God of War’s trek into Norse mythology is one of the most anticipated games of 2018. I’m also pumped to see Christopher Judge’s (Teal’c!) take on Kratos. We already know God of War is going to be a visual treat, but the folks at Santa Monica Studio are going the extra distance. God of War plays out in one continuous cut.
Dori Arazi is God of War’s Director of Cinematography and describes the studio’s work as “visually climbing Mount Everest.” Watch Arazi talk a little bit more about the daunting challenge below.
The lack of cuts does a fantastic job pulling you in visually into a story. While today’s video shines a light on this, we’ve seen it in action ever since God of War’s first reveal. Here’s the 2016 E3 gameplay demo.
Not a single cut. Not when we first see Kratos. Or the mini-boss battle halfway through. 10 minutes of gameplay with seamless transition between gameplay and cinematic, and not one cut.
It’s an impressive and challenging way to present a game’s story. There are no load screens either. We do see breaks when upgrading Kratos’ ax, check out a snippet of the upgrade shop at 13:40 in the video below.
But as far as the story goes, the camera follows the action in one seamless take. It’s an ambitious undertaking, but one that could make God of War one of the most memorable games in recent years.
