God of War Art Director Reveals Original Kratos Redesign

On Twitter, art director Raf Grassetti gave followers a new look at an earlier design for Kratos from God of War. It’s a very interesting image, showing an older look for the character. Unlike the final version that SIE Santa Monica went with, this one feels a bit more faithful to the classic designs associated with Greek mythology. Kratos’ beard is much more unkempt, and the character looks more aged. Of course, that initial design is a bit more generic, and it lacks the iconic quality of the character’s final look. The images can be found in the Tweet below.

Grassetti’s Tweet follows the “How it started/How it ended” meme that has become popular on Twitter, of late. In a follow-up Tweet, the art director pointed out that Kratos’ nipples were always an intended feature of the character’s design, which can be clearly seen in the concept art.

It’s always interesting to see how the design process changes and evolves over time. In the early days of the video game industry, fans didn’t get a chance to see what happened behind-the-scenes of game development, and a lot of materials were often lost or destroyed. Now, there’s greater effort made to preserve elements of the development process, and the internet has given creators greater ability to share these early works with the fans. While game developers and publishers still don’t put forth enough effort to preserve these materials, fans have access to far more information about the process than ever before.

A new entry in the God of War series is set to release on PlayStation 5. The game does not have a name yet, but it is widely assumed to be God of War: Ragnarok, picking up on the ending from 2018’s God of War. Grassetti is working on the follow-up but, like Sony, the art director has been fairly quiet on the upcoming game. That could very well change as more information starts to come out. Perhaps one day, Grassetti will even show how the characters from that game evolved during the development process!

Are you a fan of God of War? Are you happy that Sony opted for a different look for Kratos? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!