GOD OF WAR 4

God OF WAR 4

God of War^[a] is a third-person action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). Released on April 20, 2018, for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, it is the eighth installment in the God of Warseries, the eighth chronologically, and the sequel to 2010's God of War III. Unlike previous games, which were loosely based on Greek mythology, this game is loosely based on Norse mythology. The main protagonists are the returning Kratos, the former Greek God of War, and his young son Atreus. Following the death of Kratos' second wife and Atreus' mother, they journey to fulfill her promise and spread her ashes at the highest peak of the nine realms. Kratos keeps his troubled past a secret from Atreus, who is also unaware of his true nature of being a god. Along their journey, they encounter monsters and gods of the Norse world.

Described by creative director Cory Barlog as a reimagining of the franchise, a major gameplay change is that Kratos prominently uses a magical battle axe instead of his signature double-chained blades. God of War also uses an over-the-shoulder free camera, with the game in one shot, as opposed to the fixed cinematic camera of the previous entries. The game includes role-playing video gameelements, and Kratos' son Atreus provides assistance in combat. The majority of the original game's development team worked on God of War and designed the game to be accessible and grounded. A separate short text-based game, God of War: A Call from the Wilds released in February 2018, follows Atreus on his first adventure.

God of War received universal acclaim from critics, being praised for its narrative, world design, art direction, graphical quality, characters, and combat system. It received perfect scores from multiple reviewers, making it the highest-rated game in the God of Warseries, as well the third highest-rated PS4 game on Metacritic.