Note: Major spoiler for God of War Ragnarok ahead
God of War director Eric Williams revealed that Cory Barlog gave him a list of three things that had to happen in the God of War (2018) sequel. Speaking on IGN’s Podcast Beyond, Willians was asked when he knew about God of War Ragnarok and how they decided to split the Norse Saga for the God of War series into two games instead of three. Barlog reportedly pushed for the saga to only be two games long and when this was finalized notified Williams of the three things that “had to happen” in the sequel.
The first rule from Barlog was that Ragnarok had to happen. This seems obvious considering the whole game is about Ragnarok but interestingly enough this is notable as despite it being very early on in the game’s development the team knew that Ragnarok had to occur despite how much Kratos and Atreus ventured to stop it.
Secondly, Barlog noted that “the kid’s got to leave” in relation to Atreus. Kratos and Atreus getting independence from each other is one of the core themes of God of War Ragnarok and the decision to have them both part ways while one goes in search of the giants was a core element of the game’s story from the beginning.
Finally, the third rule was that Brok had to die. Williams noted that Brok was considered “the family dog” in the game. While he doesn’t expand on this he says that Barlog and himself had talked about the plot point “a long time ago” and that it needed to happen.
Apart from these three necessities Williams and the team at Santa Monica Studios were free to tackle the rest of the game as they saw fit with Williams occasionally checking in with Barlog to let them know what they were up to.
It’s safe to say that Santa Monica Studios and Williams got the rest of the story pretty right with God of War Ragnarok receiving amazing reviews all around and becoming the fastest-selling first-party launch title in PlayStation history. The question now is, where do they go next? God of War Ragnarok recently received its update 2.04 which helped fix a number of small bugs in the game so now is the perfect time for anyone interested to give the title a go before the holiday season.
Source: IGN Podcast Beyond
