn’t realize it early on, but Atreus is actually the most interesting part of combat encounters. Not only could I command him to shoot arrows at enemies (causing a stun) by pressing the square button, but with careful positioning he could be used to draw the attention of dangerous foes. Since he doesn’t have a life bar to worry about, using your son as a diversion is a hugely beneficial tactic (especially in boss fights).

God of War isn’t just Santa Monica Studio doing something different for the sake of variety (although the series did clearly need a shake up after how dull Ascension seemed). Everything from its gameplay to storytelling has been changed for the better. By doing so, Sony has given one of its biggest franchises new life.

God of War is slated to release on April 20, 2018 exclusively for PlayStation 4.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]