Director Stig Asmussen explains why he made the trilogy conclude on a more hopeful note. By Russ Frushtick God Of War 3 Photo: Sony With the release of “God of War 3” on Tuesday (March 16), players finally get to experience the culmination of Kratos’ quest for revenge. What they may not know is that the ending they’ll be playing was very different two years ago, when the game had a different director behind it. MTV News spoke with Stig Asmussen , who ultimately took the reins as game director, about where the story might have gone had original helmer Cory Barlog remained on the team. Asmussen says that Barlog, who left Sony to work with writer-director George Miller, “had a certain kind of idea and design for the plot and story” that had a “fantastic layout.” But once in control of the fate of “God of War 3,” Asmussen felt it was important to make the project his own, and the story was a big part of that. “There were some things about the plot that I didn’t think were fully fleshed out, and I thought that it was really important that I was able to inject a story into the game that I was really passionate about and really understood,” he said. “So, we changed the story quite a bit. I worked with Marianne [Krawczyk], a writer on ‘God of War 1’ and ‘2’ and some other key people on the team who helped write the story.” Under Asmussen’s direction, the ending of “God of War 3” became much brighter, with a message of hope in the wake of carnage. That contrasts dramatically with what Barlog had been planning. “[Barlog’s] idea was that it ends with death,” explained Asmussen. “Death was the theme. I wanted something that was a little bit more hopeful than that.” Despite the brighter message in the end, “God of War 3” remains a remarkably dark, violent experience throughout most if its 10-hour length. There should be no concern about Kratos, the series’ twisted anti-hero, going soft, especially after players see his first visceral decapitation. But it does make one wonder what the future holds for the franchise and whether the dark days are over. We wouldn’t bet on it. For more on “God of War 3,” visit Multiplayer.MTV.com .
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‘God of War 3’ Ending Could Have Been Much Darker
