God of War (2005)
God of War is a 2005 puzzle video game made by SCE Santa Monica Studio and Capcom.
Kratos is a Spartan warrior who has pledged himself to Ares, the god of war, and the price of that bargain has left him haunted and furious. God of War sends him across ancient Greece on a campaign of violent retribution against the Olympian gods themselves, tearing through the Aegean, the depths of Hades, and the slopes of Olympus with chains, blades, and a rage that feels genuinely earned. The combat is brutal and fluid, the scale is mythic, and the Greek pantheon is rendered with a grandeur that makes every boss encounter feel like a confrontation with something genuinely divine.
Quick answers
What is God of War about?
Kratos is a Spartan warrior who has pledged himself to Ares, the god of war, and the price of that bargain has left him haunted and furious. God of War sends him across ancient Greece on a campaign of violent retribution against the Olympian gods themselves, tearing through the Aegean, the depths of Hades, and the slopes of Olympus with chains, blades, and a rage that feels genuinely earned. The combat is brutal and fluid, the scale is mythic, and the Greek pantheon is rendered with a grandeur that makes every boss encounter feel like a confrontation with something genuinely divine.
When was God of War released?
God of War was released on 22 March 2005.
Who made God of War?
God of War was made by SCE Santa Monica Studio, Capcom and Sony Computer Entertainment.
Similar games
Explore God of War guides
God of War in our writing
- Companion guide: Ancient Greece
- Companion guide: Giants & Titans
A few thoughts on God of War
Fans of the Greek mythology framework will find Hercules: The Legendary Journeys covers similar terrain with its own swagger, blending adventure and divine politics in a long-running format. For the sacred-warrior archetype and cosmic war between gods and men, Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter shares Kratos's obsessive quest energy.
Greek myths retold as personal, blood-soaked stories about gods
God of War drags Kratos through the Aegean and into Hades chasing revenge against Ares and the Olympians, and that same hunger for Greek myth rendered as intimate, high-stakes drama runs through Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter's knights fighting their way past the underworld, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' wandering demigod, The Song of Achilles' doomed hero bound to fate, and the constellation-armored warriors of the Saint Seiya manga.
Metal albums that sound like the wrath of ancient gods
The mythic fury Kratos channels through his Blades of Chaos has a real-world echo in Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast and Piece of Mind, Judas Priest's Painkiller, Savatage's The Spectre Within, King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, and the orchestral scale of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack, all built on that same larger-than-life sense of doom and divine power.
Brutal combat against gods, monsters, and things twice your size
Kratos tearing through minotaurs and titans set the template for punishing, spectacle-driven combat, the same instinct that powers Mortal Kombat II's over-the-top fatalities, the dragon and giant fights of Skyrim, The Witcher 3's monster contracts against things far bigger than Geralt, and God of War's own 2018 reinvention, which trades Greek myth for Norse gods without losing the scale.