The original God of War trilogy is getting a PS5 remake

Sony and Santa Monica Studio are remaking the original God of War Greek trilogy for the PlayStation 5. The project debuted during the latest PlayStation State of Play broadcast. It was confirmed in an announcement teaser where original Kratos voice actor TC Carson returned to deliver the news for the franchise's 20th anniversary.

Carson appeared in a recording studio to confirm the project. "It is OG TC, the original God of War," he said in the broadcast. "I'm thrilled to bring you some exciting news about the series today." He noted that the remake is still in the early stages of development and it will be a minute before Santa Monica Studio shares another update.

Three games from the PS2 and PS3 era

The Greek trilogy covers the character's origins before he moved to Midgard and grew a beard. The first God of War launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2005. Directed by David Jaffe, the game set a new standard for scale in action titles. Players fought the Hydra in the opening sequence. That boss fight dwarfed most final encounters in competing games at the time, establishing a template for cinematic spectacle that Sony still follows today. It introduced the Blades of Chaos and a combo-heavy combat system that defined western character action games for a decade.

God of War II followed in 2007. It pushed the aging PS2 hardware to its absolute limits with massive set pieces like the Colossus of Rhodes. God of War III then wrapped up the pantheon-slaughtering storyline on the PlayStation 3 in 2010.

These games play very differently from the 2018 reboot and its sequel Ragnarok. The original titles rely on fixed camera angles, platforming puzzles, and a much faster arcade-style approach to combat. The combat loop was built around crowd control. You would juggle enemies in the air, rip them in half with quick-time events, and collect red orbs to upgrade your magic. It is a very different rhythm compared to the intimate, grounded axe combat of the modern entries. I am curious to see if Santa Monica Studio plans to rebuild these games with the modern over-the-shoulder camera or preserve the original cinematic presentation with updated assets.

The return of the square-square-triangle combo

Bringing Carson back for the reveal is a nice nod to the franchise's roots. Christopher Judge took over the role of Kratos for the Norse games. He brought a more subdued and weary tone to the older god. Carson's performance was defined by pure, unadulterated rage. He voiced Kratos across all the Greek era games, including the PSP spin-offs Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, right up until 2013's Ascension.

The 20th anniversary is a logical time to revisit the foundation of the series. The original games have been difficult to play natively on modern hardware. God of War III received a PS4 remaster in 2015, but the first two games have been stuck on older consoles or relegated to cloud streaming via PlayStation Plus. The PS3 HD collections and the PlayStation Vita ports are long out of print. A native PS5 release solves that problem.

Since the project is in early development, there is no release window yet.