It seems like ages since the last God of War came out; but was it really. While it’s been 4 years since God of War III was released in 2010, it’s only been about a year since God of War: Ascension came out for PS3. Wait, there was another God of War? Wasn’t there also a PSP title or two, what about them? What takes place when? WHY IS THIS SO CONFUSING?!?!?!

Well I can assure you that you don’t have to worry anymore about prequels because Santa Monica Studio is now working on the NEXT God of War game. Nothing is really known right now; but as we learned from Creative Director Cory Barlog this is NOT a Prequel. Though while asserting it isn’t a prequel, Barlog refused to speak about whether series protagonist Kratos would be in the game. Then again, he also refused to comment on whether or not this would be a reboot of the series. So, let’s look at both options and see which would make more sense.

God of War IV – A Sequel:

When we last saw Kratos in God of War III, he had just beaten Zeus to a bloody pulp and stabbed himself with the Blade of Olympus rather than give Athena the power of hope . . . yah. Crazy twists and Athena – one of the kindest and most loving characters in the game – becoming evil aside, this seemed like a pretty open and shut ending. Well in the post credit scene we saw a trail of blood showing that Kratos is alive and dragged – or was pulled – out of the water.

So with the world was plunged into chaos, death and darkness, what is there to move onto? Will God of War IV revolve around Kratos angrily trying to put the world back together? All the Gods are dead, except Aphrodite because you slept with her. I’d say we could analyze plot points of prior games and hints/easter eggs along the way; but let’s face it: that’s an uphill battle even Kratos wouldn’t attempt.

God of War Reboot – Fixing The Past:

For anyone who’s ever played beyond the first two God of War games, you can tell there are minor to serious continuity errors. In fact, it seems as though the more games – or rather prequels – they made, the more and more continuity errors appeared. From the post-credit videos of the first game to the repetitive dead ends and crazy left turns God of War III took, the series is confusing enough as it is without the jumbled timelines and errors of the prequel games. In the end, all that was really accomplished was ruining the feeling and novelty of the first 2 games.

So what if they rebooted the series – either partially or fully. The original God of War was a classic and you could argue that God of War II was the best of the series with only one minor continuity error in it. After this, everything went downhill fast – actually, it was more like halfway through God of War III. So if they rebooted partially, it’d be easiest to just jump from God of War one and continue since the post credit videos – while largely considered non canon – could have been used for so much more than they were.

Then again, perhaps people know Kratos too well and they’d seek to reboot it all. This could prove too big of a job – and possibly a bad move – so there should be some connection to at least the original game. Perhaps a modern day setting exploring the ruins of Pandora’s Temple – which one of the post videos hinted at. Now a days gamers like continuity. They’re intelligent and love digging deeper into the mythos created by games. To attempt this with God of War series lately only leads to more and more headaches. Perhaps this will be an attempt to right their wrongs.

Kitten Of War (2016/17)?

Whatever Santa Monica decides to do in 2016 – most likely -, this is still exciting news to stay up to date on. Though in the end, will it be worth it or not? Will story once again be sacrificed for more gore and brutal combat? The savagery of God of war is fun; but only when it is paired with a good story. Otherwise we’re just beat a dead horse again and again and again and again … which exactly the ending of God of War III if you change ‘horse’ to ‘Zeus’.