New 'God of War: Laufey' Announcement Leaves Fans Harshly Divided

Near the end of PlayStation's State of Play show earlier today, there was one final announcement and gameplay demonstration: the next game from Sony Santa Monica Studios, God of War: Laufey. The reaction to the game, though, has been brutally split down the middle, with some fans unhappy about Kratos not taking the leading role.

Over on the official PlayStation X account, fans are passionately (and viciously) defending and attacking the new game. Some fans are impressed by the game's expansion on the previous two games' combat mechanics, with the new lead character Faye (Kratos' deceased wife) being much more acrobatic and yet equally powerful as her God of War husband. Others seem to be angry at seemingly not playing as Kratos in a new mainline entry in the series.

Some fans are also speculating that much of the "hate" the game is receiving is because of it having a female lead character. "I can just smell the comments coming because it's a woman main character," said X user Vaughn 2.0.

Foxxin noticed the split response to the game, writing, "Half of the comments: Regular people, happy that we're getting more GoW and backstory of Faye. The other half: Reddit using chuds that have never spoken to a woman before."

Some users are also questioning the game's exploration of the afterlife of gods and general story direction. "God of War should be focusing on exploring new mythologies, not this character. Exploring the afterlife of the gods isn't what the fans want. You can't be adding a mix of random gods from different pantheons. The environment, the culture, and the creatures are what matter," wrote Adam Red.

On the opposite side, a lot of fans are praising the 20 minutes of story and gameplay that was demonstrated. "The game looked great. Ignore the haters. They'll throw a tantrum if any form of media has a woman or black main protagonist in it," wrote Himiko.

God of War: Laufey is in development with no announced release date.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 6:17 PM.