Why God Of War Ragnarok ends the Norse saga

When we finally got a first look at God Of War Ragnarok during the PlayStation Showcase last week, Sony also confirmed the game is the last of the Norse mythology series. This took everyone by surprise, since the Greek mythology series had three mainline games.

Now, in an interview with God of War YouTuber Kaptain Kuba, Santa Monica Studio's creative director Cory Barlog explained the decision.

"There are several reasons, I think one of the most important reasons is [time]," Barlog said. "The first game took five years. The second game, I don't know how long it's going to take but I'm just going to throw out that it's going to take close to a similar time, right, to do this.

"Then if you think, wow, a third one in that same [timeframe], and we're talking like a span of close to 15 years of a single story. I feel like that's just too stretched out. I feel like we're asking too much to say the actual completion of that story taking that long just feels too long."

Barlog went on to explain why the team feels two games are enough to conclude the story of Kratos and Atreus.

"Most of what we were trying to do from the beginning, was to tell something about Kratos and Atreus. That the core of the story's engine is really the relationship between the two characters," explained Barlog.

"The complexity [of the story] radiates out like ripples in a pond, and we could make it an ocean, and have those ripples just go for thousands of miles. But is that necessary and is that beneficial or are we just spreading it too far apart you sort of lose the plot a little?"

The response from the community to the news of the conclusion of Kratos and Atreus' story has been mixed, since they think it's ending too soon. But it's important to not overstretch a series to the detriment of the creative vision.

God of War Ragnarok is set to release in 2022 on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

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