We have an interesting new rumor about some upcoming PlayStation remasters that you could actually get excited about.
Lunatic Ignus has come forward on Twitter to claim that the God of War Remaster that has been rumored for some time is real. Lunatic Ignus referred to it as the God of War Greek Saga, explaining that this is not the expected title of the game, but that it describes the scope of the remaster. Of course, this game is coming from Nixxes with help from Santa Monica Studio, and it has been ready for some time now. Ignus believes this remaster collection has been lined up for a 2025 release.
So this project will cover God of War 1 and 2 from the PlayStation 2, God of War 3 and God of War: Ascension on the PlayStation 3, and God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghosts of Sparta on the PlayStation Portable.
The God of War games have an indelible and doubtful position in PlayStation and video game industry history. When the first God of War released on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, it set new landmarks in graphics and game combat design. Gamers couldn’t even imagine that there could be a video game this violent, with a presentation so realistic it made the likes of Chiller and Mortal Kombat look puerile by comparison.
At the same time, these games were criticized for its themes and content. There is no dispute on its sexism, but on a deeper level, Sony introduced the idea of making games that deliberately catered to their audience’s appetite for violent spectacle. We don’t play a satirical brute who isn’t mean to be taken seriously, like in Postal. The game’s narrative wants us to identify with Kratos, in the same way that we were to have identified with Scarface, Butch Cassidy, H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man, and so on.
At the time, it was a compelling product, with Sony deliberately courting controversy with the cunning calculation of a b-movie producer or a wrestling promoter. But the medium of video games quickly outgrew God of War and its appeal. Sony would themselves publish the franchise’s apotheosis in The Last Of Us, a sobering reflection on violence and parenthood, made by another Sony studio.
It’s not hard to see why developers Santa Monica Studio realized a soft reboot with 2018’s God of War. Not only did the new generation push the franchise forward in graphics and technical effects, but it also brought the game’s narrative in line with the new normal in AAA titles; adult themes treated with nuance and brought down to a personal level. Vengeance and power fantasy was replaced with trauma and a quest for redemption.
But the same Kratos who raised Atreus is the same Kratos who once killed thousands. The end of God of War Ragnarok Valhalla saw Kratos reflect on his literal older self, and how he could reconcile the monster he had become with the man he was now trying to be.
If this God of War Collection is real, we think Santa Monica Studio will tie it directly to that ending, perhaps creating a bigger metanarrative to show us the real Kratos pondering his past life. Maybe there will be new cutscenes to make that narrative more cohesive, and maybe Laufey will have some harsh words for our favorite bald bearded man.
Santa Monica Studio and Nixxes does face a challenge making such a collection that isn’t technical, as much as it is creative. We do wonder if we will see that as part of this rerelease, to help contextualize everything as a new product old gamers won’t be embarrassed by.
