That’s a simply incredible trailer that warrants multiple rewatches by virtue of its visual splendor alone, but before we dive into what absolutely everything in that trailer could mean for the upcoming game, we have to talk about something that was said outside of the trailer during a post-show interview with the Ragnarok team. There, the God of War team confirmed that Ragnarok will live up to its name by actually depicting Ragnarok itself. That also means that the end of this game will mark the end of what the God of War team is calling the “Norse saga.” The words “Norse saga” (and variations of that phrase) were used a few times during the post-show interview and were seemingly deployed very carefully. While we wouldn’t put it past this team to keep a few tricks up their sleeves, it really does sound like God of War‘s “Norse saga” will not be a trilogy as many anticipated and that this upcoming game will indeed mark the end of that particular chapter of Kratos’ story. So far as that goes, it’s worth noting that we recently learned Cory Barlog will not be returning to direct Ragnarok despite his acclaimed work on the previous game. While reports indicate that he is working on another PlayStation project at this time, it’s still not clear if that other project is an entirely new series or if it is indeed whatever the next God of War installment will be. Back to that point, it does seem like the most logical path forward for this franchise is to explore different cultural mythologies. While it’s doubtful that this series will go full Assassin’s Creed by changing eras with each new installment, the team’s careful choice of words and this series’ incredible popularity/potential makes it highly unlikely that this is simply the end of the God of War franchise. That being the case, they’ve obviously got to go somewhere from here. So far as that goes, we know that this series is stepping away from Norse mythology, and we doubt that it would return to Greek mythology quite so soon. Of course, that still leaves us with plenty of appealing options. Somewhere near the top of that list of options would have to be Egyptian mythology. That’s arguably the most “famous” piece of mythology that’s still left on the table, and there are even multiple Egyptian gods and goddesses of war that the series could reference. Granted, Assassin’s Creed Origins explored that era not long ago, but we’re confident there’s still plenty of creative room to work with. I’ve also heard people reference Aztec mythology as a possibility, which sounds absolutely fascinating. That’s an era and style we don’t see a lot of in video games, and the idea of facing off against figures as imposing as Huitzilopochtli or Quetzalcóatl is enough to get the hype train rolling. Ultimately, the big takeaway here is that the God of War franchise has a lot of places it can go beyond Norse mythology. While I quickly fell in love with that world and the various ways it contrasted with the Greek mythology of previous God of War games, a quick look at the many, many directions this franchise could go from here is more than enough reason to not fear the apocalypse and instead embrace the end times and the dawn of something new. Now, we just have to wait and see if God of War: Ragnarok is able to meet its anticipated 2022 release date…
