God of War Ragnarok devs made sure one character had impenetrable plot armor
Killing this character was never on the table
God of War Ragnarok devs never even considered killing one pivotal character.
Warning: there are spoilers for God of War Ragnarok from here!
Speaking to The Washington Post in a new interview, God of War Ragnarok director Eric Williams revealed that killing Kratos was never on the table. "Oh no, we did not consider killing Kratos for many reasons," Williams said when asked about whether there was a version of Ragnarok where Kratos met his end.
"But the main one was that that’s not the story we’re trying to tell. The story that we wanted to tell was this idea of this parent-child unit coming together and then becoming strong enough that they know each other, and they know that they made each other better, and that if you were to break them apart, you’d still feel like they’d be okay," Williams continued.
The Ragnarok director then spoke about how death "creates a different set of emotions" through grief and regret. Instead, Kratos watches Atreus leave at the end of the adventure, and for Williams, "that's a natural progression that doesn't have such a heavy weight at the end of it."
As for the future of developer Sony Santa Monica, the studio has a few projects in development right now, but we don't know if any of them are related to another God of War game. Williams, for what it's worth, said it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if Sony Santa Monica was to become known as the 'God of War studio,' so don't be too surprised if another one of these titles is a new game with Kratos or Atreus.
Head over to our God of War Ragnarok Mystical Heirloom and Troll locations if you're looking to wrap up everything in the new game. And speaking of armor, make sure you find every scrap for Lunda's Armor in God of War Ragnarok.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.