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It’s no longer rumor. God Of War: Laufey has been announced, though with no release date as of this writing. Fans of the franchise hoping to continue Kratos’ tale or follow Atreus’ are disappointed and possibly even angry. With reason? Given current storytelling inclinations they just might be.
The new game follows Laufey The Just, aka “Frey”, as she travels the afterlife and somehow takes part in the events of the Norse period of the franchise. It’s not the story fans wanted to see, and frankly I have possibly a better idea of how this could have gone, but there is a question as to whether or not the story was necessary.
Could it still be good? Maybe. Above is the 20+ minute gameplay trailer, presumably the early battles of the game that sets up Frey’s journey and introduces two more Gods Of War into the mix. I should note if you missed me discussing the series before that I have not played any of the God Of War games. I watched Dan Floyd of PlayFrame play through the first two games of the Norse period but have little knowledge of the Greek period, which I don’t think I need more than I know for that one. The thing is I see some strong potential for this game despite the change in protagonists, but I also both see the mistakes and potential for disaster based on current trends so I have concerns and I’m not even a big fan of the game. I did like the story in God Of War 2018 and God Of War: Ragnarok but more diehard fans have some legit concerns, so let’s look at everything we know and take a calmer look at what’s happening. It might not help but perspective is important.
I think the best summary of story and concerns can be solved with the below video by author and YouTube commentator, everybody’s favorite drunken swear-happy Scotsman, The Critical Drinker. From his “Critical Gamer” YouTube channel comes his thoughts on the game, what we know, and where the concerns are. It’s the easy way to start.
Honestly he’s not wrong. Recent trends have led to male characters weakened so that female characters can take their place and forge their predecessors’ destiny. John Connor, Indiana Jones, they wanted to replace Blade with his daughter and did so with Bill and Ted…it’s a growing list, replacing black men with white women and it’s hard to ignore when the creators behind these projects more often than not are will to celebrate the replacement, on their own social media if not from the company themselves.
As far as Kratos, I think his story is done. He finally found peace with his past. Could a story following Atreus’ next adventure work? Possibly. The last Norse god standing and the last of the Frost Giants, our alternate universe Loki has some interesting game mechanics and still needs to become a man. Maybe have Kratos as a guide somehow. The question is whether or not a story focusing on Faye could work. Actually, it kind of could. Back when this game was just a rumor and the events of the story were fresher in my mind, I came up with a potential way for the game to work, but not as a full game. I suggest DLC bonus content. From my previous article:
Well, there are two options I can think of. One is to take the events we know, of the battle with Thor, the fight to protect the Frost Giants from themselves as much as Odin, and her encounters with Brok and Sindril and make shorter games out of them. Maybe some kind of flashback DLC additions or something. This would tell us more about her and maybe her time with Kratos and Atreus. The problem is whether or not these new levels would be interesting enough since they’d essentially be minigames where you could use aspects of both male characters’ game mechanics. The axe was already hers and she taught Atreus archery, so you’d get both weapons from the same character, and maybe Laufey is more athletic than her family, using speedy strikes and targeting attacks as well as her magic axe to fight in her own unique way. Maybe you’d focus more on the puzzles than the combat. You’d fill in a few gaps of her history, like how she met the dwarves, and getting to live the adventures we know she had, but would it really add to her mythos or say anything about Kratos and Atreus’s journeys? If it can’t do both, prepare for rejection not because she’s a woman or even another girlboss but because it adds nothing to the games or their combined story.
In case you didn’t read the full article, option two was the same thing in movie form rather than game form, as the Amazon series was also announced around that time. The problem with this option is that you risk de-mystifying Laufey The Just. Throughout the Norse games we hear stories of her amazing adventures, fighting Thor before he became a drunken washout serving as Odin’s lapdog and only fighting to avenge his jerk of a son. Brok and Sindril made her axe for a reason. There’s a story there. Have it end with her fighting Kratos, maybe ending on a draw as the two stop being enemies and start the path to their romance and eventual marriage. It would fill in gaps in the history, but if those events aren’t as cool in execution and gameplay as they were in the telling, it could weaken her as the slowly revealed mystery of Ragnarok.
Instead we have a story where she travels the afterlife, aiding Kratos and Atreus/Loki both in the clues she left behind, and in a couple of scenes appearing in a vision that helps sets Kratos on the right path. That never really needed explaining and I don’t think it would be as interesting as exploring her past. It does help keep the mysteries of her past alive, but is it replacing that with a story that will interest fans of the franchise? Like Drinker asked, could we have a situation where Faye turns out to be the real hero rather than a sort of oracle guiding the heroes of the game to saving Midgard and potentially restoring the Frost Giants?
Are there some interesting elements? Gods Of War from other pantheons also being dead and in this gods afterlife…though how the Frost Giant ended up in the GODS’ afterlife instead of her own people’s is a question better asked to a Norse mythology expert despite the previous liberties with Norse myth we’ve seen…would at least keep the title alive without the main hero himself. If this is god heaven, maybe she’ll meet up with the Greek gods at some point since Kratos killed them all. Maybe she gets her own battle with Odin, though you can’t kill someone already dead. Allegedly. If it weren’t for the “girlboss feminist” characters in today’s media, maybe. There are plenty of female protagonist player characters in games more often than not being something that draws guys in, though there is also a belief that anything starring a woman must be a target for female audiences. That could explain the cute character in the gameplay trailer and one that shows up in one of the other announcements.
They also seem to be setting up the mystery surrounding the sword Faye picks up. No flying axe or archery skills, but Faye will have magic, and the story behind that sword may be important to the game’s story. Both Begtse (the burning man there is the Mongolian war god) and the boy Faye helps escape warned of the sword. All we know so far is that a talking set of ribbons named Rue was attached to the sword, shoved into a living gelatin cube named Phranque (which is better than “Frank” I guess but still a silly sounding name since it sounds like Rue IS calling him Frank). What’s up with him? ABG SPARTAN has a theory.
It’s Sony, so probably not the Cosmic Cube from Marvel Comics. Of the ones I saw in my own Google search, which pointed me to that video, we had this entry:
Thai Deities: Another theory suggests his name may be a shortened nod to Phra Angkarn (the Thai god of war) paired with Rue acting as Phra Rahu, utilizing illusion-based mythology
That apparently came from someone on Reddit, but it does play into the god of war theme. Otherwise all we get from Rue is some kind of herb from folklore. Apparently the other enemy seen in the gameplay footage is Sekhmet, the Egyptian Goddess Of War, according to Santa Monica Studio’s official X-Twitter postings. I wonder who killed these other gods? We can assume it wasn’t Kratos unless he became something similar to Marvel’s “god butcher” Gorr. (That’s a rather 90s name for a 2010s character.)
The game mechanics of Faye using a sword and her magic could be interesting. The question is how easy can you have her fight when the game needs to be fun and you need that potential to lose as part of that fun? And we should address one more complaint I’ve seen: her looks. Let’s be honest first of all. It’s not like the character models for female characters were ever that attractive, possibly due to technical limitations but when the Greek era games on earlier Playstations due a better job of conveying a woman’s attractiveness (Aphrodite wouldn’t stand for less) maybe you should consider your art style a bit more. Even then, Faye does look a bit older and thinner than we see in Kratos’ visions where she appears younger and more beautiful in a Norse viking chick sort of way. If that’s not addressed then the “anti-male gaze” claims may end up following it, accurate or not, and these days I’d lean toward accurate.
Could this be a good game? Maybe. Could this be a good story? Maybe, but not the one fans wanted and not better than going through her history and setting up the events of the previous games. I suspect Dan will play God Of War: Laufrey when it comes out, and that’s probably how I’ll catch it. The problem is recent history is already against this game, so it has a lot to prove if it cares to. Hopefully they have time to listen to fans and fix any errors already being pointed out that doesn’t mess things up too much. We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the game’s still undetermined launch date.
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