The new God of War has Kratos going up against Thor and Odin from Norse mythology, but a recent interview with the developer reveals that wasn’t always the plan.

Sony has given PS4 owners a lot to be excited about with its E3 announcements, as it revealed trailers for some new games such as Batman VR and Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, but as promising as these new games look, many are excited for the return of some classic franchises. The remaster of Crash Bandicoot has been getting a lot of buzz, but even more anticipated is the return of Kratos with the new God of War.

The God of War series contains action adventure games that originally came out on the PS2, and quickly became one of the console’s most popular franchises. It has been confirmed that this installment of the series, which has traditionally been loosely based on Greek mythology, will now have players going up against the Norse pantheon of gods.

But having Kratos move from Greece to Norse mythology wasn’t always the plan, as creative director Cory Barlog recently stated that the new God of War almost took place in the hot deserts of Egypt rather than the frost bitten mountains of Scandinavia. Barlog spoke about the debate between the two settings, saying:

"Egyptian mythology was the other one and half the team was way into that... as I looked at both of those, Egyptian mythology is about the pharaohs as embodiments of the gods... there's a lot more about civilisation… I think at this time, we really wanted to focus on Kratos. Having too much around distracts from that central theme of a stranger in a strange land."

Using the setting to draw the focus of the story onto Kratos seems to be in line with what we’ve seen of the game so far. The recent gameplay trailer showed audiences a Kratos who is very different from the one that was last seen in God of War 3. Kratos looks older, sporting a thick Paul Bunyon beard and is now caring for a son. It should come as no surprise that this game will be more of a character study of Kratos, who definitely has daddy issues, and the relationship with his son.

It is interesting to see how this shift in narrative focus will change the feel of the games. In previous games, Kratos’ motivation of revenge is fun but a bit one dimensional. Audiences haven’t yet seen how Kratos will deal with having to care about someone else. Either way there’s going to be plenty of bloodshed.

Would Egypt have been a better setting for God of War? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

God of War currently does not have a release date, but will be available exclusively for PS4.

Source: Eurogamer