Atreus and his impact on combat in God of War explained

God of War is coming to PlayStation 4 in "early 2018", and when it does make its (hopefully) triumphant return, leading man Kratos will be joined by his son Atreus.

"It's definitely a single-player game, it's not co-op," Santa Monica Studio's Aaron Kaufman told us. "But Atreus, who is Kratos's son, as I said, is a really, really important part of the combat loop. So important that we've actually dedicated a button to him."

"So while you're mainly controlling Kratos, Atreus acts as a strategic advantage for you, he's a support for you, he has magical arrows that he fires, he can tag-team with Kratos, he can jump on enemy's backs and jump off them and fling arrows into the air. He's very, very important, he can help you out with puzzles.

Atreus isn't just there to help out during tricky moments, Kratos's son is also integral to the Norse-themed story that the studio wants to tell.

"I think what's also important about him is that he plays a deeply, deeply important part in the story. He's arguably as important as Kratos to where we're taking the next God of War game, and I think through the story through their relationship and the dialogue that they share together, and this incredible adventure that they're going on, and a very deeply personal quest, you'll see that in spades and see why it was so important to introduce the son to Kratos."

Later, in the same interview, Kaufman gave us some insight into the pacing of the game:

"It is very much a roller coaster ride. There's exploration, there's storyline, there are a lot of different characters and gods and monsters that Kratos and Atreus are going to encounter on this incredibly, incredibly dangerous road."