God of War Director Opens Up About the Temptation to "Give Up"

There is absolutely no denying that the PlayStation 4 exclusive God of War was one of the most magical titles to come out this generation. The reimagining of Kratos and seeing him not only thrive in a different mythology, but also seeing him as a father gave long-time fans of the franchise a fresh perspective on a beloved character. But making a game isn't an easy task and remaking an entire formula from the ground up even more difficult. In a recent interview with director Cory Barlog, we've learned just how trying it was at times.

Barlog recently sat down with the team over at Games Industry to talk about the entire process that led up to God of War's successful release and though his and his team's efforts are hailed in the community, he did open up about the darker aspects of it all.

The director opened up about how it was to go through the "process" of development and how it is important to really "feel" those doubts in order to use them to create something phenomenal. He even mentioned that he wanted to "give up many times" from star to finish, though thankfully he had an amazing support system to coax the progress towards completion.

"The reason I ended up succeeding is because of this team," he told the site, "because of these people who cared so much about the individual aspect of the game that was theirs," said Barlog. "They took ownership, and they pushed themselves farther beyond than they ever thought they would to get there."

The fear was understandable. The most recent God of War did a lot of firsts for the series and the immediate reaction to Atreus' reveal was mixed. It was new and new scares people sometimes, even the developers themselves:

"The concept of Atreus scared a lot of people," he explained. "It scared everyone on the team, it scared the executives because I didn't want to do just an additional character delivering narrative."

The incredible journey from concept to record-setting best seller was not an easy one but one that we as fans will treasure always. To learn more about the truth behind the development process, you can check out the full interview right here.

God of War is available now exclusively for PS4.