God of War Laufey is exactly how I want the series' combat to evolve, from the return of aerial combos to hitting dudes so hard their souls fly out

God of War Laufey stars the recently deceased Faye (short for Laufey) instead of her husband Kratos, but the next entry in the deity-smashing epic looks to be no less violent, with exhilarating, crunchy combat still at the fore. As you’d expect from Kratos’ partner and Atreus’ mother, Faye is more than capable of packing a punch – after all, she is the Golden Hand of the Jötnar, and proved more than a match for Thor.

In fact, Faye’s combat chops are in some ways more God of War than modern Kratos himself, with her fast and fluid combat style bridging the gap between the original PS2 trilogy and the softly rebooted, closer-to-the-shoulder scraps in 2018’s God of War and God of War Ragnarok. Just as Kratos learnt some fighting tricks from Faye (his Leviathan Axe that’s become synonymous with the Norse pantheon saga was originally Faye’s), she appears to have learnt some from him too. With plenty of nods to the Greek era in how Faye plays, this is exactly how I wanted the series to evolve after two games worth of Kratos’ extra meaty wallops.

Airing grievances

Throughout God of War’s Norse saga, Kratos can perform some devastating attacks, but so far it’s been more grounded than his Greek-set adventures. Perhaps in the years that passed, Kratos got creaky knees. Cue meeting Faye, and him looking up at her Willem DaFoe-style as she air juggles enemies just like he used to back in the day.

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