The new God of War is the first appearance of Kratos in a while. After fleeing Greece, the Ghost of Sparta has been spending his time in a foreign land, living in the wilderness and growing a beard that ZZ Top would admire. For those who were wondering what he looks like under all that hair, the devs over at Santa Monica Studios have released an image of Kratos without his beard to sate their curiosity.

There's the Kratos we know and love; minus that godawful goatee, of course. Looking at the image, it's easy to see that the developers modeled Kratos very closely to what he looked like in the original God of War trilogy -- and that's a good thing. No one wanted to see the beloved character change too much. Aside from a few minor signs of aging, the beard is the most drastic modification to the character's look. It may have taken a while to warm up to it, but now it's hard to imagine him without it.

As expected, the new God of War has been gathering accolades left and right since it was released last week. Audiences love it, critics love it, and we were no exception. Here at Game Rant, we gave the title a perfect score. An honor we feel is fully merited, and anyone who has played it will agree.

For those who haven't yet explored the Nordic realms and experienced the new God of War, be prepared for around 25 hours playtime for the main story. For all of the side content -- and there is a lot -- plan on nearly doubling that. The game rewards exploration with special items and additional story. To get new players started, we've put together a guide for finding the first two sets of artifacts: the Lost Toys and Faces of Magic.

God of War is now available exclusively for the PlayStation 4.