There are a lot of options in front of Santa Monica Studios following the success of the latest game, so here’s a rundown to give you a better idea about what will be the next God of War game after Ragnarok. The huge success of the 2022 release means that there’s got to be more from the series, but what will that be?
The game has a number of teases, which we discussed in our sequel theories and ideas post, so we’re going to boil them down to the core game concepts that we might get next. We’ll also give you our take on the likelihood of each of them and date range we could be looking at before we get to play.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind the fact that Sony and Santa Monica has recently announced a God of War TV series. This is bound to arrive before the next game and if anything could slow things down or force a narrower field of view for the future of the franchise.
Taking all of this into account, we’ll then go full bore Punxsutawny Phil and give you our take on which of the options is the most likely. There’s a possibility that we’ll be spot on, so don’t read on if you truly don’t want to find out more about what we’re going to see next from Kratos and Atreus.
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The next game will be an Atreus-led spinoff
If you’ve played God of War Ragnarok right the way to the end, then you know that this is a distinct possibility. If you haven’t played it to the end yet then you might want to finish it off before reading anything else, because we’re going to get into the ending in a big way.
AdvertisementYou can check out the video below to see how it all comes to an end, if you need a reminder, but in general it looks like Atreus is going his own way next. He’s on a mission to find the rest of the giants and the implication is that they’re not in Midgard or any of the Nine Realms of the Norse mythology.
That means he’s either going on a globetrotting adventure that will see him interacting with a number of different godly pantheons or there’s a specific one where the giants have now taken up residence. The options for this in terms of the next game after Ragnarok are Japan, China, India, South America and Egypt, with all of them getting nods during the course of the Norse God of War games.
Going totally solo with Atreus would be a very bold move by Santa Monica Studios, but it isn’t unheard of. Naughty Dog did it brutally in The Last of Us Part II, so there’s enough of a precedent to make it a possibility and it would open up the potential to have multiple games in the franchise and other ideas, which we’ll cover below.
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The God of War will be drawn into the search for the giants too
The very idea of a God of War game that doesn’t feature Kratos at some point is completely unheard of. It’s his franchise and there could well be a lot of descent in the fan base if he doesn’t get in on the action too.
It’s for this reason that the next game could well either start out with Atreus, but draws in Kratos throughout the course of the action. Or, it picks straight up with the God of War going on a search for Atreus having not heard from his son in a while.
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This would still be either the multi-pantheon adventure or one of the the locations mentioned above, but with Atreus’ dear old dad being a playable character for large parts of the game too. It would also give us call-backs to the Norse Saga and allow other character stories to be included like Sindri’s anger at the loss of his brother or the discovery of the real Tyr.
Kratos goes solo next
Another option would be for the next God of War game to continue with Kratos as he sets about being a true godly presence. The implication during the ending above is that his destiny is to look after his people and it’s easy to assume that this means the people of the Norse realms, but what if it’s more than that.
What if he starts to think about his responsibility to the people of Greece that he left behind and sets out to check up on them. You might say this isn’t much of a possibility because he’s already cleared out the last Pantheon, but there are plenty of gods left for his to reckon with.
AdvertisementZeus, Aries, Athena, Icarus, Poseidon, Hades, Helios, Hermes, Hera, Cronos and Hephaestus are all dead, but there are plenty of others that could well be wreaking havok over in Kratos’ homeland. There’s Apollo and Artemus for a start, along with Nyx (chaos incarnate), Nemesis (revenge incarnate) and Dionysus (tapping into the wilder madness aspect of his character).
This could then be used as a teaser for the Atreus solo or team up adventure, giving the studio an opportunity to build even more anticipation for it. Towards the end of the story with Kratos, he could get word of trouble for Atreus and it ends with a cliffhanger of what happens next.
The prequel hints in God of War Ragnarok
In addition to all of the teasers for the next location and Pantheon after God of War Ragnarok, the closing chapter in the Norse Saga had a few hints about a prequel. There were a lot of references to Faye’s exploits before and running up to Kratos arrival in Midgard.
In addition to the flashbacks, we also got to hear about her efforts to thwart the might of Odin in the past, including a confrontation with Thor. There has never been a female lead character in God of War, so it could well be another direction Santa Monica Studios decides to go in.
AdvertisementThey’ve already introduced strong female roles with both Angrboða (played by Laya DeLeon Hayes) and Freya (played by Danielle Bisutti), so a lead role could work well with Brok or Sindri being possible support characters. She was the former owner of the Leviathan Axe, so the mechanics would be easy to achieve and it would be based in the Norse lands, so the environments are at hand as well.
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If that isn’t enough, Faye is played by the most famous member of the cast, Deborah Ann Woll, who starred in Netflix’s Daredevil before her part in Ragnarok. It seems odd to pay out the big bucks for a known actor and not to build something big with them, so it’s definitely a contender for the future.
Could there be a remake in the works?
Another interim project that could be on the cards is a remake of the earlier games in the series. It would be a slam dunk for the studio and who wouldn’t want to face off against Aries and the rest of Greek pantheon again, but fully remastered for the PlayStation 5.
With the success of God of War Ragnarok there’s definitely enough of an interest in the game to warrant more investment in the series. This could result in Santa Monica building out a number of teams to tackle one or more of these projects.
It makes sense for this to start with a remake of 2005’s God of War, despite the fact that it’s the third entry chronologically. It’s where he takes on Ares, the incumbent Greek god of war and it includes fights with the Hydra and Medusa.
However, there aren’t that many boss fights, so maybe they would need to combine this with the prequels, Ascension and Chains of Olympus to add in Hercules, The Furies, Manticore, Basilisk and Persephone into the mix.
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Our final prediction for the next game
All of the options for the next God of War game after Ragnarok are possibilities, and if anything they could all come to pass at some time in the future. However, if we had to call things, the safe bet for Santa Monica Studios and Sony PlayStation is to have the combo adventure with Kratos and Atreus taking on another pantheon in a bid to save the giants.
As mentioned above, this could either be starting out with Atreus, but needing Kratos’ help, or starting out with Kratos who sets off to find his son when he’s gone too long. Either the challenge needs the power of his father to complete or Atreus gets taken prisoner just like the other giants and it’s up to the God of War to save him.
AdvertisementIf we had to boil things down in terms of the setting, India and Japan are the top two with the latter being slightly more likely. The fact that it’s a Sony exclusive is enough of a reason for it to be Japan, but the Tyr-ending hints about martial arts, flute melodies and Zen meditation is enough to give it the nod for us.
That in itself would be amazing, but it would be cool to see something else in between Ragnarok and its proper sequel. The remaster would be our preference in the short term, elevating GOW 2005 and its prequel stories to next gen levels. However, the Faye prequel would be cool too.
Either way it’s looking very good for the future if you’re a God of War fan. The addition of the free DLC update in winter 2023 didn’t really change that much in terms of our predictions for the future of the series, but it does add to our anticipation about what might be coming next. It also gives us a lot of confidence about whether there will be another game in the series.
Check out our computer games section to keep tabs on more from the world of games, or visit the PlayStation website at https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/ for more details on God of War Ragnarok.
