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And when we saw internally the reaction celebrate the familiarity, we were much more accepting of 'You know what, let's revisit this,'” Lead Combat Designer Mihir Sheth said. “Initially we did try quite a bit to make it feel very different. Maintaining the original appeal of the Blades didn’t just apply to the look of them - it also mattered to the mechanical feel of them as well.

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“As you upgrade the head of the blade, you'll see the snake come through, forming the omega at the end, and that was kind of the final touch where we knew we had something and we knew it felt like it was a proper way to take it into the Norse mythology and keeping it iconic to what it used to be.” So we needed to keep that, but then also finding thematically what would make sense…So for the blades, we started to explore a lot of how the Jörmungandr, the world snake, come in into the designs as we upgraded, because we knew that was an iconic element that we could use to bring that Norsified element to it,' Grassetti explained. “It's probably the most recognizable piece that we have that bridges the mythologies. Some of the changes they did make were aided by the work done on the Leviathan Axe, as well as knowing how gameplay elements like upgrades and runes would affect weaponry. Not wanting to mess with what wasn’t broken, the art team did their best to enhance the look but retain the essence of the Blades. So we had to play a little bit with proportions, but keeping it as close as the old ones and we took a step back and broke down what was iconic about it as we were Norsifying it, as we would say it, to really find what was iconic, what shapes were iconic.” It was a transition for the franchise to be a little more realistic. 'So initially, that was an easier task just to take what was there and really just make it a little more realistic, work with the materials. “Kratos spent all that time trying to get rid of it, so we wanted to show that in the blades, but keeping it as iconic as we all know the blades to be,' Grassetti said. Part of that work, at its purest, meant meeting the more realistic look of this new adventure. But when work did begin on concepting the Blades, the art team wanted to ensure they were retaining what fans loved about them, but also bringing them up to snuff with the rest of the work already done.

That allowed the devs at large to really focus on ensuring Kratos’ new weapon, the iconic Leviathan Axe, got its due. And according to art director Raf Grassetti, in the early days of the project much of the team worked without even focusing on the blades, or thinking they may be part of the project. The Blades are a surprise late into Kratos’ journey. This is Art of the Level.īefore we get to what that journey is like for Kratos, it’s important to set the stage for what it was like for the developers.

To find out more, IGN spoke to members of the development team about how Santa Monica brought this moment to life, and how it revived the Blades for Kratos’ newest adventure. That harrowing moment weighs on Kratos, and the team at Sony Santa Monica lets that weight rest on the player too before he ultimately retrieves the Blades and confronts everything they represent. But at the same time, it demonstrates that Kratos will do anything to save Atreus. It is a difficult choice, to revisit the past he has clearly worked so hard to leave behind him. Kratos, of course, knows of a fire from another realm he can draw from, and in one incredible sequence we see him dig up the ghost of Sparta as he reclaims the Blades of Chaos to save his son. So it’s no surprise that one of Kratos’ most challenging moments comes when Atreus grows sick, and the only answer to his salvation lies in Helheim, where no known fire in the nine realms will burn.