Cinematic Evolution of the God of War Series

## The Gist

God of War is a series about the angriest Spartan to ever exist, Kratos, who was tricked into killing his family by the Greek god of War, Ares. So Kratos killed him and took the mantle of the God of War. Then Zeus tried to kill him. So he tried to kill Zeus back, but killed Athena. Then Kratos decided to just destroy all of Olympus, which he does, plunging the world into the Apocolypse. However, Kratos decides to sacrifice himself to restore hope, but it doesn't take so he flees to the realm of Norse Mythology, where he rebuilds his life, has a wife and son, but then his wife dies. Then the Norse Pantheon decree they must die too as they converge on Kratos and his son...

## Evolution

### Cutscenes & Camera Work

#### Early Installments

The God of War series started with fixed camera angle. The Camera was often at a distance, being extreme long shots that would pan across the landscape as Kratos made his way across it. This was often utilized to convey the massive size and scale of certain enemies and armies in comparison to Kratos, who was often had a small presence on the screen, at least when his weapons weren't taking up around 40% of the screen. However, the camera was not constant and it was not uncommon for it to change angles upon Kratos entering a room in order to give a better view of the new area that Kratos will soon repaint with the blood of his enemies.

Often the game would go into more interesting looking shots and angles upon entering the quick-time events found within the boss battles.

When the games switched to the cutscenes, which were often pre-rendered, the camera would often immediately take more cinematic angles, involve more edits in the style of traditional visual media grammar, while naturally bringing in more dynamic lighting.

By the third installment, the overall graphics had improved and the line between gameplay and cutscenes had become blurred as there was no longer a glaring difference in graphical quality. Yet, even at this point, the game was still abiding by the camera rules of the previous games.

#### Latest Installment

It wasn't until the latest installment that the camera work for the games received a change and a massive one at that. In the newest installment, the line between cutscenes and gameplay had all but been obliterated as the graphical quality shows no noticeable drop. This also comes from the fact that the camera is uninterrupted for the whole game, rarely ever cutting to another angle in the way the previous games, most modern games, and even most modern movies do.

### HUD

#### First Installment

The HUD consistently remains onscreen and it takes up a large portion of the upper left side of the screen, along with the combo counter on the right side, as well as the bottom of the screen when a boss fight is taking place. The HUD is all over the screen, consistently reminding the player that it’s a game and not a movie.

#### 2018 Installment

This game also uses a constant HUD, but the change is instantly noticeable. Most of the important elements of the HUD have been moved to the bottom of the screen and have been reduced in size and have been made far more compact. They’re no longer as intrusive as the first installment’s HUD and therefore less likely to break the immersion of a cinematic experience and narrative and that experience is what many of the developers are going for.

## Nature

### Story

To say that the God of War series didn't start with any kind of emphasis on story would be greatly incorrect. The stories for the first few games were received well enough to gain their own novelizations. However, it was the 2018 installment's story that received particular attention from both the developers *and* audiences.

While he explains some of the mechanics of the game, most of what he goes into depth about regards the pacing and story. The fact that he starts out the video warning about spoilers shows how important the story is. But in the video, the director of the game seems to talk more about the story than they do the overall game mechanics, talking about whether or not certain beats felt right or whether or not events were paced well enough.

## Relevant To

* Anything You Can Do...
* Story Time