This year’s God of War is changing the series in some big ways, but it’s in good hands. As part of their month long coverage Game Informer sat down with Creative Director Cory Barlog and Sony Santa Monica Studio Head Shannon Studstill to talk about the evolution of the hack-and-slash game that came out back in 2005 to this one today. When asked about bringing a series veteran on to fundamentally shake up and change the game, Studstill suggested that you have to have someone with passion.
“I think you need to know the lineage. It’s a very deep storyline, and bringing in someone that understands that history is the respect the franchise deserves. We don’t want somebody that thinks they know the best next step, but [someone who] really truly embodies it,” Studstill said. “Cory, of course, with God of War 2, had that passion.” “Gotta know the rules to break the rules,” Barlog interjected. Studstill goes on to talk about Barlog’s interest in scripts and narrative, and surmises that that’s the direction fans wanted to see the franchise go. “We have to rip literally all of the walls down,” Barlog said of being initially afraid to make some of those big changes that might concern fans, such as the removal of the jump button.
The team had to take a long look to figure out what the key, load bearing pillars of God of War were that definitely couldn’t be removed without taking away the gameR...