Leaked images from canceled God of War live-service game tease surprising return of an old villain and use of Norse mythology

Even being one of Sony's most prominent franchises hasn't protected God of War from the wiles of the games industry. Back in January, reports circulated that a live-service project involving Kratos was quietly canned behind the scenes, and now we may have a brief look at that very game.

2018’s God of War and 2022 sequel Ragnarok re-solidified the dual-bladed hero at the forefront of PlayStation's first-party icons. As a result, expanded plans reignited, with a latent screen adaptation back in the works and multiple spin-off games in the pipeline.

One of them was to be a bigger project from Bluepoint Games, the outfit behind 2020’s Demon's Souls remake and a number of HD re-releases. Details are relatively scarce, but it's believed we were going back to the Greek pantheon, with Kratos as a protagonist, and there would’ve been live-service elements of some description.

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Now, images posted by MP1st, which are alleged to feature various assets from Bluepoint's God of War, suggest it would've been an expansive and somewhat anachronistic installment. The pictures are heavy on Greek architecture, placing them in contrast to the Norse-focused output from Santa Monica Studio.

You've got vases reminiscent of the area scattered around, and Greek temples throughout. An underground cave with yellow pools brings Hades to mind. The King of the Underworld was believed to be some form of armorer here. Given his brutal end in the original trilogy, it raises questions about where this would’ve sat within the overall timeline, as, yes, God of War has managed to maintain some semblance of canon.

On top of that, some shots also include inspiration from the Norse setting of Santa Monica's games. Would this have been some form of bridge between the two disparate phases of Kratos? Or maybe the whole idea was for this game to be some form of non-canon celebration of the IP, ala World of Final Fantasy.

I get the sense there were a lot of ideas being thrown around about what this project could or should look like, and nothing had really been settled. Going live service doesn't fill me with confidence about how this would've landed, either. Nonetheless, wherever Kratos reappears, you can bet it'll leave a mark.