‘God Of War’ Series Creator David Jaffe Rages Against ‘Sons Of Sparta’: “What The F–k Were They Thinking?!”
David Jaffe, creator of God of War, is dismayed over God of War Sons of Sparta. He felt the game was poorly designed, of poor quality, and betrayed fans and the series.
Announced during the recent PlayStation State of Play, God of War Sons of Sparta is a 2D Metroidvania set at the earliest point in the series timeline, with Kratos as a youth in Spartan training, trekking across Greece – and facing the monsters therein – to find a lost friend.
The same presentation also revealed a remake of the original God of War trilogy was also in development, announced by original Kratos voice actor T.C. Carson no less. None of this could quell the anger of David Jaffe, game director and lead designer of God of War and creative director of God of War II. On his YouTube channel, Jaffe had posted three videos.
In his initial short review, Jaffe didn’t like or recommend Sons of Sparta, insisting the gameplay was merely “serviceable”; though he played only an hour and swore he’d “never go back to it.” Instead, he focused on the choices made by publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment, and developers Mega Cat Studios and Santa Monica Studio. “What the f–k were they thinking?”
A former Santa Monica Studio employee had previously told Jaffe that the studio “these days is driven mostly or primarily by story.” This was something Jaffe felt applied to Sons of Sparta as characters stopped to talk too frequently. “Get over yourselves man!” he exclaimed. “Who the f–k wants to play- this is not God of War!”
Jaffe was dismayed as it was far from what he envisioned for a 2.5D game in the series – something similar in tone to the dark and gory Blasphemous and Slain, and most would want to play as Kratos as fans know him. Sons of Sparta is narrated as Kratos tells a story of his youth to his daughter, and the implication he’s adjusting it to be appropriate for her age.
It’s also one the only games in the series with a ‘T for Teen’ ESRB rating, instead of ‘M for Mature’. Nonetheless, Jaffe characterized Sony’s mindset as “We don’t want it to be the Kratos that you know and love from either 2018’s God of War or the Greek Trilogy God of War. We want to – f–k it – that character’s boring! Nobody likes that Kratos that we’ve built billions of dollar franchises on.”
“Let’s make him just some generic f—–g kid. Like we’re watching a WB Kids TV show or something. It makes no f—–g sense!” Jaffe balks. He felt even the concept didn’t as an original IP, and soundly rejected the notion of the story showing how Kratos became the way he is. “No one cares!! It’s a dumb idea!”
Jaffe also felt other recent games in similar genres were superior in production quality and fun, such as Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Neon Inferno, and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Sons of Sparta‘s other sins included being generic, failing to “respect the license, the brand” to the point of insulting fans, and the $30 price tag.
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The second 30-minute video had Jaffe offering further thoughts after another three hours of play. While this didn’t change his opinion, he admitted his anger came from the blatantly “stupid decisions” made by the developers and his obvious investment in the God of War franchise.
Further comparing it to the quality of gameplay and graphics in the trailer for the recently revealed Castlevania: Curse of Belmont, he felt Sons of Sparta looked more like a mobile game. Harping again about having to play as kid Kratos, Jaffe humorously quips that no one wants to play as a child character. “Why do you guys keep making games about 15 year-old boys?! Leave me alone! Go to Epstein’s Island or something! I want to be Kratos mother-f—-r!”
Jaffe boils the issue down to how Sony used to have great “creative executives” that would catch “bush-league mistakes” that Santa Monica had committed.
He lists how parrying is hindered by enemy animations not being clear due to “visual noise” from your own attacks, the targeting line for ranged weapons going through all walls and floors (even those the players can’t shoot through), visual inconsistencies affecting gameplay, confusing UI, levels and controls poorly designed for platforming, and terrible voice acting.
All this had left Jaffe worried with the state of Santa Monica Studio, and what will happen to the God of War Trilogy Remake.
The third and final video – as of the time of this writing – had Jaffe justify his stance. Rather than being against all modern Santa Monica Studio work that wasn’t his own (confessing he enjoyed God of War 2018, Ragnarok‘s Valhalla DLC, the Twisted Metal live-action TV show), he was frustrated as a game designer – while still loving his work on YouTube and talking about games design.
He reflected on the feeling of freedom YouTube and streaming offer now is what Sony used to offer in the PlayStation 1 and 2 era: when he could ask his boss to try new ideas. Seeing part of it during his time, Jaffe felt that the industry’s high budgets, “day-to-day politics of a team,” and not being able to speak freely between departments to keep everyone happy to push for ideas made such a notion nigh-impossible now. “I wouldn’t work in AAA games these days if you paid me,” he said.
God of War Sons of Sparta currently has high praise on the PlayStation store, while on Metacritic there is high praise from critics and fairly high praise from users. However, there is a strong complaint against co-op being unlocked only once the game is completed in single-player.
Some have even called it false advertising, as co-op gameplay is shown in the trailer, and not disclosed on the PlayStation Store. Said listing only emphasizes how the journey is “alongside his [Kratos’] brother Deimos,” how it affects them (plural), and how players “guide Kratos and Deimos.” Even the key-art (shown above) shows Kratos and Deimos fighting side-by-side.
