For starters, Barlog brought up the notion of cultures’ mythological belief systems coexisting with one another, but only being “separated by geography.” With this being the case, the implication is that God of War’s protagonist, Kratos, traveled north from Greece to Norway, but the game’s director asserts that even though the Ghost of Sparta is in a Norse setting, he isn’t living in “the viking era,” as some fans have suggested.

Although the God of War developers eventually settled on a Norse environment for the new game, it almost wasn’t the case. As it happens, Barlog also recently revealed that he and Santa Monica Studio were close to giving the title an Egypt setting. However, even though the director professed his love for the idea of Kratos coming into contact with Egyptian mythology, he explained that steeping the game in the African country’s lore had the potential to distract from the developer wanting Kratos to be the central focus.

“It’s a fun space to be in because it allows us to paint our own image of Norse mythology as opposed to anyone else’s.”

As far as the motive behind Kratos’ move from Greece is concerned, Santa Monica Studio has yet to divulge the reason why the titular God of War has changed locations. Nevertheless, the developer has revealed that contrary to many fans’ initial theories that the game might be a reboot or have a different protagonist, it takes place after the third game. Plus, it has been confirmed that the new God of War is not open world, but as Barlog puts it, is “open.”

Of course, since God of War was just announced last week, concrete details about the forthcoming title are still relatively scant. Nevertheless, fans of the franchise should expect Santa Monica Studio to slowly feed more information about the game to the public as the year progresses. In the meantime, folks would do well to give God of War’s demo another once-over in order to discover the secrets of the gameplay footage’s Easter eggs.

God of War is currently without a release date, but it is expected to be a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

Source: GameSpot