After being privy to an extended version of the pretty impressive God of War E3 2016 demo, we caught up with Sony Santa Monica's Technical Designer Mihir Sheth and Gameplay Engineering Lead Jeet Shroff.
The interview, available in full below, touches upon the reimagining of the series, the new Norse setting, and increased freedom, but we wanted to dig into the new young companion character (a feature with its own "son button") and the progression system linked to it.
"Really this game is about a journey and an adventure, and we really want to explore the idea of the relationship that exists between Kratos and his son", explains Shroff.
"And we didn't want to shy away from just maintaining that in just the narrative, we wanted to bleed that into combat as well. So we've introduced the son button, and what the son button does is, it's one of the face buttons mapped directly to command the son in combat, to fire arrows at targets that Kratos has engaged with. And this kind of ties in really into the kind of pick up and play feeling that the series is really well known for."
This way, it's actually the player who decides when to attack with the child, as shown in the gameplay footage within the same video. But, will we be able to control the son as a fully playable character? Looks like it, but the devs won't confirm or deny that yet:
"The teaching moments are gameplay moments where you can take control of the son... we're going to be exploring other avenues, but we're not revealing too many details right now at this time."
After all, you keep upgrading both characters...
"Throughout the journey Kratos as well as his kid are going to be moving forward and getting stronger and more powerful", adds Sheth, "and the player is going to be collecting things and doing experiences which will affect both Kratos and the son - that's really important for us. Even though you play as Kratos, a lot of what you're doing involves the son. The son will play a key part in combat."
The new God of War has currently no launch date or window confirmed, but it should arrive on PS4 no later than 2017. Here's the full interview:
