To celebrate the fifth anniversary of God of War (the new one, and yes it’s been so long), Sony Santa Monica shared a few of these Behind-the-scenes footage of Kratos and Atreus’ final battle with Baldur. Spoilers for a five year old walking below.
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The lengthy Sony blog post begins with a brief history refresher, explaining how Baldur, the first enemy brave enough to walk to Kratos’ doorstep and suplex him from German while in his moccasins, became the game’s main antagonist . Although Kratos broke Baldur’s neck and kicked him into a chasm, Baldur got it back towards the end of the game. Unlike their first fight, Kratos takes on the role of mediator between Baldur and Freya. This, of course, doesn’t play out the way Kratos would have liked, leading to a high-octane exchange of blows between Kratos and Baldur.
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“We knew players were going to have a big, epic finale in store, so our goal was to always try to take what we did in the first Baldur fight and up the ante in every way,” said Bruno Velazquez, animation director at Santa Monica Studio.
The Nordic giants’ comrade’s dilemma
With the plot motivation laid out by the writing team between Kratos, Atreus, Baldur, and Freya, the next piece of the pie was to set the stage for their divine intervention. At this point, the design team suggested that the final fight should include a sequence in which Freya plays the giant as a puppeteer Thamur
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Thamur’s recording, as well Jörmungandr, the great help of the world serpent to Atreuswhich Velazquez said was a late edition of the fight, presented the team with the challenge of capturing the large scale of the fight so players could determine heads and tails of where they were in relation to the strike against Baldur.
“After a few iterations of animation to get Thamur’s hand as low as possible, we also set the camera to retract further than usual and widened the lens to contrast with the normal melee camera.” God of War said senior camera designer Erol Oksuz. “This also opened up space for the screen to show the ground below fading into shadow while also increasing the chance of seeing the giant’s hand. With the final sound, an accumulation of screen jitter and controller buzz, there was enough to communicate that something big was about to happen.”
Kratos vs Baldur Round 2, fight!
With Thamur and Jörmungandr effectively taking each other out of the equation in the fight, all that was left for Sony Santa Monica to do was bring home Kratos (with Atreus) and Baldur’s final punches.
“We like to think of endgame as a kind of final exam,” says Denny Yeh. God of War Lead Combat Designer said. “Unlike challenging bosses like the Valkyries, which are designed to test pretty much anything, a story boss like Baldur needs to feel more like the greatest hits of the mechanic throughout the game. Think of it as a celebration of what you have learned, not a rigorous test.”
To ensure God of WarSony’s final battle felt epic and rewarding for the player, Sony Santa Monica stepped up Baldur’s battle. For example, Baldur doesn’t use his element-absorbing powers early in the fight, allowing players to “freestyle with any ability [they] Desire,” Yeh said. Yeh also revealed that savvy players could have turned the tables on Baldur by tickling him in the Vines Freya Used to immobilize Kratos, allowing players to easily punch the Aesir god in the face.
The Kratos and Atreus beat down father-son
Aside from designing moments where Kratos made his fight personal put down his guns so he can fight Baldur, God of WarIn Kratos and Atreus’ final boss fight, they faced off against Baldur. I use the term “Battle” loosely because that Baldur’s shit rocked something heavy.
“There are several sequences that sell the team between Kratos and Atreus well, like Kratos throwing Atreus in the air to fire arrows, as well as Kratos jumping off the stonemason holding Baldur while Atreus jumps after them,” Velazquez said. “However, nothing compares to that moment when the player has to hit well-timed prompts while Kratos and Atreus take turns beating up Baldur. It was such a highlight for us to be able to include some of those moments that really make you feel like a father and son fighting together.”
Hel has no anger like a despised mother
After QT-ing Baldur’s generous white butt, Baldur actor Jeremy Davies delivered a heartbreaking monologue about the physical and psychological damage Freya’s selfish spell was inflicting on him. Although his personal pain doesn’t excuse his actions throughout the game, God of War Narrative director Matt Sophos said Davies’ performance added a “sad layer of nuance” to Baldur.
“[Davies] has brought such pain upon a character who – while unable to feel the physical way – is absolutely lost in his fear and agony. His performance made it difficult to hate Baldur as there was a tragic undertone to even the worst things he said,” Sophos said.
Ultimately, Kratos makes the decision to kill a freshly mistletoe struck Baldur (that’s the curse’s weakness) to prevent him from murdering his mother in a fit of rage. Freya actress Danielle Bisutti immediately capped off Davies’ heartbreaking performance with a stellar performance as she admonished Kratos’ decision while cradling her lifeless son’s body in her arms.
“When Danielle Bisutti (Freya) promises retribution for killing her son and slowly builds in intensity to the point of only berating Kratos with gall, hatred and sadness… that’s one of the strongest moments I’ve ever been a part of. ‘ Sophos said. “You could hear a pin drop on the performance capture stage. We were all just kind of stunned in silence. I knew based on how much of herself Danielle put into her performance that she was going to be tough, but DAMN…”
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