God of War: Ghost of Sparta Explores Kratos’s Past

The fifth and final game included in the God of War Saga collection is God of War: Ghost of Sparta.

When I beat God of War, I unlocked a bonus video that teased the future of the series. That storyline teased there didn’t surface in God of War II. It didn’t happen in Chains of Olympus. It didn’t come up in God of War III. No, they finally brought it back four games later, in Ghost of Sparta.

Set in between God of War and God of War II, Ghost of Sparta was originally released for the PSP, just like Chains of Olympus.

And once again, it features Kratos out for something other than revenge. This time, he’s on a rescue mission.

Haunted by nightmares of his past, Kratos leaves Olympus in search of his mother. When he reunites with her, in a scene adapted from another video unlocked after the original game, she reveals that his brother Deimos is still alive and trapped in the Domain of Death.

(Amazingly, this is the game that breaks the always-visit-the-underworld trend, since the Domain of Death is a separate realm in between the world of the living and the underworld.)

Ghost of Sparta is one of the shorter games in the series, but it has much better pacing than Chains of Olympus does. The gameplay is solid, not quite as smooth as in God of War II and III, perhaps, but with some nice additions. There’s no clear reason why Kratos doesn’t have all of his powers from the end of God of War, although I suppose it would feel contrived if he lost his powers at the start again.

Anyway, this is a much more personal story for Kratos than we’ve seen in the previous games. Not only is he trying to save his brother, but there are also flashbacks to his childhood, showing how he and his brother were separated.

Ghost of Sparta tells a sad story that provides more context for Kratos’s behavior at the start of God of War II, as well as for a few lines in God of War III that reference it. It’s also a deeper exploration of Kratos as a person, with more humanizing moments for him and insight into his past, and it has a lot of great scenes.

While it doesn’t have as many epic scenes or battles as some of the previous games, its story is one of the best in the series so far. And that’s it for the God of War Saga, so since I’ve decided to skip Ascension for the time being, I’m finally ready for the new God of War!

What did you think of God of War: Ghost of Sparta?

(Oh, and the Yakuza news teased for Saturday turned out to be an official English title for Project Judge, Judgment, as well as the announcement that it will have an English dub. No release date, but a window of Summer 2019.)