Believe it or not, God of War‘s central character hasn’t always been a calm (mostly) and subdued hermit. In his younger years, in fact, gaming’s angriest man had just one concern – the complete destruction of an entire deific pantheon as penance for his wife and child’s murder. It was Kratos himself, of course, who sent his family to an early grave as a result of Ares’ trickery, an event that he’s perpetually reminded of by way of the human ashes bonded to his skin.
Not exactly a torrid past one can easily put behind them, then, but the Ghost of Sparta finds some semblance of peace within himself by relocating to the land of Midgard whereupon he starts a new family with wife Faye and son Atreus. Older, wizened and sporting an impressively groomed beard, Kratos has visibly aged by the events of 2018’s soft reboot, but he certainly hasn’t lost his talents as an effective god slayer.
Eager to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, Speclizer has now opted to give the antihero a close shave and some skin moisturizer, with the end result being a warrior much closer in appearance to his days in Ancient Greece, as you can see in the video above and screenshot below.
Sadly, the mod doesn’t appear to be publicly available just yet, but you can support Speclizer’s exploration of the modern classic over on their Patreon. So far, the modder has managed to achieve various unintended feats in-game, including repurposing the camera to allow watching some of the cutscenes in first person. And given the popular reception that alteration received, we wouldn’t at all be surprised if Sony Santa Monica ended up offering an official option for this year’s sequel, God of War: Ragnarök. Those that missed the initial teaser trailer shown back in the summer can find it over here.