God of War Designer Talks Kratos’ Shift In Characterization

Kratos is a brutal, brutal man. He interacts with things by tearing them apart, and that's putting it lightly. Still, at the start of the main series Kratos was characterized as more of a hero–relatively, anyway. There's a scene, for instance, where we see monsters attacking a village and then Kratos goes down to kill those monsters: a 'good' thing to do, right?

By the end of the franchise, he's lost his humanity and has become more of a monster. In the upcoming God of War: Ascension, that characterization is going out the window; they are going back to Kratos as more of a hero. On the subject, lead designer spoke to Gamasutra and explained that:

Kratos in that instance becomes… He's more of a hero; he's doing something heroic. It might be to his own ends, but he's doing something heroic.

And by the end of III, maybe he wasn't — and maybe it was the design that Stig [Asmussen, director] was going for, that he wanted him to feel like more of a monster in the end — but in this game, we don't want him to feel like a monster. We want him to feel like he's more heroic, and what he's doing is more heroic, and something you can relate to.

It's definitely not a response to criticism, but it is a response to the direction. So [God of War: Ascension director] Todd [Papy]'s direction has been to push Kratos in more of a human nature, and that goes across all aspects of the design, and the story, and everything that he does.

And I think it's because he wants to tell a different side to the hero. That might be a reaction to criticism; that might be the story that Todd wants to tell. But I think in the end, I think for a fan of the series, and I think for people who play games in general, I think it's more satisfying as well, because then you have a little bit more you can relate to. It's not so one-dimensional, you know?

I for one wish writers didn't feel the need to make everything 'relatable', just well written. Kratos as more human is boring and not nuanced, it doesn't force me out of my comfort zone! And if players missed the fact that Kratos is a monster in 3, then that's a failing in the writing, isn't it? Granted, given the timeline involved here, I suppose it makes sense that they're showing a more human Kratos.