God of War Ragnarök initially had a different fate for Kratos

There was an early battle that would dramatically change how this story went.

Like virtually every other video game, God of War Ragnarök was quite different in initial drafts – especially with regards to the fate of Kratos.

Before we continue, keep in mind that there’ll be spoilers for God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök. Nothing major, but still!

During an interview with MinnMax, narrative director Matt Sophos revealed that God of War Ragnarök was initially much bleaker (thanks, VGC).

“There was the earliest, earliest draft of an outline that we had come up with, that we took to [director Eric Williams],” Sophos said. “Kratos died in the Thor fight at the very beginning of the game.”

Afterward, Kratos would when up in the underworld for a while – where Atreus would eventually save him. Once Kratos was among the living again, he’d realize that 20 years had passed since his death – yup, there was going to be a good old-fashioned time skip! Ultimately, the development team decided against this route.

“Eric was like, ‘I don’t want to do that, Kratos has died and come back from it too many times, and it’ll feel a little bit too ‘oh, you said he was gonna die and oh, you just killed him but he came right back’,” Sophos continues. “The hook, the emotion, wasn’t really going to be there, and he was absolutely right, and so that’s why it didn’t last very long.”

The decision to go in a different direction seems to have paid off, as God of War Ragnarök took home truckloads of awards.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.