{"id":61827,"date":"2026-06-19T00:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61827"},"modified":"2026-06-19T00:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:51:10","slug":"god-of-war-laufey-feels-too-similar-to-kratos-norse-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61827","title":{"rendered":"God of War Laufey Feels Too Similar to Kratos\u2019 Norse Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This is an IGN opinion piece from writer Tim Brinkhof, who has been playing God of War for two decades. He thinks the 2018 reboot is majestic. Ragnarok, not so much.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Responses to Santa Monica Studio\u2019s first look at God of War Laufey have been \u2013 to put it lightly \u2013 mixed. And I, too, have mixed feelings about Laufey, although none of them concern the fact we\u2019ll be playing as Faye rather than Kratos. I actually really like the premise \u2013 the idea of Faye exploring an afterlife populated by gods from different religions is fun, full of potential, and vastly preferable to the uninspired Atreus-goes-to-Egypt-for-reasons sequel that I had been expecting. My reaction is largely the same as when God of War 2018 was first announced: I didn\u2019t see it coming, yet cannot imagine a better, more original way for the franchise to move forward. <\/p>\n

I am, on the other hand, not sure what to make of everything else. While Laufey\u2019s premise channels the innovative spirit of the 2018 reboot, its gameplay footage evokes the same sense of cold indifference I experienced playing through God of War Ragnarok, where everything that had been fresh and exciting about the reboot was starting to become formulaic and uninspiring. For Laufey to succeed, it should remember what the first Norse game did right, and learn from where the second went wrong.<\/p>\n

Of all the online criticisms I\u2019ve seen, the easiest to dismiss are those focussing on Faye\u2019s appearance \u2013 they\u2019re anything but genuinely critical, and have nothing to do with the quality of the game. But it’s a little harder to wave away the complaints that take issue with not playing as Kratos, an argument that is based in part on the franchise\u2019s own development history. When work on the 2018 reboot first began, director Cory Barlog and his team briefly considered creating a new protagonist, only to conclude that Kratos was central, and that God of War without him isn\u2019t God of War.<\/p>\n

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Then again, Laufey isn\u2019t the first to break with this rule. God of War Ragnarok included large segments where you took control of Atreus. Although these weren\u2019t everyone\u2019s cup of tea \u2013 I personally found the more agile combat mechanics to be a welcome change of pace to Kratos\u2019 at times frustrating slowness and heaviness \u2013 they also didn\u2019t lead to accusations that the developers had betrayed the series\u2019 core DNA. <\/p>\n

More importantly, you could counterargue that Kratos can still be central without being playable. This certainly seems to be the case for Laufey, which will \u2013 it seems \u2013 revolve around her looking for ways to assist her husband and son\u2019s journey from the afterlife, without them knowing. Kratos is even shown to appear to Faye during the debut gameplay demonstration. As one Redditor put it<\/u>: \u201cIt\u2019s all about Kratos\u2019 story even when he\u2019s not the MC.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another criticism worth hearing concerns the quality of the writing, which many rightly compare to that of Marvel films. I\u2019m not talking about the vague and meritless allegations about Santa Monica Studio\u2019s politics, but the specific, defensible observation that the writing team\u2019s frequent use of snarky dialogue and quirky humor is boring at best and tonally inconsistent at worst, clashing with the seriousness of the action and character development. <\/p>\n

Laufey\u2019s biggest problem is that it appears to stick too closely to a design template that I had already gotten tired of well before finishing Ragnarok.\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

While the 2018 reboot had some Marvel-style qualities, the game\u2019s focus on the relationship between Kratos and Atreus kept them from taking center stage. Not so in Ragnarok, where interactions between its larger ensemble cast closely resembled the banter in Avengers Endgame. Where the first Norse game seemed to come from a personal place, the second \u2013 like many Hollywood blockbusters \u2013 almost felt designed by committee, its story an afterthought to bridge together various levels and moments, rather than the bedrock from which all other design decisions followed.<\/p>\n

Whether Laufey\u2019s writing will edge closer to one or the other approach remains to be seen. Plans for its overarching narrative, interwoven with that of the other Norse titles, leans towards intimate and purposeful. At the same time, I would be lying if I said that any of the new characters piqued my interest beyond their visual design. If what we saw reflects the final game, Faye\u2019s meeting with Sekhmet and Begtse lacks the intrigue of Kratos\u2019 first encounters with Thor, Odin, and especially Baldur. (Fingers crossed they\u2019re not the main antagonists, and that Faye will encounter both Greek and Norse gods killed by Kratos).<\/p>\n