The Internet Reacts to God of War Laufey
· IGN
Sony’s big State of Play announcement was God of War Laufey, the next entry in Sony Santa Monica’s God of War franchise due out exclusively for PlayStation 5. While the game's focus on Faye as opposed to Kratos had leaked months before the showcase, it’s fair to say Sony’s 20 minute gameplay reveal sparked a vociferous reaction across the internet.
It’s worth noting that IGN spoke with God of War Laufey's game director Ariel Lawrence and Santa Monica Studio creative director Cory Barlog ahead of the reveal to discuss why the developer went with Faye as the main character this time, and we’ve got an explainer on Faye herself if you need a catch-up on her story. So if you need some context before diving into the reactions, IGN has you covered.
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Let’s start with some of the reactions from IGN readers, which I think I would characterize as mixed. Some had complaints about the nature of the gameplay, which included sequences that required the player to focus on pressing R2 to progress. “I understand that this is a demonstration and everything, obviously Sony wants it to look the best that it can. But maybe don’t introduce it as a 20 minute uninterrupted gameplay sequence that features nothing but hitting the R2 button to advance a cutscene,” IGN reader TacticalEA commented. “Also in the boss fight, she clearly takes damage and does not react and does not lose health.”
Another common observation I’ve seen not just from IGN readers but across the internet is that the gameplay shown doesn’t meaningfully shake up the God of War formula. “I'll pass on this one,” IGN reader Doodelino said. “GoW 2018 was a masterpiece, Ragnarok was great but at the end I felt like I'm a bit tired of the formula and Laufey doesn't seem to add anything new. Also, I'm not interested in the character.”
That last point is another common theme. Faye as God of War Laufey's main character is, clearly, the big talking point coming out of the State of Play reveal, and not everyone is on board. David Jaffe, one of the original creators of God of War, is clearly not a fan of the game. “That looks so uninspired, and it looks so dull,” he said during a YouTube livestream. “You have to remember, that is the opening of the game probably, because it says ‘X for New Game.’ It’s possible there’s a prelude, but that seems clearly towards the opening. It’s dead. That game is not going to do well for what they expect it to do. That may be a cheap game. They may be like, this is not one of those $400 million gambles. This is like $80 million. I have no clue.
“God of War, the originals, they had their hooks,” he continued. “It was Kratos as a badass and Greek mythology, violence. And then it wore out its welcome. So Cory [Barlog] comes along with the brilliant idea of evolving it. And that was awesome for 2018. I loved that game. And then you get Ragnarok, which felt like it was running out of gas. And now… yeah.”
“This just feels like Cory or somebody wanted to write a fantasy story," Jaffe added. "I’m not saying it’s not going to be rooted and grounded in some actual mythology, maybe it already is and I’m just not aware of it. But you’ve lost the gore and the violence that made the first game. You’ve lost the character — you already lost him after 2018 because he changed so much he wasn’t Kratos any more. Now you’ve lost the identifiable mythology of it, and you’ve also lost me with the cube and the little Disney character at the beginning. This seems like just a fantasy. If they would have taken God of War off the title, and you didn’t know the God of War story and there wasn’t Kratos, it was just a story about this goddess who dies, you would not be talking about this game, in my opinion, compared to a lot of other games they showed today that looked a lot more interesting.
“This just looks like more of the same s**t. Really f***ing goofy, man. I didn’t like it at all."
But it's important to include the many positive comments about God of War Laufey from fans who are excited to play it. “This looks better than 2018 and Ragnarok in basically every single way hands down,” IGN reader shoras commented. “This combat actually looks like what I imagined the original trilogy's combat evolving into instead of what we got in 2018. Loved all the color and fantastical creatures. Great reveal.”
There’s plenty of praise for the combat, which we got to see towards the end of the reveal. Even Jaffe, so critical of pretty much every other aspect of God of War Laufey, said he thought the combat looked like fun. And there is praise for Sony Santa Monica's decision to set the game in parallel to the timeline of God of War 2018 and Ragnarok, as opposed to it being a prequel. “Actually looks really good. I'm glad this isn't a prequel story and is doing something new,” IGN reader sirdan357 said. "I'm glad it isn't a prequel, 'Fey died, she fights through the afterlife' is a much better hook," added redditor Tulipanzo.
The gelatinous companion cube, called Phranque and played by The Boys star Jack Quaid, already feels like a 'love it or hate it' character. Some are fully on board with a Hughie voice following you around the game, whereas others are worried it will get annoying.
“This looks great to me and I’m excited for it. I heard some of the rumors and didn't think we would get something this fast,” redditor Jatacus offered. “I'll say this, though: As of now, I'm not sold the on the Jell-O cube character. I honestly thought it would transform into something else (like it's real design) at some point during the demo. Maybe it's inspired by something from mythology we don't know yet? Regardless, I've never seen anything like it, and did not expect something like this in a God of War game. But I trust the studio.”
So, yes, there are definitely comments from people who do not like the look of God of War Laufey for a number of reasons, but there is also a huge amount of positivity around the game. What is clear is that these talking points won’t go away any time soon. But as we see and learn more about the game, we’ll get a better understanding of what to expect when it eventually comes out.
Here's everything announced at State of Play June 2026 if you need a catch up on what PlayStation has in store.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].