God of War: Updated ESRB Description May Have Revealed the Return of [SPOILER]

Consider this your one and only spoiler warning. If you're wanting to dive into the newest God of [...]

By Matthew Hayes

Consider this your one and only spoiler warning. If you're wanting to dive into the newest God of War this April with absolutely no idea what happens at any point in the story, then now is your chance to turn away. What we're about to present to you is what I would consider to be a very minor spoiler, since it doesn't deal with any character introductions, interactions, deaths, or bosses. With that in mind, and with the warning out of the way, I will kindly turn your attention to the God of War story trailer we saw last week. There's something very specific I want you to see here.

Here we go! I want you to track to the 2:09 spot in that trailer, and tell me what you see. You may not have noticed until now, but every time we've seen Kratos in the new God of War, his forearms have been wrapped with bandages. In this short clip, we see the bandages begin to unravel as he looks down on his arms contemplatively. At this point in the trailer, Kratos is explaining to Atreus how they are not like other men. It seems like Kratos is struggling with the drive to return to his former self in some way.

As soon as I saw this scene I knew that something was up. I theorized with my colleagues that Santa Monica was teasing the return of the chained blades which, for Gods of War past, have served Kratos as his primary weapons. To corroborate this theory, we now have a very suspicious change in the God of War ESRB rating.

Notice the changes between the two? In the old rating, the ESRB specifically noted that players will "use axes, double-chained blades, and swords to battle various enemies." In the newly updated rating, released today, this has been changed to read, "use axes, bows, and swords to battle various enemies."

This could mean one of two things. Either the double-changed blades have been removed from the game, and the ESRB was just making an assumption based on past God of War games, or else the chained blades were marked as spoilers by the developer, and removed from the rating description. I have a feeling that Santa Monica decided that the return of these legendary chained blades is a spoiler, and that their decision sparked this change in the rating.

So what do you think? Is this a totally new Kratos, and have we seen the last of those famed chained blades, or will Kratos make a return to form, swapping out bandages for chains once more? Don't spoil the surprise on Facebook or Twitter -- be considerate of your fellow gamers!

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