God of War on PS4 promises to be a major departure from series norms so far- the game is ditching its fixed camera angle and funneled combat, and going for a more exploration based approach this time around, while series protagonist Kratos too is no longer a bag of rage fueled testosterone, and instead seems to be almost contemplative and introspective.
But just because the game has changed its camera angle and approach doesn’t mean that it will lose the focus on satisfying combat that the series is known for- as a matter of fact, speaking on Twitter, God of War director Cory Barlog said that the combat in the game is going to be ‘satisfying as hell.’ He did note, however, that the combat systems were still under heavy development for now. He also noted that combo customization would be a cool idea in response to a fan’s suggestion, though there is probably no deeper meaning to that.
But the game won’t just be about combat- in fact, that is one of the biggest changes this time around. In the past Barlog has confirmed that mini-games won’t be returning. However this time around he explained further on this by stating that they were getting ‘tired’ by them, and that they are working on something which will be much better. He also emphasized that in spite of Kratos’ son always being there with you through the game, you only play as Kratos, though you do get to control when your son attacks in combat sometimes.
In spite of all these changes, however, God of War is not going to forget its roots, with Barlog teasing that the new game may see callbacks to the original series, especially via Kratos’ family- Deimos, Zeus, Callisto, Ares, and Athena may be brought up in the game in some way or the other. Finally, Barlog expressed hope that the game, which is apparently now in a ‘painful’ stage of development, will melt even the hardest of hearts when people play it. Maybe he is referring to the father-son relationship that game is apparently trying to portray?
God of War is set to launch exclusively on the PlayStation 4. As of right now, it does not have a release date.