God of War Was Almost Set In Ancient Egypt

Speaking at Devcom in Cologne about the development behind this year’s God of War, director Cory Barlog dropped a hugely intriguing bombshell of information: before Norse mythology was selected as the game’s setting, the developers had also considered basing the plot around Egyptian, Inca, and Hindu mythologies.

As development on the PS4 exclusive progressed, it came to a point where only Egyptian and Norse mythologies were still being considered by the development team at Sony Santa Monica, with a 50/50 vote for each. Barlog eventually cast the final vote for Norse, which became the final setting.

God of War would have unquestionably been a vastly different game had it been based around Egyptian mythology, and while we don’t know too much about how it would have looked, Barlog’s Devcom presentation did include two pieces of early concept art showcasing the Egyptian setting, one of which shows Kratos and his son Atreus battling winged creature and a hoard of soldiers, and the other depicting the two wading through a shallow river and being confronted by a warrior wielding what appears to be a khopesh (an ancient Egyptian curved sword).

While the course of their adventure would have been vastly different, it still appears that had the game taken place in Egypt, the central theme of Kratos and Atreus embarking together on a dangerous journey would have remained largely the same. Have a look at the two pieces of concept art below and decide if you would have preferred to have gone on this journey instead.

Released in April, God of War is currently the highest-reviewed video game of 2018, and has sold over five million copies. We awarded it a perfect score in our review, saying:

“Kratos’ debut on PS4 brings the franchise back into the limelight in a big way as one of the best games of its generation.”

In other words, if you still haven’t played God of War, you should do so immediately.