David Jaffe has published two videos breaking down why he doesn’t like the new God Of War spin-off Sons Of Sparta, which shadow-dropped last week.
Given it had been widely rumoured since last year, the announcement of a God Of War Metroidvania prequel – God Of War: Sons Of Sparta – during last Thursday’s State of Play wasn’t as big a surprise as Sony probably would’ve liked.
What did surprise everyone, though, was that the game launched that same day, alongside the annoucement that all three of the original God Of War games will be seeing full remakes.
Sons Of Sparta’s sudden shadow drop means there’re very few critical reviews covering it, but one person who definitely isn’t impressed is original God Of War director David Jaffe.
Jaffe used to work at Santa Monica Studio and served as game director and lead designer on the first God Of War game in 2005. As such, he’s often credited as the creator of the series.
His only other God Of War credit, though, is as creative director on 2007’s God Of War 2, as he left Santa Monica Studio that same year. He’s since left game development entirely and is better known nowadays for his YouTube channel and for riling people up on the internet with his gaming opinions.
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He’s been especially critical of the more modern God Of War games, so it’s not especially shocking to learn he’s not fond of Sons Of Sparta either, posting a review video that describes it as ‘total crap’ in the thumbnail.
After playing for about an hour, Jaffe bemoans the wasted premise, admitting he always wanted to see a 2.5D style God Of War game but finds the final product ‘offensive.’
‘I don’t like it. I don’t recommend it. What the f*** are they thinking? Its existence is offensive,’ says Jaffe, comparing Sons Of Sparta to other Metroidvanias that he thinks are far better, like Blasphemous and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.
A lot of his issues, though, seem to stem from the story and writing. Sons Of Sparta is a prequel that sees a much younger Kratos during his Spartan training days, long before he becomes the murderous monster he was known for during the Greek era games.
Jaffe calls this version of Kratos ‘some generic kid’ and that it ‘makes no f***ing sense,’ but he’s never been especially fond of the modern interpretation of Kratos either. If he had his way Kratos would’ve remained an amoral edgelord, rather than the repentant father he is now.
‘It really makes me angry. The fact they would think this is what people want from God Of War. It’s insulting to the fans, to the people that worked on the games,’ says Jaffe.
Despite vowing to never go back to it, Jaffe has uploaded a second, longer Sons Of Sparta video where he offers a more measured critique on the gameplay itself, such as how the graphics make it difficult to discern what’s in the foreground and what’s in the background and making traversal harder than it needs to be. Although it does start with him demanding no more games where he has to play as kids.
Fan reactions for the game have been mixed so far. Not only does Sons Of Sparta have mostly positive player reviews on Metacritic, with an average score of 7.2, but some commenters say that Jaffe’s dislike of the game is the best advertising it could get.
‘If Jaffe hates it you know it’s good,’ says chubbybehem0th in the comments. Taesanexdo agrees: ‘This is the best confirmation that the game is good.’
Others who have played Sons Of Sparta flat out disagree with Jaffe: ‘It really picks up. I’m loving it. More smaller, cheaper experiences like this please,’ says apabub.
Jaffe has plenty of people in his corner, though. Some of his gameplay was shared to the LivestreamsFail subreddit and yet a lot of the comments are from those who agree with his criticisms.
‘He’s right, the visual design sucks and you can’t tell what’s foreground and background,’ says quaker_otis, while RE4PER_, despite saying Jaffe has ‘dumb takes,’ admits Sons Of Sparta ‘looks very disappointing visually and mechanically.’
Jaffe will no doubt have things to say once those God Of War remakes come out, but those won’t be happening for a long time. However, Santa Monica Studio may be announcing something else later this year according to reliable rumours.
Exactly what it is isn’t clear, but it’s claimed to be coming out next year (or at least by 2028) and won’t be the sci-fi game that was theorised a couple of years ago.
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