The Leviathan Axe’s Recall Feature Had to Go Through a Lot of Work
The Leviathan Axe in God of War has been lauded as one of the best parts of the game’s combat and being able to recall Kratos’ axe just adds to the game’s stylish flair. However, the game’s developer, Santa Monica Studio, had to go through a lot of work in order to get this beloved feature just right.
Being able to recall the axe was “one of the earliest gameplay/combat prototypes” that the developer team worked on, wrote God of War’s lead systems designer Vince Nappali in a lengthy blog post.
The team was putting the “finishing touches” on the recall feature only several months ago even though the feature was planned to be in the game since possibly 2014.
“Its original purpose was really just functional,” Nappali explained in his blog post. “We were certain we needed a ranged attack, and before we attempted having the Axe fire some kind of projectile, we wanted to see if we could just throw the the weapon itself. Hitting an enemy with a solid / large object is just more satisfying than using a projectile/particle effect.”
“We realized pretty quickly that in addition to some strong fantasy fulfillment, the mechanic also came with some additional game play benefits we weren’t predicting,” Nappali continued. “One of the first things we realized was that hitting enemies on return was basically mandatory. It wasn’t only what you would intuitively expect, it was something that was both satisfying to do on purpose and have happen accidentally.”
Nappali’s post also explains how they worked on the animation of the axe when its recalled, the speed at which it flies back into Kratos’ hand and even how it wiggles when it gets recalled by Kratos after getting stuck in something.
“Despite how much work it took, this mechanic might be the one I’m most proud of in the game,” Nappali concluded. “Of course we took some inspiration from a certain Marvel character… but from a game play standpoint I feel like it really did open a lot of doors we weren’t expecting.”
God of War is out now for the PS4.