The 2018 release of God of War might have won game awards and become one of Sony’s best PlayStation games but it also spawned its own “Boy” meme. Kratos had very little respect for his son in the 2018 God of War and like a lieutenant, would often refer to Atreus as “Boy”. When Kratos reprimanded him it was “Boy”, when Kratos wanted him to do something, it was also “Boy”. Even right up to the end of the game, Kratos refused to say his name. However, in God of War Ragnarok that is changing.
According to Sony Santa Monica Studios’ Eric Williams, Kratos and Atreus’ relationship has grown a lot since the last game. Kratos now calls the boy by his real name, Atreus. Williams says that the decision to drop the boy reference was mainly due to the strides Kratos has made to respect his son a lot more than before. Kratos feels like it is no longer time to baby the child and that Atreus has grown enough to no longer be treated like a kid.
Sony Santa Monica Studios also approached the game with an open mind as to include both parents and their kids in the emotional exploration of the relationship between Kratos and Atreus.
“It’s that idea that we really wanted it to be this feeling of like ‘oh, I can find a way into this story, whether I’m a parent or a child, or I’m somewhere in between, or I remember both sides of it’. There’s a way in for everyone. The last game you had Atreus just always being told what to do by adults. Anybody asks a question and they never give him an answer. But we wanted to be a lot more grey”
I already saw in my early hands-on with the game that Kratos is really trying hard to be a more supportive, protective father. I reference a specific line where Kratos and Atreus are arguing about something the boy wants to do. Kratos refuses to support this decision and Atreus screams at him saying “stop thinking like a father for a change and start thinking like a lieutenant”.
God of War Ragnarok releases on 8 November for PS4 and PS5. You can expect our full review of the game to go live on 3 November.
Source: GamesRadar
