The Desert of Lost Souls is an extremely large open desert located far to the east of Athens. The desert is isolated from any pocket of civilization and haunted by Sirens and other monsters. There may have once been a city in the Desert, since there are many ruins in it, but it was completely covered by its sands through endless time.
Cronos's punishment[]
After the first Titanomachy, Zeus captured his father Cronos and enchained Pandora's Temple upon his back. He then exiled Cronos in the Desert and condemned him to forever wander the desert while carrying Pandora's Temple, until the desert sands rip the very flesh off his bones from his body. It was never long however, until after Kratos reclaimed the Box after it was taken from him by Ares after his supposed death and resurrection from the Underworld, and opened the Box, did Zeus remove his father from the desert, instead banished him to the Pits of Tartarus after the evil of Fear consuming him, knew of Kratos's victory, beaten Hephaestus for his deceit, banished him into the Forge next to Tartarus as well and in turn, taken his daughter Pandora and imprisoned her within the Labyrinth itself.
God of War: Ascension[]
In God of War: Ascension's multiplayer, the Desert of Lost Souls serves as one of the battle maps. It features Polyphemus, the giant cyclops, as a boss. The scenery is a ruined city in the middle of the Desert, with Polyphemus enchained in the center of it.
Traps[]
The map features fire and spike pits as traps.
Godly Intervention[]
When the gods intervene, the Spear of Olympus fell from the sky, if a player can secure the spear, they can wound Polyphemus and have a chance to finish off the cyclops.
Trial of the Gods[]
The Desert also serves as one of the three maps of the Trial of the Gods mode. Warriors start at the bottom of the map and must destroy altars to summon enemies, and then kill them. Enemies such as Satyrs, Harpies, Elephantaurs, Feral Hounds, Wraiths, Satyr Generals, Megaera's Minions, Fire Taloses, Ice Chimeras and Amazons can be found in this map. After killing each horde of enemies, players can progress through the map, destroying more altars and fighting more hordes.
As the player(s) reach the "top" of the Desert, the place that is right in front of Polyphemus, they destroy the final altar and kill another horde. However, Polyphemus won't be there until the final round. After doing this, they must enter a small portal, which will take them back to the bottom area to start all over again. At each time players do this, they beat a round. There is a total of 5 rounds per match, which means that, to win a match, players need to go from the bottom to the top part of the Desert 5 times, killing all the enemies on the way.
After getting to the top for the last time, Polyphemus will be there, trying to attack players with his hands while they fight some monsters. After the enemies are killed, the Spear of Olympus will fall from the sky. A player must get it, fire a spear at Polyphemus to stun him and then go to his head to finish him. By killing Polyphemus, the match is won.
God of War[]
Athena sets Kratos in a quest after Pandora's Box, the item he needs to kill Ares. It is located inside Pandora's Temple and it's its greatest treasure. In order to reach the Temple and the Box, which are still on the back of Cronos, Kratos must venture through the Desert and complete some tasks.
First, he has to search and kill the three Desert Sirens, monstrous women who live in the Desert and threaten its travellers with magic powers. Killing them will release their souls and open a door to a ruin, leading to another part of the Desert.
The Titan Horn, at the end of these Desert Ruins, is the only way to bring Cronos to whoever wished to brave the dangers posed by Pandora's Temple. It is guarded by some Sirens. Kratos uses the Horn to call Cronos to his direction and then jumps to his back, climbing to the Temple.
God of War III[]
Cronos was moved from the Desert to Tartarus with Pandora's Temple still enchained on his backs. Although the Desert is not mentioned in this game, it is safe to assume that it no longer exists, having been drowned in Poseidon's flood.
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla[]
When Valhalla took advantage of Kratos' past, it recreated the Desert of Lost Souls.
Trivia[]
- Although the desert was portrayed as being located on the outskirts of Athens in-gameplay, the God of War novel clearly portrays it as being extremely isolated from the city, to the point where it was night in Athens at the same time it was day on the desert, with Kratos wondering how it was possible for him to access such a remote location on foot. This requires it to be thousands of miles away from Greece proper.
- This is most likely because of the system's hardware limitations, since several cutscenes and dialogue outside the gameplay support the novel's point of view; the Oracle claims the desert is located "far to the east" of the city, which would make no sense if it were located just outside the city's boundaries. Not only that, she is shown to use her magic to open a magical portal/gateway in order to show the desert to Kratos, and when she does this, the desert can be clearly seen being bathed by sunlight. The last and strongest piece of evidence is the scene where Ares kills Kratos by tossing a pillar all the way to the desert - the God of War is shown killing soldiers on a moonlit Athens, despite Kratos's death act on the desert taking place in broad daylight.