While God of War features unforgettable set pieces, thrilling combat, and top-notch visuals, its protagonist Kratos is arguably the franchise’s most defining feature. As such, it seems a bit surprising that God of War director Cory Barlog would be willing to make Kratos disappear forever, but it seems like he would only be willing to do so if the situation called for it.
The post is the latest of a number of entertaining posts from the talented video game developer, with Barlog previously detailing his ideas for a Mandalorian game. He also discussed recently how he had “no idea” what he was doing when making God of War 2, a surprising statement given the game’s critical and commercial success. However, despite spending so much time with Kratos and his story, Barlog recently volunteered the Ghost of Sparta to be wiped from history.
Fortunately, the comment was made in good fun, so fans do not need to worry about this being Kratos’ fate in the next game. Barlog made the post in response to a tweet from Game Informer asking fans which PlayStation icon they would take away if they were forced to. Quoting the post, Barlog attaches a gif from the movie Anchorman, with the text reading “I volunteer as tribute.” Unsurprisingly, most of the commenters disagreed with his stance, as many fans of Kratos would be devastated if he faded away forever.
Still, with the three other protagonists coming from incredibly strong franchises, it is easy to understand why Barlog would rather take his own character away as opposed to one from another series. The other characters to choose from are Joel from The Last of Us series, Nathan Drake from the Uncharted franchise, and Aloy from the Horizon games. As one would expect, most players seem to be split as to who they would get rid of if one character had to go.
Fans choosing Joel cite his fate in The Last of Us 2 as their reasoning, while the few Nathan Drake votes seem to have larger issues with the Uncharted series as a whole. Aloy seems to be getting the most votes among fans currently, though, with the machine hunter seemingly being a bit less popular than Joel, Nathan Drake, and Kratos. With the logic being that players like @_joshua_jurado have not spent enough time with her yet, perhaps Horizon Forbidden West's release will see her climbing up players’ PlayStation character tier lists.
While Cory Barlog may have picked Kratos for removal, the director and the rest of Santa Monica Studio will surely still deliver more memorable moments with the God of War protagonist in the future. With Egyptian mythology recently teased as well, Kratos’ adventures could be far from over.
A sequel to God of War is currently in development for PS5.