It may sport the series’ title, but Laufey isn’t your typical God of War game. Kratos is out, and Faye is in, taking up the protagonist’s mantle. It’s the first time the series has shifted perspective in its 21 year lifetime, and doing so brings significant change. Not only will we be exploring a brand new world through the eyes of a different kind of hero, but Faye’s approach to battling her enemies is different to that of her gruff axe-and-blade wielding husband. Gone are the heavy slams and flesh-ripping finishers, replaced with magical sword swings and aerial juggling. It marks a reinvention, albeit one that still occurs within the familiar cinematic framework that has long been the foundation for Sony’s raft of third-person, cinematic action adventures.

The PlayStation approach to single-player stories appeals to me in a way that other developer’s styles rarely do. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been hoping for something a bit different. I’ve previously written about how I’m getting bored of every PlayStation game telling the same story, but in all honesty, it’s gone beyond familiar tales. Sony’s first-party games increasingly feel cut from the same cloth, their overall experiences overlapping. Sequels rarely diverge from the formula set out before them, feeling almost like full-length expansions rather than new iterations. This wasn’t too much of an issue when triple-A development cycles were much shorter and the space between Uncharted games, for example, was only a couple of years. But in an age where we’re looking at a good six to seven years between PlayStation Studios releases at best, I crave something altogether fresher each time. The most recent State of Play gave me hope, though, with the reveal of God of War Laufey leading that charge.

My personal fatigue is perhaps best exemplified by last year’s Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch’s sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a game I mostly enjoyed playing to completion, but I was left wanting more. The original game’s formula was a fantastic riff on the samurai fantasy in a post-Assassin’s Creed world, so I can see why the studio would hesitate to deviate from the path. But doing it all over again with a different backdrop in Yotei just felt too familiar to ever become genuinely exciting. Atsu and Jin may be two distinctly different characters with their own personalities and traumas to battle through, but when it comes to controlling them through their violent journeys, they are mechanically largely identical. While combat may be slick, there’s limited variation between their approaches.

This doesn’t look like it will be a problem for God of War Laufey, which is taking the bold step of replacing series icon Kratos with his Faye, his wife and mother to Atreus. Already dead before the opening of the Norse duology, Laufey is set to follow her journey through the afterlife, and looks filled with the sort of spectacle and layered storytelling we’ve come to expect from Santa Monica Studio. But what caught my eye most during the recent 20 minutes of gameplay showcased as part of State of Play is just how distinct Faye appears in combat. Look, I’m sure we’ll still be able to push both sticks in and erupt into a burst of violence just like you can in God of War. And Ghost of Yotei. And Saros. And Marvel’s Spider-Man. But her agile, faster-paced action looks so much more than Kratos reskinned, with her weapon packing personality into each slash and swing — quite literally, since the sword (or rather, the ribbon flowing from its hilt) speaks.

God of War is no stranger to reinvention, though. Its 2018 revival shifted the camera behind Kratos’ shoulder and traded in some of its Capcom-inspired action core for a more measured, deliberate approach to melee combat. Its sequel, Ragnarok, went on to grant us control of his son Atreus for stretches, providing a more nimble, ranged toolset that forced you to reconsider your approach to battle. Now it’s time for the mother of all switch-ups. Literally. Faye, or as she’s known to those from her Giant homeland, Laufey, looks to be another significant, fresh departure. While still firmly rooted in her family’s heritage, delivering the characteristic heft and powerful strikes of the series’ Norse era combat approach, Faye is a much faster warrior. It’s perhaps a stretch to say her style resurrects elements of the Greek saga’s combat systems, but it does pay homage to its Devil May Cry inspirations – Faye launches both herself and her opponents into the air, juggling them with sword swipes as if she’s determined to rack up her style meter. It’s undeniably still linked to the modern God of War combat we’ve loved since 2018, but there is a fresh new flavour here, with notes of Japanese character action games among the more Dungeons & Dragon-ish fantasy swordplay.

A fresh new approach that’s still anchored in the familiar is something the team at Santa Monica Studio is keen to reinforce. “Faye is not quite as solidly built a brick wall as Kratos is, but she’s every bit as much of a warrior,” says Ariel Lawrence, God of War Laufey’s director. “Looking through all of the games we’ve made, the Greek saga, the Norse saga, we’ve really tried to stay true to our combat roots. This quick, visceral combat, the fluidity of the Greek saga and the up close and gritty personal of the Norse saga. We’ve married those together in something that’s really uniquely Faye.”

There’s even some Jötunheim spellcasing thrown into the mix, as teased by Angrboda’s explosions of painterly sorcery in Ragnarok. “I think Faye is really a little bit more comfortable with magic,” confirms Lawrence. “Being able to explore that more freely with more curiosity than Kratos might have has been really awesome for the team.”

And that’s the key for me. I don’t want a series’ protagonists to feel interchangeable. They need to play uniquely, not just have varying physiologies and psychologies. It’s something that games, and indeed PlayStation games, haven’t necessarily done all that well historically; whether that be how similar Snake and Raiden control in Metal Gear Solid 2, Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer in Uncharted, or most recently, Jin and Atsu in the Ghost series.

Of course, where there’s a rule, there’s always an exception. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us tackled this very issue smartly, whether it be the shift from Joel to Ellie between the original and sequel, or the within Part 2 itself when Abby enters the fray. Each may be controlled the same way when it comes to actual button inputs, but very different questions are asked of you in the combat playspaces. The scrappy Ellie skulks and crawls around, turning open spaces into a fantastic stealth-action playground, whereas the more militarised Abby takes her highly-trained fists straight onto the frontlines, as likely to punch through a skull as she is to torch all oncoming infected with a flamethrower. The tools at their disposal are the key, and help forge a connection to different characters on a level beyond what’s delivered in cutscenes. Gameplay is, naturally, a huge part of video games, and even the most subtle variations in what you’re tasked with doing can leave a noticeable impact.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of what God of War Laufey will likely entail, but seeing Faye in action, complete with those incredible magic-infused sword slashes and enemy-juggling aerial combos, has me very excited indeed. You can see history woven into those flourishes, too, as the trails of blurred purple energy resemble the rediscovered echoes of Kratos’ screen-clearing PS2-era blade attacks – the carnage here, as enemies fly into the air, would mirror those good ol’ days if only the camera were to pull out slightly and a number of hits ticking up into the 100s were placed onto the right of the frame. It’s a delicate balance of looking both back and forward, and while we’ll need to see more of it before we can truly make a judgement call, this sneak peek has already given me a strong degree of confidence in it.

It is a big risk from Santa Monica Studio to move on, even temporarily, from Kratos and his powerhouse ways. To ask us to step into new shoes in a series that has been so attached to a particular protagonist is a bold leap – quite literally, really, since Faye can actually jump. I don’t think Laufey will necessarily reinvent the wheel when it comes to the structure of a modern God of War game, nor would I want it to — I gave Ragnarok a 10/10 review score, after all. But I have no interest in playing the same game again, having felt a sense of closure to this particular Kratos saga. Playing as Faye gives us a valuable chance to explore a new perspective on this world, and I can’t wait to see what doors it will unlock. Hopefully this change in direction will inspire future PlayStation sequels and spin-offs to do the same.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.