Either way, the first uttered words from this Kratos makes him an infinitely more interesting character than the last Kratos ever was. I think it's a Norse God of War, it's not the Greek Kratos.

He moved here to Norway :) He is now my neighbour.

I have never really been interested in God of War until now. Day 1 purchase

Calling it "spartan rage" or whatever would be weird if it wouldn't be Kratos.

I bet the boy will kill Kratos. Or one or the other, that was a mess. I will never play it.

It's weird that this is the most exciting/interesting announcement out of this E3 when I thoughtful lost all interest in any God of War.

If it was a reboot they would have completely redesigned him. He's exactly the same, plus beard, as he was in the first game.

Haven't seen him around here.

They don't have to. So many reboots have the same general character design. Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Tomb Raider etc.

It absolutely seems like a reboot.

Didn't he have the same red lines on his body? Sure looked like it

As long as they actually do something with that character this time, I don't really mind either way. "Shitty dad Kratos" honestly seems kind of appealing in comparison to what he's been so far (just plain old "shitty").

It absolutely seems like the exact same character who just moved north. Ashen skin, red warpaint, beard (which usually is just a big red flag that says: same guy, just older).

that character that was shown had the tell-tail red markings and the ashy skin. There was also the bit where there was a button prompt for, "Spartan Rage", which would support that that guy was in fact Kratos. Also, there is a line of dialogue at the very end of the demo where the player character says, "It is time for a new beginning.", all but confirming that Kratos up and left Sparta along with all those children he probably fathered over the course of 3.5 games. Dude is gonna get hit with that child support suit any game now. Just wait until your mashing the Square Button to dodge civil suits. Just remember kids, don't be silly, wrap your quick time event.

It does not necessarily seem like a reboot, but a fresh start that could take place after the events of the previous instalments. They could cook up a reason for the weather and presence of supernatural beings coming as a result of Kratos murdering the Greek Pantheon.

I haven't played any of the God of War games but Norse mythos I'm always interested in. I might have to check this out.

I can't remember if Kratos was still a god at the end of 3 or not(or remember much of anything about that plot), maybe he's still the god of war and the Norse gods want power so he moved to there to kill some dudes.

Yeah, well, I'm sorry Kratos but we already have a God of War here in Norway and a much tougher one at that. Now we do have some wonderful single-parent benefits and plenty of fantastic programs you and your kid could partake in so if you have any other qualities to offer us beyond being a god of war, we're listening.

I'd like them to go in the direction of maintaining that this is the same character, but making absolutely no references to what has happened between the GoW series and this reboot. I think it would be a cool idea. We don't really need to know exactly what went down, I want them to just say something like 'Kratos was tired of his old life and decided to start over' or whatever.

Spoilers for a 5+ year old game. Kratos was basically super dead at the end of God of War III. I know they did the thing where his body disappeared, but come on. He's done.

With no numbers or subtitles, a difference appearance, a different feeling game, and a new setting, this is a half reboot / half spiritual successor. Kratos didn't fall off Olympus and say "Now I won't be mad. I'll start a family. In Norway."

Duder, when has that ever actually mattered in a fantastical work of fiction? Barring Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, of course.

Kratos literally died, went to Hades (typed Hardees at first), and fought his way back. I don't think his death is a finality whatsoever.

My guess is he moved to Norway after all that to try to hide from the Gods or something, or the Norse gods called him there, maybe saying they would help protect him or something by hiding him. Since most gods in these games are depicted as giant assholes, I bet they're probably trying to get in on that Greek god power or something. Maybe the game will be Norse vs. Greek mythology at the end?

I don't know. What am I, a book?

From the horse's mouth via PlayStation blog:

"For Kratos, this change means breaking the cycle of violence, distrust and deception that his family, the Greek pantheon, perpetuated for so long. That cycle drove a whole host of bad decisions – the ill-fated deal with Ares, the murder of his family and a rage fueled descent into madness and vengeance that ultimately ended with the epic destruction of Olympus."

Sounds like a sequel.

I bet Kratos killing the divine pantheon of Greece didn't go unnoticed in the rest of the world. Surely the Norse gods could use a handyman-enforcer like him? We'll see. But he sure as hell looks and sounds like good ol' Kray R.

Kratos was a giant 1-note asshole in the previous games, and this new setting provides a good opportunity for some decent character development. So I'm hoping that this is a continuation because the overall arc of his character would become that much more compelling.

Edit:

Yep it's confirmed to be a continuation of the series (@2:24:14)

With that one part of that demo showing a que to use a Spartan move, I think this is the same old Kratos who has his Greek Mythology roots, but decided to move up to Scandinavia to get away from Greece.

While the idea of Kratos picking up his bags and moving North is amusing, I think the real answer is that this in another Kratos.

Remember that the greek Kratos got his white skin after he got the chained blades encrusted on his arms... yet this version has white skin but no blades.

My guess is that this is a reboot. They kept some of the characteristics of the original Kratos because the design is famous, but they will cook up another reason for this guy to have albinism's skin...

Duder, he killed all of them. He murdered the entire Greek Pantheon and then some. There ain't nobody left that can exact revenge, apart from Athena and her heightened state of existence.

The ability was called Spartan Rage. So it is either really, REALLY stupid in a way that the rest of this thing didn't seem like, or it's not a reboot.

I'm going with a hard NO on the reboot thing. It's a continuation of the story.

man's gotta kill gods, and kratos done run out.

@Zevvion Mirrors Edge is an outlier when it comes to reboots being so similar to the game they're rebooting. Lara Croft looks pretty different in the reboot compared to past games. She's vaguely similar, but still very distinguishable. Kratos looks like Kratos except with a beard.

Also, another reason I'm very certain it's a sequel is that they are still using that horseshoe looking symbol, which is the Greek symbol for omega. It's even apart of his attire (it's used to hold his axe on his back. No way a Norse dude would have that.

Honestly though, I would consider this a reboot/sequel. I think its the same Kratos from past games and this will be a continuation of his story without relying heavily on past narratives. This combined with the vastly different gameplay makes it a reboot/sequel.

I would love it if it were just Kratos again and the series completely embraces the insanity it has become.

The developers straight up said it's the same Kratos. He's trying to start again and control his anger that led to everything in the past games.

Fair enough, I'm hazy on the ending of GoW 3. Didn't he absorb the power of a lot of the gods he's killed though? Did that happen?

I really like the GoW games, but the specifics get kinda lost after a while.

It's the same dude, Cory Barlog confirmed it's set many years after 3. Wants to tell a story about an immortal demigod attempting to change.

So GoW: A History of Violence?

Has anybody explained how Kratos managed to overcome the whole killing himself thing? Why doesn't it seem to bother anybody else that Kratos committed suicide and now has another game taking place after God of War III?

He killed all the Greek gods so it's time to wipe out Odin, Thor, Baldr, Tyr, Frey, Heimdallr, and the rest. After that, he's going to go for all the Slavic gods like Rod. Hopefully it all builds up to battles against the Abrahamic God and all his prophets.

I'm cool with the idea it's still Kratos. He might've been a shallow, uninteresting husk of a character during the older games, but I wouldn't be surprised if the end of the last game, along with age, ultimately changed him as a person.

I really look forward to this. I've grown a bit tired of the GOW formula, but this doesn't look like that AT ALL. Fresh setting, better characterization (I hope), a combat system that looks slower and more deliberate / intimate, etc. I'm under the impression the story will follow the events of the Ragnarök; if it does, hopefully it will be more nuanced than "KILL ALL THE GODS AGAIN BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO."

@spoonman671: Post-credits. The body's gone and there's a blood trail leading away.

Are they still using the same voice actor? Karatos sounded off...

@geirr: Implying immigration to Scandinavia is easy, hah.

He moved to Norway ofc. there can be only one Kratos.

Finally a game from E3 to be exited about. Lets hope they go back to the roots of GoW 1 and 2.

Yes but thats only if you complete the game on chaos difficulty or whatever the hardest setting is called right?

The one thing they got right was the Gods. In the myths when they weren't assholes they were outright monsters. Even level headed Athena, if you see why Medusa (and her sisters) are the way they are. My problem with the series was just that their divine comeuppance was in the form of an even greater asshole that became an even bigger monster. I'll be interested where this goes, but I would have liked Kratos staying dead, if not buried.

He had the exact same skin and tattoos. He's the same Kratos. I'm fully expecting to play as the kid at some point.

I'm not sure. I never played on the hardest difficulty and I can't remember whether or not I actually saw it (it's been six years). All I know is it's there, in some form or another.

I think he'll probably be a reformed man, though. He brought the world back from the brink of destruction by choosing to kill himself over handing the blade to Athena; regardless of whether or not those were his intentions, from a utilitarian viewpoint that's pretty honorable.

As I said in an earlier comment, I hope it's something new and not another bloodbath with the gods. If it's the Ragnarök, some of the most noteworthy Norse gods will have to die, but Kratos doesn't necessarily have to be the only perpetrator. It'd certainly be more interesting to break away from the old formula.

At the start of the demo Kratos said something like "She taught you to hunt, right?" suggesting the kid's mother raised him alone up until that point. This woman will almost certainly die in some spectacular setpiece early in the game, prompting Kratos to suddenly take responsibility because the story calls for it, and move to viking-land to teach the boy so he can get vengeance on Loki or whatever big bad killed his mom.

Maybe the childs mother was one of the thousands Kratos killed and he suddenly felt some guilt. Its a Solidus snake and Raiden story.

As I said, I'm interested to see where this goes. Though I will say, given Kratos' role in all that destruction, I'm not sure stepping back (especially for debatable reasoning, right thing for the wrong reasons is often still wrong) can be considered that big a plus on the ledger. I don't have much hopes here, since of all the polytheistic pantheons, only maybe Aztec or Hindu has a more built in mythology centered around widescale mythologic death.

So I've never played a God of War and man, that demo was pretty awesome.

I've only played the first one and have never been a huge fan but this made me interested.