Some People Are Mad at the new, "God of War: Laufey," Because You Play as a Female Character. Wait, Seriously?

“God of War,” is a long-running game series. The earlier ones were extremely over the top and followed a protagonist named Kratos as he killed a bunch of Gods who had wronged him. The series restarted its numbering for a new thematic era but kept the continuity, focusing on Kratos and a young son, Arterus, whom he had later in life. Those games also involved Kratos mourning the death of his wife (and Mother of their child), Faye. All the GOW games are extremely popular (especially the more mature and thoughtful ones with Kratos as a Father). I have to be honest and say that I have never played them but have watched clips and find the assorted entries interesting to learn about. I’ve aimed to play some of them eventually, but my backlog of games is truly ever-growing. To get to the point of this article, a spin-off game focused on Krato’s deceased wife, Faye, was just announced. It takes place concurrently with the other games and follows her working to navigate the afterlife. It does not appear to have any political message or anything but some people immediately made it another lightning rod in the internet’s unending culture wars.

People have argued that Faye looks dirty or ugly and needs to be prettier, with it some kind of concession to liberals that she isn’t a smoking hot big-breasted MILF. The most generic statements I've seen basically say that it is somehow, “Woke,” to tell a story with a lady as the protagonist. I am a very politically active person who holds many opinions, but even I know that sometimes a game about a woman slaying demons in the afterlife on an epic quest is just meant to be fun without any super-secret sociological statement. Some video-games do have a particular big message, whether it is, “War never changes,” even with a nuclear apocalypse (Fallout) or weird metaphors about racism via robots (Detroit: Stay Human). Not every game is trying to spark a complex dialogue, however.  Even the latter, “God of War,” games have a lot of drama about how hard it is to be a parent while grieving (Kratos loved and misses his wife), and that’s not a controversial statement! It is a relatable topic for many. The idea of Faye missing her husband and son while slicing up foes could be covered in the game, but that’s hardly anything to spend hours arguing about online as if this game asked to be the new poster child for all that is great and/or awful about games and politics. Just chill, everyone.