God of War Laufey’s reveal last week certainly got plenty of fans excited. However, some have taken to criticizing the inclusion of the gelatinous cube, Phranque, with complaints largely revolving around the tone of the cube’s writing. Director Ariel Lawrence has revealed in an interview that the inclusion of Phranque was actually Cory Barlog’s decision, and that the cube’s presence opens up “super cool” combat, traversal, and puzzle-solving mechanics for the development team.
Speaking to FlowGames, Lawrence spoke about how Phranque, along with the talking ribbon on Faye’s sword, Rue, were important in God of War Laufey not only when it comes to story elements, but for gameplay too. Phranque in particular was a major source of excitement for the team at Santa Monica Studio.
“Both Phranque and Rue are really important, both in combat assists as supplemental to Faye, but also in traversal and puzzle solving, and just the utility of both of them and what they can do in the shapes that they’re in,” Lawrence said. “So, for Phranque, as a cosmic jelly cube, how we may use him in certain parts of the world has definitely been exciting for the team just in terms of design work for us.”
Interestingly, she also revealed that Phranque was part of the concept for God of War Laufey from before Lawrence was even part of its development team. She noted that Phranque was “one of the very first things” made for the title by Cory Barlog, and that he is a core part of the game’s overall story. Lawrence found it exciting to work with the character since she saw it as a way to see how far human connection could go when the subject of this connection is just a talking cube.
“When I came back to the team, the two characters that actually were started from with Cory were both Faye and Phranque,” Lawrence explained. “Phranque was one of the very first things he’s always been a part of this story in the Everywhen. And I think just that possibility of taking something that feels kind of inanimate and not a person, and really seeing how we could drive connection and story and make you feel about a cube.”
“I think that was just an interesting challenge and pitch, and Cory and I were talking about it. I was like, ‘That’s really exciting. That’s something different.’ And I think that at the heart of it, too, it’s just the surprise factor of it that was just so exciting for the team. And where we could go with that mechanically has also been super cool.”
God of War Laufey was unveiled during Sony’s recent State of Play showcase, and is being developed exclusively for PS5. Santa Monica Studio hasn’t yet confirmed release window for the title. Rumors, however, have indicated that its release “isn’t years away”.
As for the future of the franchise, Santa Monica Studio has said that it still has many more stories to tell involving Kratos. For now, however, the team is excited to explore the concept of “the afterlife of the gods” with Faye as the main character.