Most Brutal God of War Moments Ever

Baldur – First Encounter (God of War 2018)

The 2018 reboot of God of War changed the DNA of the franchise in transformative ways, and the opening act of the game set the tone for the series’s new direction, showing Kratos as a dutiful father, leading a quiet life in the wilderness with his son, Atreus. The tranquility of that set-up is shattered completely with the introduction of Baldur. Kratos refuses to engage Baldur’s taunts at first, but what at first seems to be a mild misunderstanding soon escalates into an all-out god vs. god slobber knocker in the snow.

What makes this fight so brutal is how intimate, detailed, and up-close-and-personal it is compared to every other fight we’d seen in the series to that point. Kratos and Baldur beat the living crap out of each other, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary. But the generational jump to the PS4 allowed the developers Sony Santa Monica to get the in-game camera closer to the action than ever before, upping the graphical detail to the point where we can see drops of blood drying on Kratos and Baldur’s faces as they wince and strain during their literally earth-shattering clash. In this case, the brutality is in the details. There are no dismemberment or beheadings going on here, but you can feel every punch, and you can see the pain in the combatants’ eyes.

Poseidon (God of War III)

The boss fight with Poseidon that opens God of War III is all about perspective.

Battling with the god of the sea on his ascent up Olympus to take revenge on the Pantheon, Kratos puts a beating on Poseidon until he’s rendered all but defenseless. Then, the camera switches to a first-person view from Poseidon’s perspective as we watch Kratos relentlessly pulverize him. In a truly horrific moment, Kratos essentially sticks his thumbs into our eyes until they pop. Super gross. Then, the camera switches back to third-person just as Kratos throws Poseidon’s carcass off of Olympus. Honestly, though, it’s the eye thing that sticks with you.

Zeus (God of War III)

Like God of War III’s, opening boss fight with Poseidon, Kratos’s ultimate showdown with Zeus utilizes a first-person perspective, only this time we see things from Kratos’s point of view as he swings his Blades of Chaos at his father, beating him into submission.

It’s the culmination of Kratos’s war on the Pantheon, and the game gives Zeus’s death its just due. Staying in first-person perspective, the game allows you to punch Zeus’s face into oblivion, to the point where the screen is completely soaked in his blood. It’s one of the most monumental deaths in franchise history, and definitely one of the bloodiest.