These women aren’t people or characters, but sexualized bodies to be used by Kratos/the player. They are effectively interchangeable with the XP chests, except these XP sources are meant to be titillating. This can be done multiple times, turning the women into literal XP fountains. Sony Santa Monica extended the objectification of these women into the gameplay by rewarding the player with experience points (XP) afterwards. Glory to Eros, he has given us a champion,” or “Do you know how long it’s been since a real man has come into my chambers?” The player gets to be an active participant in the objectification of women. These moments are also the clearest example of Kratos becoming a self-insert avatar for the player, as the frequently nameless women talk about Kratos/the player, saying things like “The gods have rewarded us. Sony Santa Monica actualized a horny thirteen-year old boy’s conception of sex in every God of War game: self-absorbed, childish, and demeaning to women. Every God of War has a disgustingly puerile minigame in which Kratos has sex with one or several women as the player presses a series of buttons in a quick time event. They are merely plot devices to fuel the games’ action, whereas Kratos gets to be a character with agency.īeyond plot devices, Sony Santa Monica saw fit to give women one other role: sexual objects for the presumed straight male player. Sony Santa Monica uses them to drive conflict between the men of the series, Kratos, Ares and Zeus. His wife and daughter do not get to be actual characters they don’t get to struggle with guilt or complex emotions. Throughout the entire series, Sony Santa Monica makes Kratos’ motivation either to absolve himself of the murders or to seek revenge on those he blames for his actions. Ares puts Kratos’ wife and daughter in a city Kratos is attacking, leading to Kratos to accidentally murder them. This happens because Ares, who Kratos works for, wants Kratos to be free of familial ties, hoping that will make him a better soldier. Before the first game begins, Kratos accidentally murders his wife and daughter. Sony Santa Monica falls back on the tired and sexist “women in refrigerators” trope to drive the series’ plot and violence. Women are treated as plot devices, not characters, from the very outset of the first God of War. If they have any hope of actually accomplishing that, however, then God of War needs to move beyond its history of disgusting misogyny. Creative Director Cory Balrog told Polygon that in the new God of War Kratos is “figuring out how to teach this kid to not be like him, to have the best parts of him and leave the worst parts out.” The designers’ intentions seem to be to write a more relatable story than the previous tales of deicide. It features an older Kratos with his son and appears to be going for a more thoughtful tone. Sony announced a new God of War game at E3 this year, simply titled God of War. This piece discusses depictions of violence towards women and includes videogame depictions of nudity.
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