God Of War 2017 Wishlist: 10 Things We Want To See

From squirrels to Norse gods, to Norse god squirrels.

God Of War
Sony

Among the reveals in this year's E3 conference were more footage and a story trailer for the God of War reboot, which puts deicidal Greek maniac Kratos in a very unfamiliar Norse mythology setting. The game looked absolutely gorgeous, with misty fjords and frozen wastes perfectly evoked, and a craggier, manfully bearded Kratos looking more badass than ever.

The game is clearly massively different from previous entries in the bloodthirsty series. Most notably, Kratos has a son; a feisty youth who has everything to learn about being a survivor and warrior like his dad. Going by the E3 audience's reaction to the first glimpse of Kratos' tattooed bonce, the game will have enormous hype leading up to release.

God of War's gameplay footage suggest a familiar focus on the spectacular mutilation of Kratos' enemies, but his interactions with his son and the grand sweep of its setting promise something very different from all those former rampages through the world of Greek mythology.

What fans demand is something absolutely awesome, and there are a multitude of ways for developer Santa Monica Studio to make that happen.

10. An Explanation For How Kratos Got Here

God Of War
Sony

Question number one is, how on Earth did Kratos manage to get all the way to the northernmost reaches of Europe? Even taking mythology into account, that's a very long way from Greece.

It's not much of a surprise Kratos left his old stomping grounds. The God of War series saw him slaughtering his way through the entire Greek pantheon and devastating Mount Olympus, so if nothing else there's no one in Greece left for him to kill.

Given the destruction the gods' deaths are implied to have caused in Greece, Kratos might have fled either to escape the apocalypse his actions brought about or as a form of exile from lands who have suffered so much because of him.

The game needs to at least address this question. Dumping Kratos in the world of Norse mythology is jarring, perhaps deliberately so, and players will want answers about how all this came about. Even if the developers want to leave some aspects mysterious, Kratos' presence there needs to make sense.

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Ben Counter is a fantasy and science fiction writer, gaming enthusiast, wrestling fan and miniature painting guru. He was raised on Warhammer, Star Wars and 1980s cartoons that, in retrospect, were't that good. Whoever you are, he is nerdier than you.