God of War Ragnarok dev shares the true story behind the game's saddest side quest

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Across the Realms is devastatingly bittersweet

The Eternal Flame
(Image credit: Sony)

A God of War Ragnarok developer has shared the bittersweet story behind one of the game's side quests.

This article contains very minor spoilers for God of War Ragnarok side content.

Across the Realms is a quest that begins in Midgard as Kratos discovers a makeship camp and attempts to track down the people that made it. The quest takes players throughout the realms, locating ingredients to make the campers' favourite dish, the locations marked by a heart. Upon returning to the camp with the ingredients, Mimir tells Kratos the story of Jari and Somr.

In real life, Jari and Somr are Jake Snipes and Sam Handrick, two Santa Monica Studio developers. In a thread on Twitter, Handrick talks about how the two met, became close friends, and fell in love. He discusses how "we'd talk about how much we'd love to leave some symbol of us in Ragnarok. Some indication within this game that had been the reason we'd first met, our first game made together. He once suggested simply a heart, with our initials in Norse runes, carved into this world we made."

Snipes died in 2020 due to complications from epilepsy. When Handrick eventually returned to work on Ragnarok, he "wanted it to be everything [Jake] deserved. And I hoped I could leave some piece of him within it." He went to director Eric Williams, who had been an important part of their relationship, asking if the team could include a memorial to him within the game, and says "he made it so much more."

The campfire that Kratos returns to at the end of the quest never stops burning. Handrick says "I wanted this story to be one many queer people know: journeying through a world that doesn't always understand you to find a place that truly feels like home."

You can read the full story via Sam Handrick's Twitter thread. 

Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.