While it’s no secret that Sony has a few God of War-related projects in the works, including a rumoured 2.5d metroidvania title, screenshots have now emerged of one God of War game that was eventually cancelled. As caught by Mp1st, the title was going to be multiplayer, and was being developed by Bluepoint Games. These screenshots largely just let us see what some of its environments looked like, confirming that it would have taken the franchise back to Greece.
The Ancient Greece setting of the cancelled game is evident from the style of architecture, as well as the vases and pots that can be seen in the screenshots. Along with this, there are also indications that players would have gotten to explore some of the dark ruins dotting the Greek landscape. Other environments shown off include a lake made up of sulphur pools along the side of a mountain, as well as the crumbling ruins set in a densely-forested area.
A few of the screenshots even give us a raw look at some of the 3D assets that were being developed for the project, especially with regards to the lake that would have been found in the volcanic areas with the apparent hot springs, and how these springs would have compared to the player’s own character model in terms of size. Other in-development raw assets confirm some Greek buildings and ruins that don’t have much in the way of finer details added to them, as they were likely taken from earlier during the development.
The report with the screenshots indicates that Hades would have played an important role in the cancelled title’s story, with him being the owner of the sulphur pools zone. What this would have meant for the overarching story of God of War is ultimately unknown, but it is likely that it would have taken place before the events of God of War 3 on PS3, where Hades is fought as a boss fight during Kratos’ rampage against Olympus.
While little in the way of gameplay details has been revealed through these screenshots, one of them did give us a look at what an area would have looked like if it were “cursed”. This curse manifested in the form of a red corrosive effect on the environment, much like how rust shows up on iron. What it would have meant for actual gameplay, however, is ultimately lost thanks to the project’s cancellation.
Bluepoint Games’ mystery project getting cancelled was first confirmed back in January, and came in light of Sony cancelling a host of live-service projects at its studios. Along with Bluepoint Games, SIE Bend Studios also had its project – described as new open world live service IP – cancelled. In a statement after the cancellations, a Sony spokesperson noted that these cancellations would not lead to the closure of any of these studios.
“Bend and Bluepoint are highly accomplished teams who are valued members of the PlayStation Studios family, and we are working closely with each studio to determine what are the next projects,” the spokesperson said at the time.
In the meantime, Bluepoint has seemingly started working on its next project, which has been described through a job listing as being a third-person action game with an emphasis on melee combat.
