We recently got some hands-on time with God of War in Copenhagen (a preview of which you can read here), also getting the chance to speak to design director Derek Daniels about the game, and when we asked what he was most proud of in the game, he gave us a rather personal answer.
"The ability to tell a story of a father," he said. "I had recently become a father, Cory [Barlog] has recently become a father, and so trying to get that relationship in, with how do you connect with your son?... I always joke around that the kids are better at being kids than we are at being parents, and you kind of see that. Kratos reaches out and tries to interact with Atreus but he doesn't know how. So I think the thing I'm most proud about is the story that Matt and Rich were able to tell with Kratos and Atreus, but also the gameplay inclusion of Atreus doesn't feel like a burden, you don't have feel like you're babysitting him. He feels like a natural extension of all the gameplay and all the elements there."
"From the very beginning we joked, and we called it the 'son button'. We have to have a 'son button' [...] We've all played games with a [companion] character, they're kind of annoying, so we wanted to make sure Atreus felt, like I said, a natural extension of Kratos. He's always around, always present. The other thing too is, Kratos' main weapon is the Leviathan Axe, melee-focused [...] but Atreus on the flip side, his main weapon - a Bow - has range."
We also talked with Daniels about the other potential settings that were considered, and what could be considered for future instalments in the franchise, and it turns out that one of them stands out for him. "I think Egyptian is still interesting," he said. "There's still potential there in the future."
For the full interview check out the video down below. Have you been apprehensive about Atreus in the game?
