20 years of "God of War": Greek battle platter

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Most modern games take their time: calm main menu, relaxed tutorial, leisurely starting challenges. Not so "God of War": Hero Kratos looks at you from the main menu as if you had personally strangled his mother, and one press of "New Game" later follows an even today impressive pan directly into the game, which opens with the words "The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope."

A flashback then takes us directly to the first boss fight, or to be precise, the first boss level. Because the entire first section in the Aegean is just the backdrop for the epic battle against the Hydra, which ends with one of the giant beast's heads being impaled on a sailing mast while the other two explode in blood. And that was just the first level.

"God of War", which was in development at Sony's Santa Monica studio for around three years under the direction of David "Twisted Metal" Jaffe and was released exclusively on the Playstation 2 at the end of March 2005, is fundamentally based on Greek mythology. Anyone who has ever seen a Sandals movie or two will be familiar with names such as Zeus, Athena or Aphrodite, fantasy creatures such as Hydra and Minotaur or the basic concept of Pandora's Box. However, you should not start the game with the expectation of receiving an interactive history lesson: Although the developers have drawn on ancient writings, they spin their own story from them. Which mainly revolves around revenge.

Knee-deep in blood

Kratos is not exactly a glittering figure of sympathy: a tall, muscle-bound Spartan with ashen skin streaked with red tattoos. His standard stance is that of an aggressive beast, bent forward, legs wide, arms broad, with the "chaos blades" welded to the flesh at each end: Mementos of his pact with the god of war Ares, who once saved him from certain death on the battlefield, making Kratos his compliant slave for all time.

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"God of War" wird 20 (12 Bilder)

There's a clever plot twist about halfway through the game that explains who Kratos is, what he has against the gods and where his striking appearance comes from. In any case, his declared mission is to destroy Ares – and on the way to this goal, which is actually unattainable for a normal mortal, he walks over every corpse: Whether it's soldier zombies, harpies, cyclops, sirens, hellhounds or occasional bosses such as a gigantic mecha-minotaur – they all fall victim sooner or later to the constant hammering of the chaos blades or the oversized sword of Artemis.

Alternatively, Kratos can also use magic in the course of the game to throw lightning bolts around, have the undead army of the underworld god Hades fight for him or turn his enemies to stone via the severed head of Medusa. These spells require the use of mana and, just like Kratos' weapons, they can be strengthened several times over the course of the adventure. However, this requires corresponding upgrade points, which either wait to be discovered in crates or leave the bodies of destroyed enemies in elegant arcs.