After quite a few leaks and unintentional teases, Santa Monica Studio has finally announced the long-rumored, Faye-centric God of War prequel coming to PS5.
Wrapping up today’s State of Play with a whopping 20 minutes of footage, the debut of God of War: Laufey showed the sword-wielding Faye exploring atmospheric, lushly rendered ruins and gracefully smiting enemies with her blade. At one point she’s grabbed by two formidable foes against whose armor her blade shatters. It’s clear these people are bad news, as we see them mistreating creatures of the realm. Her captors take her to some red-skinned demon lord and a blue-skinned woman who takes a splinter from Faye’s palm. They threaten to kill Faye but are distracted by a light in the distance. Sadly, I’m not enough of an expert in the mythologies of the world to identify where these beings hail from, but I get the feeling that the God of War series is once again drawing on new mythological traditions to fuel its narrative. (Indeed, the description on the PlayStation Store describes the realm Faye finds herself in after death as “the Everywhen – where ruthless gods from across mythology vie for power in a land overflowing with dangerous magic.”) Also, before all is said and done, Faye ends up having a friendly chat with a gelatinous cube, so classic D&D monsters may be in the mix as well. You can watch the whole thing below:
The game made its first official appearance at Sony’s summer State of Play showcase, where it appeared alongside games like Insomniac’s Wolverine. By the time God of War (2018) starts, Faye has already passed, though the game never gets into the specifics of what happened. Before her death, she set things in motion for Kratos and her son Atreus’ journey through the Nine Realms to spread her ashes, and then she appeared in flashbacks in 2022’s God of War: Ragnarok. For a character who has such a profound impact on the story, she has remarkably little screen time, so it’s cool to see she’s getting her own game so she can be more than just a character haunting the narrative.
Outside of the new game, a PS5 remake of the original God of War trilogy is also in the works, as is a live-action Amazon show based on the more recent games. So even if the story’s not moving forward just yet, God of War fans are going to have plenty to keep them busy for the foreseeable future.