Many have spoken about their connection to 2018’s God Of War, especially those among us who are parents. but it started at the very top. Cory Barlog and a large number of his team leveraged their status as parents to connect with, and further refine the arc between God Of War‘s two primary characters, but Eric Williams, the Game Director, has a different perspective, and in an interview with GameInformer he has shared how the position he is in, drove a different narrative focus for God Of War Ragnarok.
When asked about his personal inspirations for God Of War Ragnarok, and how they may have strayed from those of his predecessor, Williams responded with the following,
I am not as open, heart on my sleeve, into the game as he is. It’s just a different style of going about this. But a lot of our team, specifically the writing staff and whatnot. There were times where I was like, “Okay, I had this happen in my life,” and you wonder if there’s a way to inject that into this character because it seems like that’s what’s missing. That we don’t have any heart in this, so it’s just feeling a little flat. So we had a lot of discussions around those types of things, but I kind of look at it like this. I’m not a father myself, right? So to try to pretend to know exactly how all these feelings would go. It was more like I’ve got to trust the people that are parents for those type of things.
I looked at it from the opposite. I was like, I’m going to dig deep into me being a kid, and I’m going to look at it from Atreus’ point of view because everybody that is currently a parent? That’s hard to let that go because that’s your day every day. You can’t just take a break from being a parent. So I was like, maybe this will work out because I’m in the unique position in that way. So I kind of really push from the Atreus side like, “Okay, like, how is it going to be?”
They’re starting to question things and formulate a world opinion and not always just taking direction from the parents and doing exactly what you’re told. That was the most me part of it. I was always trying to always fight for the Atreus P.O.V. And not just push for Kratos to be talking down to him again all the time. I wanted them to kind of feel like equals.
Williams’ focus has made for the perfect foil to what was established in 2018’s God Of War, and if the reviews are anything to go by, the change of focus has worked out perfectly.
God Of War Ragnarok is available now on PS4, and PS5.
