God of War Sons of Sparta

God of War Sons of Sparta is an action-platformer game with a two-dimensional (2D) art style similar to God of War: Betrayal (2007), the only other installment in the series to be a 2D side-scroller. Unlike Betrayal, however, Sons of Sparta is a Metroidvania game. Players control the character Kratos in his youth as he trains at the Agoge with his brother Deimos. Due to its setting taking place long before Kratos received his signature weapon, the double-chained blades called the Blades of Chaos, the character instead uses a traditional Spartan spear and shield—the Dory and Aspis, respectively—along with Gifts of Olympus that grant him special attacks and magical abilities which are required for game progression due to its Metroidvania style. One of these gifts include the Victory Sandals that grant enhanced speed and jumping. Many familiar foes from prior Greek games appear, such as undead soldiers, harpies, minotaurs, Gorgons, cyclopes, wraiths, Sirens, and satyrs, as well as new enemies, like lampades, lamias, and fauns, and various boss opponents. The game retains the crafting system of the prior two installments—God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök (2022)—in which the player collects resources that allows them to create new or upgrade existing attachments for both the Dory and Aspis, as well as for gouri attachments (charms) on one armor piece, the Belt of Tyche, providing better perks and enhanced abilities. Like previous games, the player also collects different colored orbs. Green orbs replenish the player's health, blue orbs replenish magic, allowing the use of magical abilities, gold orbs replenish spirit, an attribute that allows the use of special weapon abilities, and red orbs, referred to as blood orbs, act as experience points, which can be used to learn new offensive and defensive techniques for Dory, Aspis, and the Victory Sandals, and are also used in crafting. There are also chests that contain these orbs as well as various crafting resources. Defeating enemies grant random orbs, as does destroying inanimate objects. Namesake olive offerings at the temples of Dionysus, Nike, and Hestia also increase the maximum lengths of the health, spirit, and magic meters, respectively, while those at the temples of Apollo, Artemis, and Demeter help further improve the Dory, Aspis, and Belt of Tyche, respectively (e.g., the respective offensive and defensive stats for the Dory and Aspis, and increased gouri attachments for the Belt of Tyche). At launch, the mode could only be accessed after the player completed the main game, but in a patch update on February 26, 2026, an option to input a cheat code was added that unlocks the multiplayer sooner. ==Synopsis==

Setting After the prior two installments—God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök (2022)—were based on Norse mythology, Sons of Sparta returns the God of War series to its original Greek mythology setting of the first seven games. It takes place in an alternate version of ancient Greece, populated by the Olympian gods, Titans, and other mythological beings. The game follows two time periods of series protagonist Kratos: the narrative present, which takes place sometime before God of War: Ascension (2013) when he is still a captain in the Spartan Army before the tragedy that is seen through flashbacks in the original God of War (2005), and the past, where the majority of the story is set and follows a teenage Kratos with his younger brother Deimos—taking place sometime before the latter's abduction and imprisonment by the God of War Ares as seen through flashbacks in God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010). Throughout the game, Kratos and Deimos explore various parts of Laconia in search of a lost friend. The region's capital is Sparta, the home of Kratos and Deimos, which acts as a central hub. Outside of Sparta, the brothers traverse the Laconian Woods where they meet a pair of thieving Kerkopes, the Oenus Vineyard, an abandoned winery where the brothers fight a daemon called Alastor, Mount Taygetos, a mountain range in the Peloponnese peninsula that overlooks Sparta, the Barren Steppe, the location of an unauthorized habitation of a secretive cult, the Veiled Bog, where Spartans train for endurance against mythical threats, and the Isle of Aeaea, the home of the witch Circe. Other locations include the Eurotas River, the Port of Messenia, the Shores of Elafonisos, Kythira Island, and Vyros Gorge. Characters The protagonist of the game is Kratos. The present day adult Kratos (voiced by TC Carson) is a captain of the Spartan Army who has an 8-year-old daughter named Calliope (Debi Derryberry). The young 13-year-old Kratos (Antony Del Rio), who the game is primarily focused on and who the player controls, is a Spartan still in training at the Agoge with his 11-year-old brother Deimos (Scott Menville), who is adamant on finding their lost friend Vasilis, an unseen character who the game's plot is based around. The brothers are under the tutelage of Konstantinos (James Mathis III), the headmaster of the Agoge and a sculptor. His daughter is Amara (Shelby Young), an Amazon and the only girl in the Agoge and who Deimos has feelings for; she cares deeply for her friends and is the one to push the brothers to search for Vasilis. Other characters at the Agoge include Brontes (David Errigo Jr.), Kratos's old rival who cares about Sparta's strength and prosperity above all else while opposing Kratos's care for his brother, and Eis (Jack Quaid), a compassionate Spartan comrade who was the closest to Vasilis. Other characters include Adrasteia (Misty Lee), previously a nymph who was turned into a griffin as punishment by the Titan Cronos for looking after an infant Zeus and provides fast travel across Laconia for the brothers, Passalus and Acmon (Adam Shapiro and Allen Covert, respectively), the pair of Kerkopes who exchange goods with the brothers, Circe (Zehra Fazal), a powerful witch who provides gear upgrades for Kratos in exchange for helping her find her cats scattered across Laconia as she is bound to Aeaea, Eleonora (Amelia Rose Blaire), a temple maiden entrusted to care for the temples of the gods across Laconia which grant Kratos enhanced abilities in exchange for olive offerings, The Oracle of Trophonius at Lebadeia (Kimberly Brooks), who provides Kratos and Deimos information about their quests, Brasidas (Jim Pirri), a Spartan City Guard posted at the western gate of the city who does not believe the exploits of Kratos and Deimos to be true, Tiberios (Chris Ansell), a Spartan blacksmith who makes new gear for Kratos, Petros (A.J. LoCascio), a Krypteia who offers Kratos combat advice, and The Devoted One (Bridger Zadina), the leader of the secretive cult and a minor antagonist. Plot While in between deployments, adult Kratos finds his daughter Calliope to scold her for disobeying her mother Lysandra and neglecting her duty. When Calliope begins to argue, Kratos decides to relay a story from his youth to teach her the meaning of duty. While just outside of Sparta, a young Kratos battles a Cyclops. When he gets in trouble, he is rescued by his brother Deimos. Together, they return home to report of the dangers outside the city. The brothers are currently in possession of an Eiren's Pass, granting them permission to venture throughout Laconia. Kratos is also working on qualifying for the Vanguard Circle, the highest rank for a cadet that allows them to lead their own unit. While heading out for another assignment from Konstantinos, they find out that one of their classmates, Vasilis, went missing, and none of the authorities are doing anything about it. Deimos promises to help however he can, but Kratos is more dismissive of the matter. During their mission, they come across traces of Vasilis, and after their return, Deimos confides in his doubts to Konstantinos about how Sparta abandoned their classmates seemingly against its own values. The headmaster agrees that the boy is right to question, but urged the two not to neglect their chores. Getting their friends to cover for them, Deimos doubles down on the search effort. Kratos argues that Vasilis was a weak link, and that Sparta may have been better off without him, but his brother plays on his sympathy, calling him to imagine if it was Deimos that was lost. They come across many dangers, such as monsters overrunning a winery and a cult occupying a granary, as well as various boss opponents including the malevolent ancient entity Fylaki, the sea creature Skolopendra, and three Stymphalian Birds named Ioke, Ponea, and Apate. Continued effort puts a strain on the brother's relationship, but they manage to reconcile. As the two trace Vasilis's steps, they learn he was still trying to find ways to make himself useful to Sparta. Kratos feels great guilt as he comes to realize he was one of the people that pushed Vasilis away, rather than help him find his place, and he continues the search even against orders from Konstantinos. After engaging with the cult and battling a powerful Ipotane, the two brothers manage to find Vasilis—he was killed by a chimaeric monster called Koteros, which they subsequently slay in return. They note he managed to shoot an arrow into the monster's eye, honoring him in death as a true Spartan warrior, and they bring him back to the city. Kratos takes the blame, both for disobedience, claiming he was the one to push for the search, and for letting Vasilis die, calling to be beat as punishment. Touched by the boy's resolve, Konstantinos waives the punishment, claiming beatings would not be necessary, however, he denies Kratos the chance to join the Vanguard Circle that year. Back in the present, Kratos questions if Calliope understood why he told her the story. During the time, he also crafted her a wooden flute and he reveals that his friend's name "Eis" was short for Atreus. == Development ==

In March 2025, Giant Bombs Jeff Grubb claimed that a "side-story" in the God of War franchise was in development and would return the series to its original Greek mythology setting in ancient Greece. He also said it would release in 2025 before later stating it was delayed to 2026. Around the same time, Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming said it would be a 2D Metroidvania game. Neither Sony nor God of Wars main developer, Santa Monica Studio, made any statements on a new entry until February 2026. During the company's State of Play presentation on February 12, Sony officially announced God of War Sons of Sparta and released it simultaneously that same day for the PlayStation 5 as part of the franchise's 20th-anniversary year. It was developed by Mega Cat Studios in collaboration with Santa Monica Studio. Sons of Sparta came about from an email that Mega Cat Studios sent Santa Monica Studio. According to game director Zack Manko, Mega Cat had always wanted to develop a God of War game, with the studio's chief executive officer James Deighan and executive producer Daniel Pesante both stating it had been at the top of their wishlist. After seeing the Raising Kratos (2019) documentary that Santa Monica had done for 2018's God of War and relating to an idea that never came to fruition, Pesante decided to take a leap of faith and email Santa Monica about their idea for a God of War game. Due to their specialty in retro games, one of their initial thoughts was what would God of War be like if it had come out on the PlayStation 1. Santa Monica's lead producer Jeff Ketcham said that Mega Cat had a love and passion for the series and turning God of War into pixel was unique. After he presented Mega Cat's idea to the rest of the Santa Monica team, the project was approved and they began conversating. Combat and level design Ketcham said it took a lot of work and planning to transition God of War from 3D to 2D, and praised Mega Cat Studios for having those plans laid out from the beginning. Pixel artist Anna Nguyen said that one of the considerations that they had to make was transitioning the 3D combat to 2D and making it flow smoothly, since it would be limited to the 2D plane. She said that some of the animations were taken directly from the older games. Mega Cat developed a tool to take those animations and convert them to 2D spreadsheets, after which, the pixel artists would draw over them to create the animations. Writing and voice work Sons of Sparta is the first full game to return to the franchise's Greek setting after the two prior entries, 2018's God of War and its 2022 sequel Ragnarök, were based on Norse mythology and set in ancient Scandinavia, although the latter's 2023 expansion pack, Valhalla, saw Kratos confronting parts of his past life, revisiting some areas and facing enemies from his time in Greece. According to Gaubert in deciding when to have the story take place, it was important for them to pick a pivotal point in Kratos's life and one that players had not seen before, and it also allowed them to explore some things from Greek mythology that they had not done in the prior Greek games. He noted that while the Kratos in this game was different from the adult versions in the prior Greek games and the Norse games, they would be able to see elements of those versions in this younger Kratos. Sophos said that despite the game's retro style, it did not stop them from bringing emotion to the story and they used the same mentality that they applied in writing the prior games. TC Carson reprises his role as the adult Kratos for the first time since Ascension, acting as the narrator. In returning to the role, Carson said it was an opportunity to go back and create who the character was before Kratos's tragedy. Gaubert said they factored in Carson's prior portrayal but because of the setting of this game's story, they were able to show a different side to the character, that of being a family man in between wars. Manko noted that since the game takes place before Kratos came to despise the Olympian gods, this younger version of the character was more devout towards them. Antony Del Rio, reprising his role as young Kratos from Ghost of Sparta, noted how Kratos believes he is right in his ways, but throughout the game, he comes to question his decisions. According to McCreary, the game combines three major elements: God of Wars Greek era, retro gaming aesthetics, and an epic emotional story. McCreary created three different sonic pallets for those elements and mixed and matched them together. For the Greek element, McCreary drew from Greek folk music, using instruments such as the kithara and aulos, stringed and woodwind instruments that were around during ancient Greek times. For the retro aspect, he used various samples and synthesis to create the retro style of chiptunes. For the emotional story, he used a full symphony and choir as he did on the Norse games. Manko noted the uniqueness of the score in how it blended the modern orchestral and choir sounds with the chiptunes, with McCreary stating his biggest challenge was balancing these sounds. Instead of writing separate themes for Kratos and Deimos, McCreary only wrote one theme for the both of them. He said although they are two separate characters, the game is about their relationship together. He wanted to have only one theme that evolved as their relationship changed throughout the game. His idea was to have a theme that represented them as children, claiming it would not have made sense to quote anything that he wrote for the Norse games or anything from the prior Greek games as those were different stories. He said the main themes of the game were duty, honor, and brotherhood, so he came up with a "beautiful, mournful" tune, which he said has nostalgia and was what he thinks that older Kratos would think of about his youth. Relating to the games that McCreary played in his own youth, he said those games would have a different theme for every area, and that was fun for him when scoring Sons of Sparta, instead of just having one theme that played throughout the entire game. Senior music designer Sonia Coronado of PlayStation Studios Music said that one of the things that surprised her in working with the music was that removing one element would change the score to some extent, and that was a challenge in implementing it into the game. She also said it was tricky to find areas of when to transition in and out of the music, as they did not want to just have it fade in or fade out. ==Release==

Sons of Sparta was released worldwide for the PlayStation 5 on February 12, 2026. It is only available digitally in both a standard and deluxe edition. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes in-game rewards (gear and upgrade materials), as well as a digital art book, the game's soundtrack, and PlayStation Network avatars. ==Reception==

According to the review aggregator website Metacritic, Sons of Sparta received "mixed or average" reviews, with a score of 64 out of 100 based on 78 reviews. He also criticized the game's user interface, visual design, dialogue, and voice acting. ==Notes==