Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

During a recent interview with Days Gone director John Garvin, David Jaffe, the legendary game designer and creator of the God of War series, shared his opinion on Atreus, Kratos' son from the new God of War games, describing the boy as a "terrible character."

Discussing how characters evolve throughout a story and the drastic changes Santa Monica made to Kratos' character in the new games – transforming him from Rage Incarnate into a concerned, aging father – Jaffe explained that he considers Atreus to be a "terrible character" from both visual and gameplay perspectives.

According to the developer, he does actually like the character's function as Kratos' son, but at the same time, he believes that all the potential Atreus had by the end of the 2018 God of War was wasted in Ragnarök.

"That guy needed to be set up by the end of Ragnarök or the middle of Ragnarök to be like, 'F*ck, that dude is cool, I wanna be that guy!' And Ragnarök didn't give us that,"

Commented Jaffe.



Source

 

[Metnut]

He’s right. I love the new GOW games but Atreus is a big missed opportunity.

 

[ManaByte]

 

[Saber]

You're lucky they didn't kill Kratos on the sequel.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Hard to disagree on this one. No interest in a spinoff unless they turn Atreus into Revengeance Raiden.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Anyone that has ever spent any time around teenagers knows that they're mostly terrible characters.

 

[Skifi28]

Haven't played Ragnarok yet, but I liked him in the first game.

 

[Fredrik]

Not even the most diehard fans will disagree on this

 

[BennyBlanco]

Jaffe the social media grifter stinks, but his games were way more fun than modern GoW.

 

[begotten]

Not sure about that in hindsight.

In 2018 he was average but in Ragnarok he had great moments and was objectively more fun to play than Kratos. I went from "Please God don't make a Atreus spin-off" to "I'd play that" after how fast and fluid he was and switching to the Wolf form. Could get a more modern game akin to the original GOW Trilogy through Atreus with how it plays and feels.

 

[Gaiff]

He was fine in the first game. He became an annoying angsty teenage little shit in the second. What particularly annoyed me is how thoroughly modern he is written. He doesn't behave or speak like the son of a former Spartan captain and a Norse mother. He speaks like the son of suburban white parents who grew up on a coastal city in the pacific west. You know, the kind of weak parents who are afraid to beat their kids when they step out of line.

 

[Varteras]

My money is on a spinoff about Atreus, bridging the story between Ragnarok and the next major entry, where they'll try to make an older Atreus coming into his own as a man. Whether they succeed in making him a badass is another story.

 

[adamsapple]

He turns into an insufferable knob in the second.

 

[diffusionx]

Atreus is a good character. He shows growth and progression in the series. He plays well and differently from Kratos in Ragnaraok. The interactions he had with other characters like Angrboda felt appropriate and legit.

The issue here is, in Ragnarok, they totally dropped the ball with the story. They chickened out and turned what should have been an interesting and tragic story into Marvel capeshit.

 

[Jaybe]

Reminds me of Adoring Fan in both appearance and annoyance

 

[tmlDan]

coming from the guy who has mental health problems and hasn't made an interesting character his whole life? yes, lets believe him.

Everything he has ever created was either shallow horror stories (TM) or basic revenge story (OG Kratos), nothing he has ever made had depth.

 

[Gaiff]

coming from the guy who has mental health problems and hasn't made an interesting character his whole life? yes, lets believe him.

Everything he has ever created was either shallow horror stories (TM) or basic revenge story (OG Kratos), nothing he has ever made had depth.

You may attack Jaffe's character all you want, but he is still correct.

 

[ManaByte]

Haven't played Ragnarok yet, but I liked him in the first game.

He ruined Ragnarok.

They went for a whole Raiden MGS2 thing where you expect to be playing as Kratos, but for about half the game you're forced into TERRIBLE Atreus levels. It sucked.

 

[BouncyFrag]

He’s bloody awful. Shite-tier writing. I still replay the original games but can’t imagine replaying Ragnarok.

 

[tmlDan]

You may attack Jaffe's character all you want, but he is still correct.

Nope, Atreus grows throughout the games and matures, goes through hardships, learns from them and adapts. Kids do dumb things, imagine if they found out they were gods? I bet the next game you'll love him (if he's one of the main characters). You just hate kids, most likely, he doesn't have to be "cool", he's a kid.

 

[Xtib81]

I mean, this kid sure pissed me off.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

What teen isn't?

 

[JoduanER2]

Jaffe the social media grifter stinks, but his games were way more fun than modern GoW.

Agree 100% with this, the new games are so "by the numbers" games, good graphics and technically well made but soo bland...

 

[winjer]

He was annoying since the first game. Probably the worst part in the whole gsme.b
I heard he is even worse in the second, so I'm not to keen to play it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

This is so true, he ruined the game. His gameplay was shit, his character was shit...He is shit...and the game suffers for it. I never thought I would say this about a God Of War game but Ragnarok was massively over reviewed. It was probably an 7 or 8 out of 10 but as if "journalists" would dare to rank a god of war game from SSM that low. It's literally flushing any coverage rights and marketing support from Sony down the toilet.

 

[lh032]

better than aloy.

 

[ManaByte]

better than aloy.

Aloy doesn't ruin the games she's in though. Atreus has shit gameplay and his parts of the game are terrible.

 

[Musilla]

 

[Gaiff]

Nope, Atreus grows throughout the games and matures, goes through hardships, learns from them and adapts. Kids do dumb things, imagine if they found out they were gods? I bet the next game you'll love him (if he's one of the main characters). You just hate kids, most likely, he doesn't have to be "cool", he's a kid.

You think a character growing stops them from being shit? Atreus' character doesn't fit the setting. He was raised by Kratos following his mother's passing and the way he behaves is nothing like it. He acts like an angry little suburban teenager. What kind of child raised by people like Kratos and Fey would yell at their dads that they're acting like assholes?

God of War is a fantasy epic, not a fucking teen drama and that's how Atreus acts. He's horribly written and no amount of growth, changes, or character arcs can remedy this. He was fine in the first game. He's absolute trash in Ragnarok.

 

[cireza]

Watch as Kratos gets killed in the next game because of a situational disability.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

David Jaffe and his click bait

 

[Hudo]

the guy is right.

However, I still believe that SSM created Atreus so that he can be killed off by the player in a later game for huge pay off. Like Kratos ripping that piece of shit in half.

 

[K' Dash]

Aloy doesn't ruin the games she's in though. Atreus has shit gameplay and his parts of the game are terrible.

Also, Ragnarok is fucking bloated and missed what made 2018 a good game: "FOCUS". You have to go no further than realizing that the best part of the game is fucking OPTIONAL, shit is all over the place.

New Ratchet is worse than last Ratchet.

New Spidey is worse than last Spidey.

New Horizon is complete shit, the last game was mediocre at best.

and the list goes on and on.

 

[Lokaum D+]

 

[tmlDan]

You think a character growing stops them from being shit? Atreus' character doesn't fit the setting. He was raised by Kratos following his mother's passing and the way he behaves is nothing like it. He acts like an angry little suburban teenager. What kind of child raised by people like Kratos and Fey would yell at their dads that they're acting like assholes?

God of War is a fantasy epic, not a fucking teen drama and that's how Atreus acts. He's horribly written and no amount of growth, changes, or character arcs can remedy this. He was fine in the first game. He's absolute trash in Ragnarok.

That's how kids act, what do you mean he was raised by kratos and behaves nothing like it, you make no sense at all. How is he supposed to act? like an adult? he's a young teen, they are all like that.

Teens are dramatic, no matter how you want to spin it, you can not like it, that's fine, but its accurate to how kids act. I wouldn't call that bad writing, id say they actually had good writing because you hate him - he's an annoying little brat, a kid with powers who didn't know till later in life, of course he would act out, as most young boys would. Him losing his mother should make him act out MORE, as shown in the first game Kratos was an absent father most of the time and had to raise him better after his mother died. He lacked emotion and caring, that results in raising a bratty kid, he was inconsiderate of Atreus the entire time he parented him.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I can't stand Atreus. He looks like a twat and sounds like one too.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Yeah, really couldn't careless for Atreus. It all felt really predictable too. Of course a character like Kratos is going to have a son that's some annoying bratty kid. It just felt like a silly trope that put its writing on the wall. Sure, horrible upbringing and all of that, but it's not like a position like that has one outcome. There are several avenues. I would've been more interested in a character that had serious issues with anger and stubbornness, rather than some angsty hormonal teenager. Or at least one you could really empathize with. I felt like that was at a hard zero the entire time. Even during the tv sitcom style dad & son "drama".

 

[proandrad]

He’s right, Boy is the worst part of Dad of Boy.

 

[Gaiff]

That's how kids act, what do you mean he was raised by kratos and behaves nothing like it, you make no sense at all. How is he supposed to act? like an adult? he's a young teen, they are all like that.

Kids don't act the same throughout history or places. There are cultural norms and differences. You think a kid raised by strict Muslim parents will act the same as one raised by white liberal parents in the United States? They won't. The fact that you just paint kids with broad strokes without acknowledging the historical and cultural nuances is telling enough. I never dreamed of insulting my dad as a teenager and he was nowhere near as strict and scary as Kratos. Both Spartan and Norse cultures at the time prized honoring one's parents and respecting them, unlike today. Insulting your dad (or mom) was completely off-limits.

That scene reminded me of when I went to school and liberal kids would tell me about how they told their parents off and all I would think was, "Holy shit, my dad would have killed me if I had dared talk back, let alone insult him."

Teens are dramatic, no matter how you want to spin it, you can not like it, that's fine, but its accurate to how kids act. I wouldn't call that bad writing, id say they actually had good writing because you hate him - he's an annoying little brat, a kid with powers who didn't know till later in life, of course he would act out, as most young boys would. Him losing his mother should make him act out MORE, as shown in the first game Kratos was an absent father most of the time and had to raise him better after his mother died. He lacked emotion and caring, that results in raising a bratty kid, he was inconsiderate of Atreus the entire time he parented him.

Again, no. This would make sense if Atreus was some kid raised in LA. Ask a Greek person from just one generation ago if they would ever insult their parents even if they were angry and get back to me with the answer. The game utterly fails to capture the environment that would shape Atreus into what he is. They just write him like any modern teenage boy, which is nonsensical.

 

[deriks]

I agree

and I have the perfect review for it:


It's in portuguese, so there's some quick translation:

"Hittin on his diversity friends while they're on adventures
- look at this little crocodile! Kill him!!! Atreus, you're Loki!!!
- NISTA! NISTA!

and hittin on her (while he jerks off to her)

- look. I got a flower for you
and she is a dipshit, because she is the diverse vegan nordic and feminist
- you killed this flower to give me? That's what happened?!
(...)
- I KILLED THIS FUCKING FLOWER TO GIVE TO YOU, YOU FUCKING SLUT. WE'RE HERE SINCE EVER WALKING WITH THIS SMELLING HAIRY ASS BUFFALO THAT YOU HAVE BETWEEN ADVENTURES, KILLING ALL FAUNA AND FLORA, AND I TOOK THIS FUCKING FLOWER TO GIVE TO YOUR SLUTTY ASS, SO SWALLOW IT!!!
...that's what he should have said to her.

Then she comes with some marbles... It's no joke
- some marbles?
- in those marbles are the souls of the giants
...
- what you're saying, bitch?
- the giants run from Odin and came to those marbles to hide
- you're fucking kidding me. FUCK YOU, YOU SLUT!!!"

 

[tommib]

Aren’t all teens annoying and whiners? I actually think they got it right.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I hate his guts. One of the most annoying and terrible mothefuckers I've seen in video games.

 

[Topher]

I thought Atreus was fine outside of that one long section with Angroboda (sp?).

 

[Matt_Fox]

Atreus was the sidekick no one asked for...

 

[mayham2199]

He's right in that he's a terrible character but I don't think he needed to be that by the end of Ragnarok. He's acting like they've put themselves in a position they can't walk back from. My main issue honestly is his combat is just not fun.

Also they can make him grow up and be a different person essentially in the next game.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

 

[mitch1971]

Kids in gaming 101.

Kid acting like a kid : Fucking annoying piece of shit.

Kid acting like an adult : Unrealistic; kids don't act like that.

Ergo...just keep kids out of games until you design them as an adult.

 

[Bernardougf]

Yeah ... Sony western narrative games has gone to shit since woke of us 2 ... being daddy kratos, bitch fat aloy or strong jaw deformed mary jane all of this games sucks now... my next box is going to be a third party machine.. whatever it may be. Exclusives that I cared are basically dead for me anyway.

 

[Markio128]

He’s just coming off as bitter now tbh.

 

[balls of snow]

Yep dude needs to go through puberty before we see him again.