What started as Kratos row, row, rowing his boat gently down the stream during PlayStation’s E3 press conference quickly turned into one of the most epic game trailers we’ve seen at this year’s show so far. The God of War trailer wowed the audience assembled at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium with a sweeping, story-driven trailer that featured Kratos and his son Atreus, who still looks uncomfortably like Olly from Game of Thrones, venturing deep into the frigid Norse wilds.
Developed by Sony Santa Monica Studio, creative director Cory Balrog and his team seem to going the Logan route with Kratos, forcing the Ghost of Sparta to not only contend with bold new evils, but also reconcile raising a son with his bloodthirsty ways. With vengeful gods dogging their steps, undead warriors blocking their way, and a towering yet surprisingly friendly “World Serpent,” Kratos and Atreus’ adventure looks like one of the most epic in Gods of War‘s storied history.
In addition to world-building narrative moments, the trailer showed off some of the series trademark combat, which looks as fast-paced and brutal as its predecessors, albeit much prettier thanks to the PS4’s 4K graphics. Because Jörmungandr, the World Serpent who grew so large its tail encircled the Earth and whose presence portends Ragnarok, wasn’t meant to be seen in anything less than blistering 1080p.
God of War comes to PS4 in early 2018.
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Image: Sony
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).