20 years later, Kratos' journey to true peace is one of the greatest in gaming.

God of War is celebrating its 20-year anniversary today, March 22, 2025.

It begins with a suicide attempt.

The reward is the gods' forgiveness, which does nothing to alleviate his consistent nightmares about the deed.

If I had a nickel forevery prestige PlayStation franchise that ended up there.

All of this is a product of the time in which Kratos was born, really.

There is no happy ending with just nihilism as a driving force.

By definition, it ends with nothing.

God of War III just shows us the endpoint.

But, again, Zeus still dies in God of War III.

And he does carry it.

The Kratos of 2018 is, too, a product of his time.

It’s where the manhood he was created to embody leads.

The only light that shines out in that darkness is the fact that Kratos has a son.

How does Kratos atone?

Are the centuries Kratos spends in silent exile enough?

Is it enough that he once again loses a wife?

The hard answer is that there may never be enough.

But the asterisk is that it is good and worthwhile to try.

And even though Kratos takes up the blades again, it is endlessly fascinating that Kratos does not regress.

There is brutality still, a wellspring to draw upon when faced with a threat.

But the timbre of the violence is different.

It is violence attempting to operate without malice.

But the intent is clear, on the part of the developers, and this character, this man.

We must take a stab at be better, even when better is inconvenient.

It could have been a final boss.

Instead, it is a monologue.

Kratos has the vocabulary to face himself.

High-profile games don’t reckon with the ramifications of their existence much.

It’s not fun, or entertaining, or empowering in the traditional sense.

And a power trip like 2005’s God of War is those three things above all else.

And so, Kratos faces himself.

“What can I say to you?

I remember how it felt to take the throne.

All that it meant, and all that it did not.

A god of war.

A god of pain.

The Norns said I chase a redemption that I know I can never deserve.

What does that make me?

A god of…hope.

When all else is lost.'

There is no forgiving you.

Should I, this same man…should I sit?

Place myself in service?

Should I lose everything and everyone?

Will there still be enough left inside so that I do not become you?

I do not know.

But I have hope.

You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish.

But you are more than that.

You have always been more than what others saw.

You are more than that.”

There is no arc like this in the wider landscape of gaming.

And that, more than any blessing from the gods, will make Kratos truly immortal.

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