I don’t think we’re in Greece anymore.
Sony revealed a new installment of its action series for the PlayStation 4 (simply called God of War) during its Electronic Entertainment Expo lead-in event this evening in Los Angeles. E3 is one of the biggest gaming shows of the year, and it usually brings big announcements like this with it — and in this case, it’s the return of a PlayStation exclusive series that has sold more than 21.5 million copies as of 2012 since it first appeared on the PlayStation 2 in 2005.
The first God of War stood out for its combo-based action set in a hyper-violent world based on Greek mythology. The last game in the series, the prequel God of War: Ascension for the PlayStation 3, came out in 2013 — and it didn’t sell as well as the previous games (Sony never reported the numbers).
This new God of War has a Norse setting. That makes sense considering its wealth of mythology. Besides, Kratos already killed all of the Greek gods. The demo showed a bearded Kratos (assuming it is Kratos, anyway) training his son, who both at one point battled a troll. While the original Kratos fought with dual daggers, this warrior uses an axe.
The two hunt a deer throughout the demo, which ends in a tender moment as Kratos helps the boy put their prey out of its misery. It was a much more thoughtful and somber tone than the loud, Greek games in the series.
The demo ends with a dragon flying over them — three gigantic beasts played roles in Norse myth.