SCE Santa Monica’s God of War is looking mighty fine on the PlayStation 4. The graphics and epic scale have been maintained, the combat is still intense and combo-rific and there are plenty of twists thrown in with Kratos’ son and this new Norse setting.

Of course, when you consider Kratos’ disposition before and how so many things associated with God of War have changed (the camera, the tone and the associated combat), what exactly makes the upcoming PS4 title part of the series? Daily Star this question to director Cory Balrog and asked what he thought, in his mind, made this a God of War game.

Balrog noted that, “It’s interesting because, when you look at it, is Zelda Breath of the Wild still Zelda? Am I still Corey because I am different from when I was in high school? I think change is often regarded as bad because it’s difficult. That’s what’s interesting about the new story too, the change for Kratos is not easy, it is going to be a long road.

“But he is going to still be a lot of who he is for a long time and elements of the new start to bleed in. To me I don’t see it as throwing anything away. I don’t see it as totally fundamentally changing anything. A lot of people said ‘Kratos story is done you should just get rid of him’ and I am like really? Because a lot of people talk about Mario and Link and has anybody seen a Zelda game and said Link’s story is done?”

Balrog makes an excellent point, especially because Mario and Link have gone through so many different settings, worlds, gameplay changes and whatnot but still retained what made them special. For the most part, despite the changes to the camera, the axe as your main combat tool and the addition of a companion, God of War PS4 still seems to retain that same sense of adventure and high octane action.

There’s no release date for God of War at the moment but it’s apparently out in the first half of 2018 for PS4. Hopefully the upcoming PlayStation Experience in December can shine more light on the matter.

A massive amount of concept art for what appears to be God of War 4 has been leaked by NerdLeaks (with NeoGAF collating most of the images). The art has apparently been created by an unnamed artist who worked on the title at SCE Santa Monica in 2015.

The concept art showcases Kratos but with a beard and apparently uses Norse mythology this time around. Kratos will be visiting Alfheim, the land of Fairies where the Light Elves live and he’ll encounter more than one prison in the game. He’s also seen with an axe for cutting vines and creating bridges while the environment itself can be interacted with (Kratos can brush up against vines, for instance). A cinematic trailer “Gorgon & Hydra” is apparently expected.

If that weren’t enough, insider Shinobi602 teased on Twitter before the leak that God of War 4 would be taking place in a Norse world.

With all the reports and rumours of God of War 4 happening, this recent leak adds even more fuel to the fire. Regardless, what do you think of it all? Let us know in the comments.

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SCE Santa Monica had been teasing something rather odd for the past few days and ahead of the PlayStation Experience, it’s been revealed to be Bound. This PS4 title is developed in collaboration with developer Plastic and game director Michal Staniszewski explained some aspects of the game on the PS Blog while a trailer was shared.

Bound is essentially a 3D platformer but features a mature narrative. You play as a ballerina, who’s motion capture has been performed by dancer Maria Udod, and as Staniszewski explained, “On the other side of the spectrum, Bound is also being prepared for hardcore gamers looking for the challenge of one big puzzle that can be only solved by a community of players working together.

“We are going to deliver a ‘notgame’ to you, which is also a game. It’s up to you to decide how you would like to play.”

Bound will be in 60 FPS and 1080p resolution with the team having “spent more than a year on optimizations, just to deliver you a game that will squeeze the most of your PS4.” We’ll probably learn more at PlayStation Experience this weekend so stay tuned.

The Chinese Room’s long in development PS4 exclusive Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will be out on August 11th and there’s quite a bit of mystery surrounding it. However, it seems it may not be as long as one probably expected.

Regarding the game’s length, the developer stated on Twitter that it, “Depends a lot on how much you explore. Probably 4-6 hours. Lots of insides to explore.”

This isn’t too shocking considering the overall length of the studio’s first game Dear Esther and even of Amnesia: A Machine of Pigs. Then again, considering its long development cycle, it does come across as odd.

The studio also remarked that the game wouldn’t be receiving a physical release. “Not unless it sells a very large number of copies.” Such a thing is true for many digital releases so it’s not really that strange.

But what about the length of the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

SCE Santa Monica’s God of War 3 will be getting the remastered treatment for PS4. Sony has announced God of War 3: Remastered for release on July 14th to celebrate the series’ 10th year anniversary and along with a 1080p resolution, there will be other additions (including a Photo Mode) according to IGN.

God of War 3 is seen as the conclusion to the saga with Kratos teaming up with the Titans to wage war on Olympus and its gods, which includes Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon and more. The game was praised initially for its amazing visuals and combat though many felt the story had its plot-holes. It will be interesting to see how Sony manages to cram in new features to justify the remastered tag like The Last of Us: Remastered did.

What are your thoughts on God of War 3: Remastered and will you be picking it up at release? Let us know in the comments below.

Star Citizen’s fortunes continue to grow. After crossing a crowd-funding goal of $74 million and being well on its way to reaching $75 million, Todd Papy has announced that he’s joined Cloud Imperium Games to work on the online space sim/first person title. Papy originally worked on God of War: Ascension at SCE Santa Monica before leaving in 2013 to work at Crytek.

Papy announced the news on Twitter and revealed that he will be working as design director. “Got a new job, excited to be part of a great team and working on Star Citizen.”

The scope of Star Citizen is tough to measure at this point. All additional funds are currently being allocated to expand its scale and creator Chris Roberts hopes to see the overall crowd-funding budget hit $100 million when it’s all said and done.

What are your thoughts on Star Citizen at this point? Let us know in the comments.

Ready At Dawn’s The Order: 1886 still isn’t out yet but players have gotten their hands on copies early. Despite the developer asking for early birds to not spoil the game for others, some YouTubers like PlayMeThrough have uploaded videos of their entire run through the game. Hit the link for yourself if you don’t mind spoilers.

However, it’s also interesting to hear that the playtime for The Order: 1886 is a little bit less than six hours. That’s including the interactive cut-scenes as well but there is a catch – this is the playthrough time for some one who’s intentionally rushing through the game. It’s one thing to say that you can beat Mega Man Zero in under a few hours but that mean doesn’t your average gamer will wrap it up as quickly.

It will be interesting to see how long interest is sustained in The Order: 1886 though especially since it has no multiplayer or extra modes. Stay tuned for its release on February 20th for more information.

A few days it was rumored that The Order: 1886 will have 24 chapters, however it seems that the game will have 16 chapters according to the video below. We are not sure how long each of those chapters will last but given that this is a single player only game, gameplay time is expected to be around 12 hours.

The Order: 1886 releases next week on February 20th, exclusively on the PlayStation 4. What do you reckon about the video below and are you going to pick up the game? Let us know in the comments section. Stay tuned for more news and updates regarding The Order: 1886 including our full review next week.

For more on the game check out our hub page here or check some recent coverage on the game here, here and here.

Update: Video has been taken down.

Thanks to our reader Daniel for the tip.

With only a few days to go before PlayStation 4’s first big exclusive of 2015 launches, a few new details about the game’s original vision have been revealed. It seems that The Order: 1886 wasn’t meant to be a linear third person shooter when Ready At Dawn started developing the game.

In an interview with Venturebeat, Ready At Dawn’s Ru Weerasuriya stated that their original intent with the game was to make it massive in scope but they eventually set back their expectations as one can only do so much. “When you start that way it’s both good and bad. It gives you goals to achieve, but it also gives you a lot of fear, about how much you can do. We managed that well, although I think we could have taken a little bit more time early on to get to the core of everything. Lucky for us, we did get to it eventually,” he said.

Although Ru does not reveal whether the game’s original scope was open world or wider levels, it seems to be an interesting idea that they could potentially play with the sequel. Imagine the game set in an open world? But perhaps the cinematic approach won’t work there.

As with most developers these days, Ru too believes that the PS4 was a great platform to work on. “That’s one thing I’m pretty happy about. The PS4 gave us an amazing platform to work on. We all had reservations early on, when it was being designed, about things here or there, but the reality is that those were addressed as we went on. That’s what was so gratifying about all of it.”

The Order 1886 comes out next week on February 20th exclusively on the PlayStation 4.

The Order: 1886 may be out in a little more than a week but that hasn’t stopped several players from already picking up their own copies and uploading gameplay footage to the internet. YouTube user Deezy G has uploaded more than 40 minutes of gameplay and you can check it out below. Spoilers are of course in effect and you better view it soon lest it’s removed (as is likely to have occurred with parts 1 and 2).

Developed by Ready At Dawn with help from SCE Santa Monica, The Order: 1886 is a third person action shooter taking place in alternate history London with its eclectic mix of steampunk, dystopia, martial law and monstrous half-breeds resembling Lichens. There isn’t anything aside from the single-player campaign so use these videos as a good indicator for whether it will be worth your time.

The Order: 1886 is out on February 20th for PS4 so stay tuned for more information.

Update: The videos have been taken down but we have managed to upload a gallery of screen captures from the video.

Update 2: Added a few GIFS from the videos that were taken down.