God of War Will Have "Secrets and References Hidden Everywhere"

03/28/2018 01:22 pm EDT

The next God of War game may look much different from the rest of the series, but it'll still include plenty of secrets and throwbacks to the previous games.

Cory Barlog spoke to the PlayStation Blog recently about God of War as the game approaches its April 20 launch date and was asked about some of the similarities that the game shares with previous God of War titles. From opening chests to scooting along narrow ledges and the sides of walls, PlayStation Blog pointed out several God of War mechanics that found their way into the new game. Calling himself a "lunatic" when it comes to these references, Barlog said to expect more of them when God of War releases.

"I'm a lunatic when it comes to that stuff," Barlog said. "There are secrets and references hidden everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere: We're talking about physical packaging, menus, load screens when you hit the Options button, and stuff like that."

Barlog continued to say that adding references like these that players can find even after a long period of time is one of the more enjoyable parts of making games.

"That's one of the things I hope for a long time after, people saying 'Did you know…?'" Barlog said. "I think that's awesome. That's the fun part about making games. There is a lot of complexity, but that complexity allows us to hide things that are really interesting and some that are really deep cut."

If you haven't been keeping up with God of War, you may be wondering how exactly it's going to differ so much from the rest of the series. Aside from the heavier emphasis on one-on-one combat instead of destroying waves of enemies, the PlayStation 4 exclusive will also feature a different Kratos than most players are used to. Barlog said that the team realized that they were not really "growing" Kratos' character throughout the games and hoped to change him.

"It didn't necessarily need to be a tectonic shift that suddenly rotates the poles of the Earth. It is more about small moves that show this kind of dimensionality, these sort of smaller, subtler moments…

"Which makes people scared too. 'Kratos? Subtler moments? That sounds insane!' But it is possible. It's just hard to explain to people, but then when you show them, [they say] 'Oh, I totally get this.'"

God of War launches for the PS4 on April 20.

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