God of War dev remembers getting "so angry" during play tests before admitting players were right: "Why can't you just get on this climb wall here?"

As an artist, it's often difficult to see the forest for the trees. When a video game developer has spent years on a project, every aspect of the game becomes second nature to them, so they can have trouble knowing if systems are being explained properly to new players. That's why play testers are important, and why one God of War developer admits that they eventually agreed with them after getting angry at their suggestions.

Speaking during a recent God of War 20th anniversary panel, Todd Papy, a creative director at Lightspeed and former game director on God of War Ascension says: "I remember always going into those play test and being so angry, 'Why can't you just get on this climb wall here?'" He's speaking about the older God of War games.

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"But at the end of the day you go home, probably have a beer or whiskey, and relax," he says. "You come in the next day and it's like, 'They were right, we have to fix it.' Those play tests were so invaluable to us."

While the God of War games old and new are both remembered for their combat and boss battles, they're also puzzle games. Kratos isn't a himbo – he's a learned Spartan general and very quick-witted, so it's not surprising a lot of early play testers got bamboozled by certain aspects of the series.

In God of War Ragnarok, Atreus infamously offers up hints to most in-game puzzles, but he does it way too quickly. There's finally an option to tone down his suggestions though.

If you prefer the combat elements of the series, check out some of the best action games you can play today.

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I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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