God of War: Ascension

“	I pay the price... for my ambitions.	”
–Kratos, beginning of E3 demo.

God of War: Ascension is the latest installment in the popular God of War series, released on March 12, 2013. It is the seventh game of the series, and will chronologically be the first chapter in the series, forming part of a saga with vengeance as a central theme.

The game predates Kratos' entire reign as the god of war, and features a timeline roughly six months after Kratos' unintentional killing of his wife and daughter. Flashbacks also occur, seeing as how this timeline follows his allegiance to Ares, which was already addressed in the original God of War.

It marks a new chapter in Kratos' story, as its listing notes to "Join Kratos as he takes his first steps on a now legendary quest for freedom, redemption, and the clarity to avenge his family in the most ambitious God of War adventure in the series so far."

Story

Single Player

The single-player will feature a revamped combat and weapon system, promptless mini-games and new puzzles. Sony stated the game will offer "fluid, life-like characters, dynamic lighting effects, and world-changing scenarios", although the story is shorter than previous games.

Taking place before the events of God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War, it has been 6 months since Kratos murdered his wife and child due to Ares' trickery. Having sworn off his oath to the God of War and refusing to fight for him or do his bidding any longer, the three Furies have been sent by Ares to capture Kratos and imprison him in a Titan-sized prison of the damned, where he is tortured for months on end, driven insane, and constantly haunted by the illusions of the Furies.

Fueled by a desire to free himself from his bond to Ares, Kratos manages to break free of his imprisonment and sets out on a journey to murder the Furies. If he can successfully murder them he can sever all ties to Ares without consequence. Throughout this journey Kratos will battle famous mythical beasts and icons of ancient Greece, as well as his own plunge into madness as he fights his constant nightmares, further testing his sanity and his determination for freedom.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer part of Ascension, features multi-level arenas, where several warriors can fight one another. After starting off as the nameless redeemed prisoner (seen in the beginning of the campaign), you are then sent to the Rotunda of Olympus to choose a godly alliance. One specific game mode, called The Favor of the Gods, requires the champions to kill each other, while a chained Polyphemus, interferes whenever players come too close. Warriors score 100 points by killing the men from opposing teams, eventually, the Spear of Olympus falls from the heavens and it becomes a race for each team to obtain it. Once someone has pulled it from the ground, they can begin to attack Polythemus and knock him unconscious. If the beast is grappled then the warrior will split his jaw with the godly spear. The team that kills him gains an extra 1000 points. Whoever reaches 8000 points first wins the match. The multiplayer does not allow split-screen possibilities, but instead pans out whenever needed to actively show all participants.

By pre-ordering the game, the player gets access to the Mythological Heroes Pack DLC for the multiplayer. This pack contains 4 heroes who are playable in the multiplayer: Orion, Achilles, Perseus, and Odysseus. If the player pre-orders at Gamestop they get the King Leonidas costume and Spear. Pre-orders from Best Buy will get Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Pre-Orders from Walmart will get the Blade of Judgment.

Items and Abilities

Weapons

Blades of Chaos: The cursed blades given to Kratos by Ares as a symbol of his servitude.
World Weapons: Kratos can disarm the weapons of his opponents as a secondary weapon. They can be discarded anytime, by doing so, he throws the weapon at an enemy stunning them in the process. There are five World Weapons that are present:
- Sword
- Spear
- Club
- Shield
- Sling
Kratos' Fists: If Kratos does not wield a World Weapon, he can attack with his bare fists.

Magic

Fire of Ares: Unleash your fury and stun surrounding enemies with Ares' fire. Incarnating enemies yields Gold Orbs.
Ice of Poseidon: Summon the Ice of Poseidon to break blocks. Also allows breathing underwater. Freezing enemies yields large Red Orbs.
Lightning of Zeus: Electrify your enemies with the blinding quick attacks of Zeus. Electrocuting enemies yields Blue Orbs.
Soul of Hades: Release the souls of the Underworld to do your bidding. Vaporizing enemies yields Green Orbs.

Items

Amulet of Uroborus: The amulet was stolen by Castor and Pollux from the Oracle of Delphi and contains the power to warp time around the object or enemy it hits. He uses it on several occasions in the game, able to heal or decay. In the E3 Demo, Kratos uses this ability to reconstruct an elevator, which is destroyed by Charybdis (Alecto). When used on enemies, they are slowed for a while, so if they are in the air at the time the magic is activated, they remain there for a few seconds. This ability does not deplete Kratos' magic, instead, it requires the relic to recharge for a short amount of time.
Oath Stone of Orkos: This stone is given to Kratos by Orkos and contains the power to create a shadow of Kratos. This power is used to solve puzzles as it copies Kratos' pose to hold cranks and chains in place. Later on in the game, it had to be used in combination with the other items to solve a puzzle.
Eyes of Truth: The Eyes of Truth is an item given from Oracle to Oracle to overcome the dark magic of the Furies. Kratos obtains it during his journey and can use it dispel the magic barriers created by the Furies.

Artifacts

Characters

Kratos: The main protagonist of the game. Kratos finds himself on the edge of madness, 6 months after the death of his wife and child, he broke his blood oath with Ares. This betrayal brought him for the judgement of the Furies.
The Furies: The three sisters that predate both Titans and Gods, Furies are fearsome punishers of those who break their oaths. They are the main antagonists of the game, hunting and torturing Kratos for turning on Ares.
Orkos: Keeper of Oaths, he helps Kratos to break the bonds and defeat the sisters.
Oracle Aletheia: Kratos is sent to Delphi to find the Oracle, who might help him in his quest for freedom.
Lysandra: Kratos' wife, appears for Kratos in visions during the game.
Calliope: Kratos' daughter, she appears in visions to Kratos.
Archimedes: A historical mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer who built the massive statue of Apollo on Delos.
The Scribe of Hecatonchires: The first mortal imprisoned by the Furies. He's kept records since his imprisonment, which Kratos finds around the Prison.
Redeemed Warrior: The template warrior used in the multiplayer, has a small cameo as a prisoner in the game's beginning.

Enemies

Common Enemies

Centaur General: Similar to the generals in GoW III.
Cerberus: The three-headed beast of Hades. Could be used as mount when wounded. They look close to Mongrels, but they are stronger and have new powers, like underworld teleporting and soul shield.
Chimera: The chimeras return and have different color from GOW III and uses ice attacks.
Cyclops Berserker: Large cyclops brutes that can be grappled then ridden to stomp out smaller enemies.
Delos Warriors: Powerful women equipped with spears.
Elemental Talos: This new type of Talos is dressed in similar fashion to Hades. These Talos can come with various elemental attacks, each Talos either uses fire, Ice, lightning, or soul. Similar to Kratos' magic.
Elephantaur: A new species of Juggernaut, Kratos kills these large elephant monsters by cutting open their heads and exposing the brain.
Empusa: Fiery female monster with green spikes instead of limbs.
Feral Hounds: Attack canines return from GOW III.
Gorgon: These gorgons have a new appearance, looking more like cobras and are very colorful.
Harpy: The standard Harpy returns in God of War: Ascension.
Manticore Hatchling: Smaller versions of the manticore, they hatch from eggs.
Megaera's Minions: Humans and hounds infected and mutated into monsters by Megaera's parasites.
Megaera's Parasites: Tiny green insects that originate from Megaera. Able to mutate creatures as small as a human and as large as a Hecatonchires into insect-like monsters.
Satyrs: Standard enemies, the satyrs carry weapons that can be used by Kratos.
Satyr Fodder: Smaller satyrs that uses range type weapons.
Satyr General: The Satyr General is bigger than his fellow satyrs and wields a bigger sword. They command hoards of common satyrs.
Siren: The Sirens are powerful female monsters that appear throughout the God of War series.
Spartan Illusions: In one of the Furies' illusions, Kratos fights Megaera, who commands imaginary Spartan warriors.
Wraith of Hades: Very powerful Wraiths able to summon spirits of themselves. The Wraiths appear throughout the God of War series.

Bosses

Aegaeon: One of the ancient titan-like creatures known as the Hecatonchires, the hundred-armed giant Aegaeon was captured by the Furies and tortured for breaking his oath to the gods, while his body was shaped into a living prison for the oath-breakers. Alive, but severely disfigured after years of torment, he is dormant. When Kratos escapes, the Fury Megaera uses her parasites to infect Aegaeon's arms, turning them into giant insect-like monsters known as the Infected Hands of Aegaeon. Eventually, she also allowed her parasites to mutate his head, turning his mouth into a grotesque maw of teeth and mandibles, for her last stand against Kratos.
- Infected Hands of Aegaeon: The giant parasitic guardians who were mutated from Aegaeon's limbs by a small group of parasites. Three were encountered by Kratos during his escape from his prison and served as sub-bosses.
Manticore: Sub-boss, a massive fire-breathing beast with the body of a lion, tail of a scorpion and wings of a bat. Kratos fights two Manticores, one in Delphi, and one on Delos.
Pollux and Castor: Known as the Gemini twins. Prophet Castor, along with his attached brother Pollux, serve as guards for the Oracle of Delphi. However, in reality, they usurp her temple and time-shifting powers.
Daimon: Tisiphone's pet. This creature is battled alongside Tisiphone in all battles that involves her.
The Furies: They are pre-Olympian beings, born from an ancient battle before the First Titanomachy. They are the main antagonists and bosses of the game.
- Megaera: A vicious Fury with four spier-like legs on her spine. She can release a swarm of parasites from a diseased-looking rash on her chest, which attack her victims and then bury under their skin. The result is always a severely mutated insect-like servant. Fought alone, and together with Tisiphone. Killed during the battle with Aegaeon.
- Alecto: Mistress of illusions, which she use to torment Kratos, Tisiphone summons a daimon to fight her enemies. Fought alone, with Megaera, and later with Alecto.
- Tisiphone: The leader of the Furies, Alecto is also a lover of Ares, with whom she is in conspiracy against Olympus. She is the final boss of the game and is fought together with Tisiphone. Alecto is revealed to be able to shapeshift into the massive sea beast, Charybdis.

Multiplayer Characters

Polyphemus: A huge Titan cyclops imprisoned by the Gods found in the Desert of Lost Souls map.
Stheno: A powerful gorgon found in the Bog of the Forgotten map.
Hercules: The demigod who watches over the Forum map.
Skorpius: Roams the Labyrinth map.

Background

Following Amazon's leak, game director Todd Papy wrote on the official PlayStation Blog, promising a glimpse of what’s in store for God of War: Ascension' during a livestream event, which took place on Monday, April 30. A new God of War: Ascension page on the Sony PlayStation Facebook page also holds a trailer, and pre-order link to BestBuy.

Game director Todd Papy has previously worked as design director on God of War III. He now takes a development role previously filled by David Jaffe, Cory Barlog and Stig Asmussen.

The game will be released on March 12, 2013, according to its Official God of War: Ascension PlayStation page. Together with the game, the special and collector's editions will be released.

The God of War: Ascension Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 wil feature: an exclusive 8" Kratos Statue, a Premium Steelbook case, Official Game Soundtrack (Digital Version), PS3 dynamic theme, PSN Avatar Pack, Multiplayer Double XP Unlock and a pass for future DLC content. The price is $79.99

The Special Edition will feature the same but without the 8" Kratos Statue and the DLC-pass.

Trivia

The E3 demo was released as part of the Total Recall Blu-ray disk available in December 2012.
It's not likely God of War: Ascension will have a sex mini-game like previous games have done, according to Todd Papy. If there's such a game, it will be made so to really fit the story and Kratos' feelings after the loss of his wife and child.
It should be noted that Ascension is the first God of War game that 'openable' red chests are not present, instead, stony boxes with a red crystal substance encasing the lid serve as places to earn free experience. This is also the case with multiplayer.
The public demo was released February 26 for all PSN users, it is different to the one that was seen at E3 and was included with Total Recall.
- Those who took part in the Rise of the Warrior and were part of the winning team got the demo on February 20.
A demo of 'The Last of Us' is to be released with the final version of God of War: Ascension; it will not be included on the disk but Ascension will allow early access to the demo at a later date.
God of War: Ascension includes a voucher to download the characters Zeus and Isaac Clarke for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
God of War: Ascension will see Kratos again be using the same Battering Ram technique from God of War III, as proof by this video.
- Also proof from given video, enemy weapons acquired by Kratos can be discarded anytime, depending on player's preference.
A live-action trailer was released for the Internet screening of Super Bowl, it shows both Lysandra and Calliope alive, as an illusion created by Tisiphone.
God of War: Ascension will have a new game+ option and chapter select, this is a first for the series.
In God of War: Ascension, the secondary weapons cannot refill the Rage meter; only the Blades of Chaos and Kratos's physical attacks can.
Interesting, the Main Menu of God of War: Ascension contains an option called "Latest News", which requires Internet connection to access. This literally meant that even though the game had been released, it is not completely developed an example is the empty staircase for multiplayer.
God of War: Ascension is the only unnumbered God of War game to be originally released on a home console. The other unnumbered games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, were released for a portable console and only ported to HD for the PlayStation 3.
God of War: Ascension is the first installment in which there is no Sex Minigame, no Save Altars, no strong secondary weapons that can be upgraded, no openable red orb Chests, and Kratos' face is not shown on the main menu as the early installments of the series, breaking the "traditions" of past God of War games.
In God of War: Ascension, the abilities and powers are given as the game itself progresses, but it alternates between present day and weeks before Kratos' imprisonment, making the player have no powers nor abilities on the beginning of the game, when, chronologically, Kratos is just one step further to kill the Furies, and should have all his weaponry upgraded at this point.
There is a goof in the subtitles when they read "It... it... is only illusion" even though Kratos actually says "It is not reality!".
God of War: Ascension is the first game in the saga where Kratos doesn't receive help from Athena.