2018’s God of War proved to be a critical and commercial success in its reinvention of the series. With major changes to the gameplay and tone, it created a far different beast than just about anyone expected. It also left a lot of questions, particularly in the gap period between this game and God of War 3. But Director Cory Barlog is keen on filling in that gap, particularly one moment that is a driving force behind the new game’s narrative.
In an interview with PlayStation Access, which you can see below, Barlog talks a lot about the game. When talking about exploring the time before the 2018 game’s events, he says he really hope to explore when Kratos meets his wife, Faye. She dies shortly before the events of the game and, while having a huge impact on the narrative in several ways, remains a phantom by and large (we never even see what she looks like).
“The story of Faye and Kratos meeting- there’s less weight [to it] when you don’t know anything that’s coming ahead,” said Barlog. “Meeting her needs to actually feel like something that you already know, so there’s a greater weight behind who she is. She’s got a mythology that’s built up, so that first meeting and the period of time that they spend together- so much of it is not about fighting or action.”
“They’re both warriors who have reached a point in their lives where they don’t want to fight anymore because they both see through the reasons why they’ve been fighting,” he continued. “Meeting at that time and at that exact moment when both of them are willing to set their weapons down fundamentally changes both of them.”
Those who have finished the game know that who Faye was may not be as simple as we are led to believe, and though Barlog doesn’t say when or how we will actually see this, he hopes they will be able to do it at some point in the future.
“I hope- I don’t know how we’re going to tell this or when we’re going to tell this, but I really want to tell that story of Faye and Kratos,” he said.
The series has had prequel spin-offs in the past, so there’s lot of avenues to potentially explore as the series continues forward, even if we never see this meeting in the inevitable (chronological) sequels. If you’re curious about more behind the scenes musings of the game, check out the official series podcast about the game’s development, which you can read about through here.
