When we spoke to God of War creator David Jaffe on the Retro Dodo Podcast, it felt like reliving our teenage years. Getting to delve into the mind of the man who created Kratos and the God of War series was amazing, and we spoke about how the series has progressed from the days of the PS2 and the future of the series as it goes forward from Ragnarok. One thing we didn't ask, however, was what the series might look like if it went backwards to older consoles, and if David had ever considered an 8-bit version of Kratos.
Thankfully, Holmade Games has answered this question for us and created Bit of War, an 8-bit game that pays homage to both the God of War series as a whole and the 8-bit era of consoles.
Kratos usually looks like such a brute in the main God of War games, but here he looks a little more like Bonk from Bonk's Adventure, albeit with his ashen skin and trademark red markings. The game has the same kind of tower scaling that you would find in The Cyber Shinobi and level designs with shades of Alex Kidd, albeit with the Blades of Chaos firing at enemies left, right, and centre.
You guys know I love demakes, and seeing a miniature Kratos jumping and tackling mummies and other evil cretins in simple levels that are almost clipart-esque at times takes all of the tension and vengeful mystique away from Kratos' character, leaving you with a platformer that wouldn't have looked out of place on the NES back in the day.
I'm going to be honest, I never really thought about what God of War might be like as an 8-bit title until today, but it really works. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's cutesy, but I think fans of the original game will enjoy this retro reimagining of the God of War's antics and the simplistic nature of it.
Ok, it might not be as graphically enticing as seeing Jormundgander coming out of the water to talk with Mimir or as colourful as this Super Mario Bros. Wonder demake, but it's definitely fun to think what the game might have been like had David and the team started working on it in the '80s instead of the '00s!
Check out the game page for Bit of War on Itch.io and see what an 8-bit Olympus looks like for yourself!
