I wrote a love letter to God of War Ragnarök on this site. If you haven’t read it, the short version is this: it’s my favorite game of all time, and the reason has nothing to do with combat systems or open world design. It’s because of a father and his son, and what Santa Monica Studio did with that relationship over two games.
That’s the bar. That’s why when a God of War Laufey standalone was announced, I understood immediately why people were nervous.
But I’m not that nervous. I’m curious — and I think that distinction is worth talking about.
Fan Skepticism
There’s a version of gaming fan skepticism that comes from a real place. Studios have taught audiences to be afraid. You watch a beloved franchise slowly drift from the thing that made it matter — the protagonist who earned your trust gets sidelined, the tone shifts toward something more “modern,” and by the time you realize what’s gone, you’re three games deep into a story that doesn’t feel like the one you fell in love with. That wound is real. And it makes sense that some people are sensing that same fear with this announcement.
I totally get it. But with this one we should take a breath and let them cook a bit longer before we pass judgement.
Laufey’s Combat
Here’s what was pleasantly surprising when the Laufey gameplay dropped: she moves nothing like Kratos — and that’s a good thing.
Where Kratos is weight and momentum — every swing carrying the history of a man trying to undo himself — Laufey is fluid. Agile. Her movement isn’t slow and tanky, she’s mobile in a way that reads almost DMC in its energy. That kind of character design choice isn’t accidental. It tells you immediately that Santa Monica isn’t trying to reskin Kratos in a woman’s body. They built a different fighter because Laufey IS a different kind of force.
I’ve already seen the takes suggesting she’s “OP” relative to Kratos. But Laufey is a giant — literally. A god among gods. The idea that her power should be capped out of deference to Kratos is a missed opportunity in building a compelling narrative. She isn’t competing with him. Kratos himself has much respect for Laufey. She’s existing in her own register entirely. And if they ever put Kratos, Atreus, and Laufey together in a fight, you’d have three completely different combat styles that complement each other and the idea of all their different synergy / teamup attacks should excite every player that loves expressive battles and combat. I can see the YouTube battle variation videos already. Don’t think the devs haven’t had that exact thought in mind either.
Narrative Direction
What genuinely interests me most isn’t even the combat. It’s the narrative architecture.
This isn’t a prequel. It isn’t a sequel. It’s a parallel perspective — Laufey’s POV as the events of Ragnarök unfold. As someone who has been actively developing my storytelling craft, that framing is fascinating to me. The same events, seen from a completely different pov in the story. What does the chaos of Ragnarök look like when you’re not Kratos? What if there are moments in this game where Faye nearly doesn’t make it — and the things we watched unfold in Ragnarök almost never happen at all if Faye fails? That’s where the real intrigue lives. The potential is in everything we don’t know yet. That’s what Cory Barlog is going to open up for us — and that’s what fans should actually be excited about.
That’s a structural decision that suggests real creative ambition, not franchise filler.
And then there’s the afterlife expansion — where gods go when they die in this universe. That’s territory Ragnarök gestured at but never got to explore in depth. The idea that this game could pull back the curtain on that mythology, expand what the GoW universe actually is at a cosmological level — that’s the kind of world-building that makes a franchise feel alive rather than just extended.
Track Record
The reason I’m mostly at ease with all of this comes down to one thing: track record.
Cory Barlog rebuilt this franchise from the ground up in 2018 with a vision that was completely at odds with what God of War had been before. That took conviction. It took trust that the audience would follow if the work was honest. And when it came time for Ragnarök, he handed the director’s chair to Eric Williams — and Williams delivered one of the most emotionally complete sequels in the history of the medium. In my opinion it didn’t just match the first game, it took everything up a level. That’s not luck. That’s a creative culture that knows what it’s doing, even when they’re probably not sure themselves.
So far they’ve earned my trust, so a spinoff announcement isn’t a warning sign. It’s an invitation to see how far they can expand what they’ve built. They know the bar is high, they don’t need to be reminded, they feel it.
Let Them Cook
I’m not telling you the skepticism is wrong. I’m telling you it might be borrowed — inherited from a different studio’s mistakes applied to a team that hasn’t made them. At least not so far.
Santa Monica has been consistent with this franchise. And God of War: Laufey looks, from everything revealed so far, like a team that’s still thinking carefully about the universe they’re responsible for — not coasting on it, and not afraid to push in a new creative direction. Because wherever they go, they’ll go there with the core of what this franchise is as their north star. That’s the difference maker.
I’ll be there when it drops. Curious to see what they found.
If you want to understand why this franchise matters to me at a personal level, start here: God of War Ragnarök: A Love Letter
