In order to rescue them, you’ll need the Captain’s key, and he is nowhere to be found. Finding the CaptainĪ few minutes later, you discover the women and children have locked themselves into the hold of one of the ships, and it may soon be breached by monsters. Just how little of a hero he is will be revealed throughout the rest of the game. Kratos may be an incredible warrior, but he’s no hero. You are not penalized for it, and sometimes you are given health when they die. The designers made a specific choice to have civilians interspersed in your battles, all of whom will get indiscriminately ripped apart by Krato’s blades just as fast as any enemy. This is such a small but incredibly important decision. Of course, the civilians weren’t fairing well with or without your chain blades. You immediately feel firsthand what a warrior Kratos is. Hell, you can even grab an enemy, and with a single button press, tear them in half like they’re made of tissue paper. Kratos moves with unmatched power and fluidity, his chain blades ripping enemies apart from across the room effortlessly. You’re outnumbered, but it doesn’t matter. The enemies approach, and instantly you’re tearing through them. You’re 3 weeks earlier, standing on the deck of a ship in a thunderous storm, creatures swarming all around you, and before you know what a single button does, you are under attack. In barely 30 seconds, you‘ve been given a mystery along with vital details about who you are: I used to be a champion of the Gods? What drove me mad to the point that I would kill myself?Īnd then BOOM. Kratos had once been a champion of the Gods…” After 10 years of suffering, 10 years of endless nightmares, it would finally come to an end.

“And Kratos cast himself from the highest mountain in all of Greece. Kratos is standing at the edge of a cliff, staring at the bottom. No loading, no transition, the man just speaks. And then as soon as you hit NEW GAME, he speaks. The First 30 SecondsĪs soon as the start menu appears, you see Krato’s face staring at you, flames lighting the background behind him. God of War establishes all of these in the first 30 seconds. Establish why should should care - i.e.There are three things the story of an all-new property needs to do immediately:

I need you to come with me back to a time when no one knew who the hell Kratos was, when he was just a pasty guy on a box staring furiously at a temple in the distance.Īre we there together? Okay then. He became Playstation’s defacto mascot for a time, and if you’re a gamer, you’re probably aware of his personality, his backstory, and have a general opinion of him being a giant rage ball ( thanks mainly to how his character devolved across much of the series). Put simply: I cannot think of another action game that more elegantly, compellingly, and efficiently sets up its story, main character, and dramatic mystery in such a short period of time.īut to explain why that is, I need you to do something for me: There are reams of articles on all of the things it excels at and the trends it started - from opening the game with a multi-stage boss fight, to popularizing quick-time-events in one fell swoop.īut something people rarely talk about is just how good the storytelling is. Over 15 years later and it’s still one of the most thrilling openings of all time, rarely topped in intensity and spectacle outside of its own sequels. The 2005 original has remained of my favorite games of all time, a stunningly focused package that manages to accomplish more in its short 8-hour playtime than most games can with triple that length.Īnd it all starts with the opening level.Įveryone knows the Hydra sequence at this point. Every so often I’m standing in the shower, thinking about the day ahead, when the same thought creeps into my head:

God of war 2005