If rumors are to be believed, Sony may soon announce that a remake of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is in development for PS5. While the idea of updating the groundbreaking title makes sense from a commercial perspective, there’s plenty of other games from the publisher’s past that deserve this treatment as well. Santa Monica Studio’s original God of War trilogy arguably stands out the most in its library. Not only would a remake of Kratos’ three main Greek adventures give the studio the opportunity to connect both chapters of the Spartan’s life, it’s also easy to see plenty of other benefits.

Thanks to the release of 2018’s God of War on PC, Santa Monica Studio’s soft-reboot has been thrust back into the spotlight. While aspects like the storytelling, acting, and cinematography of Kratos’ first Norse adventure are all a cut above the original trilogy, a case can be made that the gameplay side has been improved the most dramatically. If Santa Monica Studio was to go back and remake those original games, applying some of its new mechanical expertise, the results could be incredible.

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Kratos’ Hack-and-Slash Past

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At the time of their individual releases, each of Santa Monica Studio’s Greek God of War games were lauded for their gameplay. The original trilogy represents some of the best old-school hack-and-slash combat on the PS2 and PS3. In the years since, the whole action-adventure genre has advanced leaps and bounds from its arcade-y past. Today, titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and NieR: Automata are far more nuanced than their straightforward predecessors. God of War (2018) arguably demonstrates this phenomenon better than most thanks to how it compares.

During the original God of War trilogy, players were often shuffled into confined spaces while forced to cut down hordes of creatures from Greek mythology. While the experience was brutally visceral, after several installments the process took on a formulaic nature. By comparison, even though God of War (2018)’s Kratos remains every bit the brutal fighter he was in his youth, he also has a more refined and calculated style. Common Norse enemies are generally more challenging than their Greek counterparts and force the player to strategize on the fly. It’s no longer about quickly chaining together combos.

Remakes of the original God of War trilogy would allow Santa Monica Studio to take the deeper approach to combat it developed with its soft-reboot. Even though the younger Kratos was fueled by rage, a more strategic approach would still make sense considering his status as a Spartan General. This process wouldn’t necessarily need to throw away all the design philosophies of the past. Today’s Kratos is slower and heavier than his older incarnation because it makes sense from a narrative perspective. Adding the character’s previous jumping prowess and speed to 2018’s core combat mechanics would blend both action-adventure eras well.

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Boss Battle Renaissance

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One of the biggest literal and metaphorical aspects of the original God of War trilogy that defined the era of Kratos’ life was its long list of epic boss battles. To this day, fights with the likes of Poseidon, the Colossus of Rhodes, and Ares remain some of the most memorable. By comparison, 2018’s God of War lacked the same number, scale, and diversity when it came to boss encounters. Revisiting any of the original trilogy’s bosses in a remake would be an incredible spectacle because of how they've decreased in the franchise since. However, 2018’s God of War does demonstrate how these fights could be improved further from a mechanical perspective.

While there’s no denying that each of the original God of War trilogy’s boss battles were memorable fights, a somewhat controversial case could be made that it was the spectacle of fighting huge monsters that made them special - not the actual mechanics. The PS2 and PS3-era games often employed quick-time events (QTE) to amplify fights in ways that regular mechanics simply couldn’t. Today it’s easy to imagine this type of gameplay being criticized as immersion breaking, as games like 2018’s God of War are completely QTE free. Remaking the original games with updated gameplay would likely make each boss battle more involved.

More Leviathan Axe Moments

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When players think about 2018’s God of War, there’s a decent chance one of the first things they picture is Kratos’ Leviathan Axe. Designed to operate like Thor’s iconic hammer Mjolnir, throwing and slashing with the bladed weapon is an intuitive and gratifying experience. While the Norse-themed weapon was eventually joined by Kratos’ returning Blades of Chaos, one of the few criticisms leveled at Santa Monica Studio’s soft-reboot is that there weren’t more weapons to play with. Remakes of the original God of War trilogy wouldn’t have to contend with this issue, and could arguably take things further mechanically.

During Kratos’ Greek youth, the Spartan general employed a diverse arsenal of weapons. Between scythe-shaped tools like the Claws of Hades and the devastating Blade of Olympus, there’s an extensive list of weapons from the past that Santa Monica Studio could update with modernized gameplay mechanics. That’s before factoring in the fact that Kratos once had an array of magic-based attacks that could all receive glow ups like the Leviathan Axe, too. Considering the PS5-era is now partly defined by the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, it’s not unreasonable to imagine God of War remakes having some of the best gameplay on the platform.

Unifying God of War’s Eras

Kratos From The God of War 3 Intro

One of the reasons it’s believed a remake of The Last of Us is coming is that it would give Naughty Dog the opportunity to unify the series’ installments. Considering two console generations separate the original 2005 God of War and 2018’s soft-reboot, remakes of the original trilogy would allow Santa Monica Studio to do the same on a bigger scale. Beyond implementing new mechanics like God of War (2018)’s semi-open world, armor customization, and aforementioned combat improvements, factors like the trilogy's narrative could be updated to reflect the new era, too. Based on Christopher Judge's brilliant performance in the Norse-themed God of War games, it would be great to see the actor tackle Kratos' chaotic origins.

God of War is available on PC and PS4.

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