After just two games, God of War: Ragnarok is concluding the Norse story. In an interview, God of War's director Cory Barlog explains the decision to wrap the story up in God of War: Ragnarok.
Since Ragnarok's showing at PlayStation Showcase 2021, fans have been speculating about all the new content that was shown and discussed. From the litany of new characters, to glimpses at the new locations, and teases of potential conflicts, there are a variety of threads here waiting to be analyzed. No thread is larger though than the bombshell that God of War: Ragnarok will end the Norse saga, which was delivered by the game's director Eric Williams following the PlayStation Showcase. Naturally, this has sparked questions about just where the game's narrative is going, and why this part of the story is being told in two parts instead of a trilogy.
Cory Barlog, in an interview with Kaptain Kuba, explains the decision to end the Norse saga with God of War: Ragnarok. When asked why they are ending this story after two games, Barlog responds saying, "I think one of the most important reasons is the first game took five years. The second game, I don't know how long it's going to take but I'm just going to throw out that it's going to take a close to a similar time." With this figure in mind, Barlog conjectures that if this story was told across three games, that would mean 15 years of this single story, and for Barlog that is just way too long. To the dismay and entertainment of fans, Barlog has been cryptic with information about Ragnarok in the past, so the directness of his answer here is a nice change of pace.
Following his initial response, Barlog elaborates on the decision, speaking about the intent of God of War's story, and the state of his team. After figuring out what Eric's vision for the game was, Barlog recalls his thought process saying, "Look I think we can actually do this in the second story because most of what we were trying to do from the beginning was to tell something about Kratos and Atreus, that the core of the story's engine is really the relationship between these two characters." Rather than spread out this personal story between Kratos and Atreus across three games, Barlog thought it could be done in two.
It is a bold decision by Barlog, Williams, and the team at Santa Monica, but it seems like one that was considered very heavily before being put into motion. To recognize and restrain themselves from needlessly extending the story takes a lot of experience and passion towards the story that is trying to be told. Ragnarok may truly be the end for Kratos, but if it happens, take heart knowing that it was the story Santa Monica wanted to tell.
God of War: Ragnarok is set to release in 2022 for PS4 and PS5.