Sony had its State of Play presentation earlier this week, and it was a big one. Marvel Tokon! Wolverine! God of War is partnering up with Tiktok-viral Icelandic jazz pop singer Laufey! Wait, not that last one…
In all seriousness, Sony and Santa Monica Studio unveiled their next mainline God of War game and in a surprising turn of events, it does not feature Kratos as the main protagonist. It doesn’t even feature Atreus as the main playable character, which I’m sure plenty of folks would’ve been expecting if Kratos wasn’t gonna come back. Instead, players will get to take control of Faye, Kratos’ wife, who somehow comes back to life after her funeral and realizes that Kratos and Atreus may be in more danger than she expected.
Look, a collaboration with Laufey would’ve been timely, alright? Laufey is currently in the middle of her A Matter of Time tour, and I only just saw her in Singapore a couple weeks back. She’s gotten massively popular with her songs going viral on social media platforms, and she’s just a damn good performer to boot. And given the fact that video game developers and publishers are certainly not above mashing different IPs and celebrities together in their video games (looking at you, Fortnite), it did not strike me as particularly strange to see God of War Laufey and immediately assume that Santa Monica Studio was cashing in on Laufey’s popularity and putting her in a God of War game.
I will say that it did make me feel skeptical at best. Laufey‘s a fantastic performer and singer, but I’m not so sure the brutality of God of War really gels with her nice girl fairy princess aesthetic.
Thankfully, I was quickly proven wrong as a quick Google search informed me that Laufey is, in fact, a prominent figure in Norse mythology. She is — checks notes — the mother of Loki, who goes by Atreus in the God of War reboot games. She is not, however, a god. So I do have some reservations about making her the lead in the new mainline God of War game. After all, it’s in the title, is it not? We play these games because we want to play as the God of War. Last I checked, that was Kratos, not Faye, who is not even a god.
Still, far be it from me to question Santa Monica Studio and Cory Barlog’s vision for the series. I should mention that The Boys‘ Jack Quaid will be in this one too, voicing Phranque, who is described as a “curious cosmic cube”. If I had to guess, he’ll likely take on the Mimir role in God of War Laufey, and I have high hopes for Quaid, who’s really grown on me over the past decade.
God of War Laufey will retain lots of the action-packed combat elements that make the series so iconic in the first place, and the developers have also made sure to point out that she has “deep roots as a warrior” and could even be considered Thor’s equal. Big words, devs. But I’m curious to see where this goes, at the very least.
… For the record, I truly would not have been opposed to a God of War game with Laufey herself as the main voice actress. Make it a musical too, why don’t you?
God of War Laufey is set to be released for PS5 in early 2027.
