God of War Director Cory Barlog was on YouTube Live at E3 following the Sony press conference last night, where he talked with Geoff Keighley about the upcoming title, which launches in early 2018 for PlayStation 4.
“We really wanted to give people a sense of what the journey was going to be,” Barlog said of the trailer, “really re-enforcing the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. And really kind of open up the world, share the combat some more… we really wanted to show off more combat in this.”
Barlog then confirmed that the boat will be used throughout the game. “We have a heavier emphasis this game on exploration,” he added. “Really kind of empower the player to discover as they’re moving through the world, so that’s one of the ways that you’re actually able to get around.”
However, God of War is “not an open-world [game]. We still focus heavily on story-telling… What I really wanted to bring out in this game is this concept of being on a tour bus and being able to pull the string and get off whenever you want and look around, and always know the bus is right there and you can get back on at any point… This is a very expansive time period, so we really wanted to make Kratos and his son feel like they had to make their way through this very violent, very large world.”
After confirming that the God of War footage was running on a standard PS4, Barlog said “that’s the goal” when it comes to making the game look even better on PS4 Pro.
As for the giant creature featured in the trailer, Keighley thought you’d be fighting it, but Barlog said the World Serpent encounter is “unexpected,” and it will be a friend not a foe.
With God of War releasing in early 2018, Barlog said, “We still got a long road ahead of us.”
Over on the official PlayStation website for God of War, Sony is listing something called The Lost Pages, which carries this description:
The Myths and Legends of the great Norse gods have passed through generations in an epic tome: the Prose Edda.
Over the Centuries, some stories from the book were lost to time. There are those who speculate that this was no accident – that these “lost pages” were removed by an unseen hand.
It Is Whispered these pages tell the saga of a vengeful god from a distant land, traveling with his young son on a journey borne of ash.
New Lost Pages will be revealed in the future.
The pre-order for God of War is live on the PlayStation Store, and it includes these avatars as a bonus: Kratos, Atreus, Troll, Dragr, Kratos & Atreus, Kratos 2.
[Source: Gameslice, PlayStation]
