During the E3 2016 gameplay reveal for God of War, there was a moment where Kratos’ rage meter builds up (at 2:20), only to subside moments later. As Creative Director Cory Barlog told Digital Trends, Kratos in the Greek-era games “let the monster out [of the box]”, but with the upcoming Norse mythology-based sequel, he “has to control it and stamp it down.”
Kratos’ rage – and controlling it – will still be a big part of the game though, with Barlog saying it’s “a mechanic in the game, in which he fills up and then gets angry and fights, but it also portrays the fact that he is constantly fighting that battle.” If you’re not able to keep the rage meter in check, Barlog says there won’t be consequences to the player, though Kratos himself will begin to lose control:
No consequences to the player. It’s more of an illustration of the narrative, because you still have total control over it. What you are doing is filling that up and then actually being able to activate it whenever you want. We are still going to be playing with it a little bit… if you get too greedy and burn it down too much, you lose control. There are lots of possibilities where we will go with it.
After talking about how the new progression system will make you feel like “this is my take on the game,” changing how the kid is outfitted at the end of the game from person to person, Barlog added, “We want to do this to allow for a bit more of that digging into the world. I don’t want to make a game in which all you do is just play these linear things once. We are trying to open things up, give people a real world that they can explore.”
God of War won’t have a gigantic open world though, “but we are opening this up, giving you the sense of truly being in the world,” Barlog said.
[Source: Digital Trends]
