God of War Gets New Norse Mythology Trailer

A new God of War trailer focusing on the Norse world has been released as the game's release date draws near.

The Norse region that the game takes place in and the Norse mythology that permeates the game's story is a huge change from the Greek setting that God of War players are used to, a change that's been the topic of much discussion leading up to the game's release. Speaking about the shift to the Norse world as opposed to once set in Greece, God of War creative director Cory Barlog spoke about the doors that the new setting opened.

"Norse myth provided that sense of a lived-in world," Barlog said. "It got us away from the pristine feeling of Greek mythology and more of this feeling of living moment to moment in this very unforgiving, very harsh, very isolated world that is very much tactile and easy to relate to."

Some of the enemies and scenes made possible by the shift to Norse mythology have been seen in previous videos as well as the most recent trailer. Giant trolls have been shown in gameplay trailers, massive enemies that possess their own unique language, and more common enemies like the Draugr have been seen as well.

Barlog also said that once he began reading closer into the Norse myths, he learned more about how the stories were connected to "human lessons," lessons that look like they'll show up quite a bit given Kratos' new relationship with his son, Atreus.

"And when I started reading more about the mythology, the interesting aspects were most of it was about how we interact, these sort of human lessons, absolutely living every single moment of life like the world is going to end," Barlog said. "Because to them, it is."

The trailer closed out with Kratos and Atreus sizing up a massive enemy with the son asking his dad if he could kill something that big, apparently unaware of Kratos' god-killing accomplishments.

PlayStation's latest trailer for God of War mentions "Countdown to Launch" in the title, so we can hope that there will be more trailers or releases leading up to the game's launch date. God of War is scheduled to release on PlayStation 4 on April 20, but before that date comes, you can check out our full review of the game to get an idea of what to expect from the Norse world.