History VideoGame / GodOfWar

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* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' (2011) - exclusive GuestFighter for the [=PS3=] and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita versions

* DoomedByCanon: The series has two spin offs on UsefulNotes/{{P|laystationPortable}}SP: ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus Chains of Olympus]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta Ghost of Sparta]]''. The former is a prequel to the original game and the latter is set between the first and the second. The plots of both games are predictable due to this trope. [[SarcasmMode I wonder if Kratos will succeed in saving his brother..]]

* VideoGameLongRunners: The series just recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Since the first title on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, Kratos' story has been chronicled in six canonical games, as well as a non-canonical mobile game.

* WolverinePublicity: Kratos has become Creator/SonyComputerEntertainment's Wolverine, seeing as how he appeared in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny'' as per fan-request as well as the UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation3}}S3 version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. He's also stated to be the "beginner's character" in ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', similar to Mario in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''

** Just about everything. Besides the obvious -- at ''no'' point in the original myths are the gods of Olympus massacred by an angry bald man -- ''God of War'' makes an all-too common mistake modern adaptations of Greek myths often make (mainly due to CriticalResearchFailure): depicting the Greek pantheon as nothing else but ruthless tyrants who oppress and abuse humanity. While the aspect of The Olympians being petty in their grievances and disproportionate in the punishments are both all very true, there were indeed moments where The Olympians do show the capacity for being kind or generous to certain individuals. ValuesDissonance reveals that many Greek myths were actually intended to be lighthearted at the time, and serve as reflections of the general disposition of the people they came from. The more DarkerAndEdgier elements were first conceived in the dark ages. It's somewhat justified in the ending of the final game where [[spoiler:it turns out all the gods, including Zeus, were infected by humanity's evils after Kratos opened PandorasBox in the first game]].

* '''''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarBetrayal God of War: Betrayal]]''''' was released for mobile phones in 2007. Taking place during Kratos's crusade as the new god of war, Kratos finds himself in hot water when he's framed for the murder of one of Hera's pet monstrosities. It also details Kratos's blood lust getting the better of him, leading him to ShootTheMessenger--in this case, Hermes' son Ceryx, who had come to warn him that the gods thought Kratos's blood lust was getting the better of him. Whoops. (This the only game besides ''Ascension'' that does not feature a visit to Hades.)

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Every god in the third game has one to some degree, along with some EvilGloating. The kicker? Their accusations of Kratos being a monster who seeks only destruction and vengeance are far from unfounded. Special mention to Zeus who mocks Kratos for failing everyone he's ever cared about.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Played with,[[spoiler: Kratos forgives himself for his family's death and commits suicide at the end of GOW III releasing Hope into the world. Its ambiguous as to whether he released Hope to truly benefit humanity or one last "Screw You!" to Athena - if not a combination thereof - and whether it truly makes up for all the evil and chaos he caused in his life for his own selfish reasons.]]. [[spoiler: And Kratos didn't actually die, either]].

** Just about everything. Besides the obvious -- at ''no'' point in the original myths are the gods of Olympus massacred by an angry bald man -- ''God of War'' makes an all-too common mistake modern adaptations of Greek myths often make (mainly due to ValuesDissonance): depicting the Greek pantheon as ruthless tyrants who oppress and abuse humanity. The truth is that Greek myths were lighthearted, reflecting the general disposition of the people they came from. The DarkerAndEdgier elements were first conceived in the dark ages. It's somewhat justified in the ending of the final game where [[spoiler:it turns out all the gods, including Zeus, were infected by humanity's evils after Kratos opened PandorasBox in the first game]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Kratos (right) [[ButForMeItWasTuesday on a good day]].]]

''God of War'' is a HackAndSlash and ActionAdventure video game series for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation line by Creator/SCESantaMonicaStudio. To put the setting in simple terms, imagine the world of antiquity where all the omnipresent saviors and detrimental scourges found in countless mythology textbooks exist. One Spartan soldier, Kratos, has a personal relationship with the gods that can best be described as complicated. A brutal, tormented man, Kratos begins the series as the sword of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Olympus]], fighting the enemies of the gods while trying to escape the horrors of his past.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarI''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in 2005. Kratos [[InMediasRes begins]] by declaring that "The gods of Olympus have abandoned [him]" and flinging himself over [[DespairEventHorizon the tallest cliff in Greece]]; the rest of the game details HowWeGotHere. In this extended flashback, Kratos is charged by Athena with the task of killing Ares, the God of War, who has declared war on Athens; to do this, he will have to [[DungeonCrawling dungeon-crawl]] through the Temple of Pandora and find PandorasBox, which contains in it the power to kill a god. In return, Athena offers him absolution for his DarkAndTroubledPast, in which he served Ares as a BloodKnight and was [[BatmanGambit manipulated]] into slaying his beloved wife and daughter. After a long, arduous journey, including [[OnceAnEpisode being killed but escaping from Hades]], Kratos succeeds at his labor. [[ExactWords Athena, unfortunately, was only speaking literally]] -- she forgives Kratos' sins, but she cannot take away his [[ILetGwenStacyDie personal guilt]] or end his [[RecurringDreams recurring nightmares]]. Kratos, despairing, [[DrivenToSuicide re-enacts the game's opening scene]]. Athena saves him, however, and says she has a consolation prize for him: with Ares dead, there is an empty throne on Mt. Olympus...

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in 2007. Kratos, now [[KlingonPromotion the new]] [[LegacyCharacter god of war]], leads his Spartans in a bloody conquest of Greece, heedless of the mutterings of other gods who think he's out of control. Zeus takes matters into his own hands by stripping Kratos of his godhood and slaying him. Kratos escapes Hades with the help of the titan Gaia, who tells him to travel to the Island of Creation, where TheHecateSisters work the Loom of Fate and can change his destiny. After a game's worth of adventures, Kratos uses the Loom to travel back to the moment of his death and manages to escape with his life... but Athena [[TakingTheBullet gets involved]] in the resulting brawl, leading to her death. She reveals that Zeus will never stop trying to kill him, because of a recurring Greek prophecy that the current king-god will be overthrown by his son. Zeus did it to his father Cronos; [[LukeIAmYourFather Kratos might do it to Zeus]]. Kratos, now royally pissed off, changes his goal from "survive" to "kill my father," and uses the Loom to help the Titans stage a full-on invasion of Olympus. CliffHanger.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus''''' was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable in 2008. Taking place ten years before the first game, it details the first time Kratos was used as a sort of celestial hit man. Morpheus, the god of sleep, is running rampant, because Helios, god of the sun, has gone missing. Athena has Kratos look into the matter, and he discovers that Persephone has masterminded the situation. Feeling betrayed by her ArrangedMarriage to Hades, she has kidnapped Helios and given his power to the titan Atlas, who plans to destroy Olympus with it. Kratos must abandon his daughter Calliope and bring an end to Persephone's scheming... permanently.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 in 2010. Picking up exactly where ''II'' left off, it details Kratos and the Titans' assault on Olympus. After killing Poseidon, Kratos is betrayed by Gaia and [[RunningGag tossed into the underworld]], but escapes and begins to climb Mount Olympus, killing all who stand in his path--Hades, Perses, Helios, Hermes, Hercules, Cronos, Hephaestus, Hera--and learning that PandorasBox still exists, now deep in the Labyrinth and guarded by an eternal fire which can only be snuffed out if Pandora herself immolates herself on it. This proves troubling, because as Kratos [[EscortMission escorts Pandora]] through the dungeon, he begins to think of her as a daughter. Kratos wants to kill Zeus, but he also wants his family back. Which one will he choose?... (Who are we kidding, it's a video game. But there's sufficient CharacterDevelopment to make us believe that Kratos actually has qualm about killing Pandora, so, kudos there.) This is officially the end of the trilogy, but not the franchise.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta''''' was released for [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] in 2010. It starts with a flashback to Kratos' childhood, in which he trains with his brother Deimos. Deimos is believed to be TheChosenOne who will topple Olympus, and so he is kidnapped by the gods, particularly Ares. In "the present day" (some time between ''I'' and ''Betrayal'') of gameplay proper, Kratos decides to find out what became of his brother.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension''''' was released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 in 2013. A prequel set six months after Kratos murdered his family, it features Kratos' attempts to find a way to deal the Furies, who punish oathbreakers, with the help of a new companion Orkos in order to kill them so that he can break his blood oath from his own dealer Ares. This is also the only game in the series that has a multiplayer mode.

* '''''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 God of War]]''''': A [[{{Retool}} soft reboot]] of the series released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in 2018. Centuries after the events of ''III'', Kratos now lives in the woods of Midgard. [[OlderAndWiser Having turned over a new leaf and tamed his rage]], Kratos has gained a new family in [[SecondLove Faye]], a mortal huntress, and then [[WellDoneSonGuy Atreus]], his son, from whom he hides his true nature and past. [[PlotTriggeringDeath Faye has just died]], and Kratos and Atreus now leave their home to scatter her ashes at the top of the highest peak among the nine realms. The quest reveals itself to be harder than anticipated as several mysterious Norse Gods pursue them for unknown reasons, and the peak is in Jötunheim, the realm of the Frost Giants whose passages are closed off.

* '''''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok''''' was released in 2022 on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. Set three years after the previous game, Kratos and his now adolescent son have been surviving Fimbulwinter that started after the death of Baldur. However, the Aesir, especially Odin, have begun their advances on the two, forcing them to set off on another journey across the realms. Learning of their part to play in Ragnarök, they decide to seek out Tyr, the Norse god of war, in hopes to stop the aforementioned apocalypse.

* ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' (2014) as a BonusBoss exclusive to the [=PlayStation=] versions

[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Kratos (right) [[ButForMeItWasTuesday on his way to work]].]]

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** '''''God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla''''' - A free DLC that is slated to release on December 12, 2023.

** '''''God of War: Ragnarok: Valhalla''''' - A free DLC that is slated to release on December 12, 2023.