As the awards pour in for Game of the Year 2018 it’s split between Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 and Sony’s God of War. The latter, however, was the most surprising of the two with an enigmatic unveiling at E3 2016. At first it seemed like a full reboot of the series, but was later confirmed to be a continuation of the series dormant since 2013. It wasn’t what anyone expected from the series first original outing on the PS4, and it stands in sharp contrast to the 2005 original that shares its name in some ways, although it still carries a lot of the same baggage. 2018’s God of War shows an industry in the state of change, but also one that can’t quite commit to it.
The first thing to notice about 2005’s original God of War compared to 2018 is the lack of spectacle. The original God of War was a festival of flying sparks and speed. You felt the rage of protagonist anti-hero, Kratos, as he slashed, ripped and tore his way through hordes of Greek mythology’s who’s who of monsters and gods with wild flashes of red on his blades. The combat of the continuation takes a slower, more methodical approach in line with modern action games.
The main talking point hasn’t been about the combat and gameplay however, but the new approach to storytelling. It’s touted as part of the evolution of the gaming medium as art with more nuanced, mature storytelling, and an experimental attempt to create the effect that the entire game is one continuous camera shot. The irony is that the 2005 original that legacy God of War tries to escape was touted in much the same way back then, as a new type of ‘mature’ game, but what was meant then has shifted with the culture.
In certain ways I prefer the original God of War’s story to this year’s entry. May seem strange to some, but I think that’s due to people remembering the series as the rage-filled parody of itself it became by the time the original trilogy concluded. While 2018’s continuation is a more well written story, the original captures the feeling of a Greek myth more so than the new one captures Norse mythology. It had a sad, sober tale of a violent man in a desperate attempt to escape his past, and who the Gods cruelly use and then toss away. Coupled with its unapologetic and frank depictions of violence, which was far from the standard it is today, it was a step in a new direction for the industry.
Oh, and there were breasts, lots of exposed digital breasts and pointless sex minigames.
The problematic portrayal of women remained a sticking point for the series through all its entries. All the older games featured topless women serving no purpose than to get extra currency for Kratos in what felt like a goofy Austin Powers inspired off screen minigame. Even the ever horny 16 year old me thought it a bit much and out of place considering the grim story and raw violence the rest of the game presented. But even the over-sexualized aspect, all too common in games even still today, isn’t all of the previous God of War’s issue with women. They are never anything more than sex objects, things to be saved or, in one nasty section in God of War III, dragged in shackles to complete a puzzle and then be crushed to death. The only two women who are more than this are Kratos’s wife, who is killed before the story begins, and Athena, who assists him in the latter half of the trilogy to be exposed as a trickster and then forgotten before having any significant impact on the story.
One of the challenges of trying to transform Kratos into the ‘sad dad’ we’ve seen pop up in gaming was reconciling the character we knew at the original trilogy’s end to a frustrated dad trying to raise an annoying kid. Those who followed the series knows that by God of War III Kratos had become such a vengeful, bitter and despicable character it’s hard to think he could be anything more than a monster (they do make a last ditch effort in that game to save Kratos, but comes off as a cheap ploy and few probably even remember it). The 2018 edition plants seeds that we’ll see this addressed in later games as Kratos’s son learns bit by bit about his father’s true origins, which we see the duo grapple with in vague terms through the narrative. The game is glad to sidestep that otherwise and produce similar violence to the original. The camera gleefully zooms in as Kratos tears apart enemies or clubs them into the ground. It may lack flash, but the brutal violence of the past is still there and presented in much the same way. At least some self-awareness seems to be there, gleaming on the surface for another time.
Although with women any self-awareness of the past seems buried.
There’s one female character in the new God of War. Kratos’s second wife is dead before the story starts, and while the Valkyries of Norse lore are featured they are easy to bypass side content that had no significance to the plot.
The only real female presence in the story is Freya. While she’s the best female portrayal the series has seen, she devolves into a shrieking shrill of a woman by the story’s end, becoming the Maniac Mom to Kratos’s Sad Dad. To be fair, her development and role makes sense in the narrative, but it says a lot that the only positive role the series can bring forth for it’s one female amounts to a stereotypical overprotective mom.
While the games flirts with its violent past, it chooses to shy away from its problematic history with women. It instead cuts out women over addressing it in even a minor, vague way. It’s a step in the right direction, with no female sex slaves being dragged to be crushed by a giant stone, but when you’re so far in one direction, a single step doesn’t mean a lot.
The game feels like it can stand-in for the industry as a whole. It’s evolving, maturing, in its attempt at storytelling. Writing has become sharper, no doubt. Oversexualization of women has decreased, though it’s certainly still there. Broader representation has increased, though it still lags behind other mediums. It’s in a strange place. Perhaps it is simply that all too slow and painful pace of change, or it’s a reluctance from an industry that once revived itself for boys only in the toy isle then encouraged those boys to never grow up and produced consumers and artists who can’t find their footing in a changing world.
Either way, God of War in 2005 to 2018 shows an artform within flux. A new soberness has crafted sharper told stories, but many of the same problems remain. Both have a fascination with glorifying violence and lacks ability to portray female characters in a satisfying way. I do think the new game has more of a template for better change than the original. It was a smashing success, selling five million units in less than a month, so a new trilogy is all but guaranteed. We’ll see where Sony and the God of War team go, whether they’ll take their waving foot off the line and more farther forward or, much like the reveal trailer years ago, we’re still going to be seeing the same old Kratos as before.