With Sony's unveiling of "God Of War" 4 - the latest sequel/reboot of their flagship series - at E3 2016, the developers at Santa Monica clearly had changed much of the core formula that had popularised the "GOW" series. This was expected, as after seven canonical entries in the "God Of War" series, franchise fatigue becomes less of a risk and more of an issue.
"God Of War" 4 exhibited setting changes, difference in Kratos' temperament and his new "GOW" 4 family. However, most significant of course are the much talked about changes brought into the "God Of War" 4 gameplay.
Much has already been speculated about Kratos' son introduced in "God Of War" 4 as reported by Parent Herald. This new inclusion is reportedly not limited to "God Of War" 4 narrative.
Instead, it has an integral part in the new "God Of War" gameplay. In an interview with Game Reactor, Lead of Gameplay Engineering Jeet Shroff explains that controlling Kratos' son will be possible via the use of the "son button." This "son button" is mapped to one of the face buttons on the DualShock 4.
Essentially this "God Of War" 4 feature is an effort to seamlessly integrate Kratos' son into the new combat engine. At the same time said combat is kept streamlined and easy to get into for "GOW" 4.
The new camera angle is what those familiar with the "God Of War" franchise will notice first, though. Gone is the "Devil May Cry" influence, and in is an approach that is familiar with what "Devil May Cry" would later evolve into with Capcom's split of the franchises, "Resident Evil 4".
The developers at Sony Santa Monica stated in the interview that the main target for this "God Of War" 4 change is to enable deeper immersion of the player in story and in combat. This is something they strongly believe will be accomplished through this refreshed viewpoint in "God Of War" 4.
Also in line for a refresh is the in-game progression system in "God Of War" 4. The original "God of War" games had an extremely light RPG progression system.
Undoubtedly with RPG progression systems being all the rage today, that it will make a return. However in addition to what can be seen from the E3 2016 "God Of War" 4 demo is a progression system that will allow upgrades of certain skills for both Kratos and son.
"God Of War" 4 essentially provides a finer and deeper sense of progress. The "God Of War" 4 developers also mention that crafting will play a part in this expansion of RPG features, as well as a few open exploration areas.
"God of War" 4 is scheduled for release on PS4. Sony is expected drop "GOW" 4 or "God Of War" come the holiday season of 2016.
