[Content Warning: Violence and Cartoonish Nudity]
A top selling PlayStation title, God of War III Remastered (initially released 2010) is the third installment of the God of War (GOW) series, which recently released a 4thgame (God of War 2018) that has been quite well received by the gaming community. The GOW franchise is well known for its larger than life action-adventure sequences and brutal hack and slash tactics, yet incorporates a fair number of puzzle sequences in order to spread out gameplay. The game is rife with epic cinematic monster fights, QuickTime events, and a healthy dose of unfettered killing. GOW is, in all aspects, the extreme ciss-male power fantasy, starring the main character, Kratos, whose personality can be boiled down to rage and murder. The setting and story revolves around ancient Greek mythology, wherein Kratos, the son of Zeus, was tricked by the gods into murdering his wife and son in cold-blood. Kratos now seeks REVENGE (he is quite adamant about it) and begins murdering his way through every conceivable section of Olympus, brutally murdering any god, titan, or mortal in his way of killing Zeus and bringing down the gods.
One of the appeals of the God of War series is how unflinchingly cruel Kratos is towards anyone and everything that blocks his path towards revenge. He will not bat an eye to betray allies that have failed him or to cinematically rip off a pleading gods head. This excessive use of violence has led to many critics praising Kratos as a “baddass” and even as a “sympathetic anti-hero” because his devotion to revenge stems from his guilt at murdering his family (and thousands more innocents). Many find something satisfying about a character that has the power to do whatever they want and therefore unrepentantly does whatever they want in the name of their own fury. Yet, what rhetoric is taught when a game flaunts its brutality as righteous indignation? Along this vein, Kratos has received backlash as a one-dimensional character that only serves as a player avatar and a vehicle for pure violence. Kratos’ revenge is all encompassing of his character (he basically would not exist without it) and the pain he evokes to achieve his revenge is morally wrong in most aspects.
I want to focus on a specific section from the game that truly encapsulates the extent of Kratos’s one-minded murdering philosophy. The section involves a simple gate that Kratos cannot get through. A revolving wheel can open it, yet the wheel will spin back and close the gate before Kratos can run past. In order to precede, a character merely named “Poseidon’s Princess” is introduced from the other side of a nearby cage.
The game implies she is Poseidon’s captured sex slave that he has fallen in love with. She is displayed with her breasts out and, knowing Kratos’s brutal reputation, does not want to be “helped.” Kratos ignores her pleas to be ignored and instead forces her out of her prison, right into mortal danger. He then proceeds to save her from a collection of enemies until finally making it to the gate wheel. Rotating the wheel and grabbing hold of the woman, he forces her to hold up the giant wheel and the player continues towards the now held open gate. Half-way there, a horrifying crunch is heard, and returning to the wheel, the player can see the crushed form of the princess blockading the wheel and therefore forcing the gate to stay open. This woman was introduced, saved from captivity, and then sacrificed to progress past this one puzzle. Kratos, the player, continues onwards.
At what point does a mentality become so corrupting that all “others” become sacrificial pawns? At what point does an ideology suddenly permit atrocities? Does the pain of others come second to the pain of ones family? If you had power, would you lay waste to your enemies using its full extent? I believe GOW III unwittingly asks these questions as the player tromps through Olympus on Kratos’ warpath. Players can ask themselves whether their actions are justified because they were wronged, or because they perceived themselves to be wronged. These are issues that have permeated much of human interaction, leading to terrible atrocities that the culprits have attempted to justify. Kratos and the game justify his murder spree because he is really REALLY mad. Similarly cruel humans have used slightly more complex reasons and actions. Place a group of people in concentration camps to allow the “rightful race” to flourish? A horrible and immoral act, yet in Hitler’s mind, a justifiable means to an end.
Yet, Hitler is an easy target for extreme and deplorable violence. People begin to accept violent actions more and more when they can relate to their own justifications. In the vein of revenge, consider killing thousands of innocents to eradicate a terrorist group that destroyed your World Trade Center. Consider nuking two heavily populated cities to force surrender. In the vein of “need”, another possible justification, consider destroying and reforming a countries infrastructure and government to gain a resource like oil. When extreme reasons justify extreme means matters of life and morality become increasingly less important. In some pointed ways, Kratos can be become the avatar of many entities that have achieved overwhelming power: Hitler, America, International corporations. In the end, the player should look at themselves and wonder, why should they seek to harm others? And, if they find a justification, to what extent are they willing to go?
(Side-Note: The epic boss fights are quite entertaining and the game is worth a play-through if you like action. Not the most depth for combat however).
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