The rumors about a new God of War game proved to be true during Sony’s latest State of Play event. That’s why the reveal of God of War Laufey wasn’t unexpected. What was a surprise was its cubic, talking, gelatin-like companion character, Phranque (as voiced by The Boys’ Jack Quaid), is the character who turned out to be the breakout star of State of Play.
As seen in the video below, Quaid even provided the motion-capture performance for Phranque.
Ostensibly, the focus was supposed to be on Faye (Deborah Ann Woll), the late wife of Kratos and the mother of their son, Atreus. The game begins shortly after Faye’s death in 2018’s God of War, and she soon finds herself in Everwhen, the afterlife of the gods. However, this is no paradise and Pharanque and his talking ribbon companion, Rue (Perlina Lau), may be the only allies that Fay can depend upon.
While Rue is attached to Faye’s new sword, Pharanque proved that he’s willing to fight alongside Faye. It’s unclear what the full extent of Pharanque’s abilities entail, but he was formidable enough to take on a few of the on-screen enemies. And his engaging personality appears to be a hit with viewers so far.
“I hope by the end of this, everybody has feelings for some ribbons and a jellied cube,” said God of War Laufey director Ariel Lawrence during an interview with IGN.
Sony Santa Monica Head of Creative Cory Barlog also noted that Phranque’s presence in the game has been there since its early stages.
“To me it’s one of the most important parts of it,” said Barlog. “Strip away all of the fanciful and the design and the extra and what you have is this very simple cube, but you imbue inside of it an incredible struggle as well as an earnestness and a real personality.”
God of War Laufey doesn’t currently have a release date, but it will be available on PlayStation 5.