With God of War's release date fast approaching, fans of Sony and Santa Monica Studio's action-adventure epic are understandably clamoring for as much information as possible about the forthcoming title as they can handle. Now, in order to provide even more details for the game, a fresh video has been released that features director Cory Barlog extrapolating on the project's lore, providing a richer context for the story to come.

As seen below in Sony's "Behind the Myths" interview, Barlog delves into the new perspective that the forthcoming God of War will take insofar as its mythology, notions of family, and game mechanics are concerned. As one might expect, in order to solidify Santa Monica Studio's effort to bring its mythological inspirations to life, there was a lot of research required of the development team when it comes to the title's roots in Norse folklore and the game's Nordic environments. For instance, Barlog mentions how the writing team used the Prose Eddas for source material in terms of the tales, languages, and symbols incorporated, and he discusses the art team's trek to Iceland to examine the territory as a basis of ideas for the game's settings.

In addition to the exploration of God of War's mythology, Barlog provides a closer look at some of the weapons, artifacts, and runes that players will encounter in the game, with one black rune stone in particular having a key role in the title as a story point. What's more is that the director touches on the journal belonging to Atreus – that is, Kratos' son. Interestingly enough, Santa Monica Studio seems to have decided to use the journal as a way to "link all of [the] UI together" and also provide an "insight into Atreus . . . because it's in his voice."

As far as Kratos' characteristics in the new God of War are concerned, Barlog also mentions how the father-son relationship is a "core" element to the Ghost of Sparta's growth and "desire to change." Interestingly enough, this dynamic seems to have come by way of inspiration from the director's real life, as Barlog states, "I had my son, and there was a shift in me that I want to actually be a better person in some ways. A bit more patient . . . and it's a constant struggle, a journey – just like the journey that [Kratos] has."

All things considered, God of War definitely looks to be a thrilling departure from the previous games in more ways than one, with the forthcoming sequel set to glean certain narrative elements from prior entries as foundational building blocks to offer more nuance and depth for Kratos as a character. Without a doubt, these and myriad other reasons have easily made God of War one of the most highly anticipated video games of 2018.

God of War is set to launch on April 20, 2018 for PlayStation 4.

Source: PlayStation – YouTube (via WWG)