The latest installment of the popular God of War game franchise goes female and, as predicted, misogynists made it another culture war battleground.
Earlier this June at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s State of Play presentation—their big quarterly townhall of sorts where they reveal huge projects in the pipeline—the company announced the newest installment to their massively popular God of War game series: God of War Laufey, a new narrative completely driven by the titular deceased Norse wife of franchise face Kratos.
Laufey is played by Hollywood actress Deborah Ann Woll, whom you likely know best as Karen Page from Marvel’s Daredevil TV series. In the context of this video game, Woll not only lends the character her voice acting, but also her likeness as a conventionally attractive white American woman. (Remember that; that’s going to be an important plot point a little later.)
As soon as the game was announced, misogynistic male gamers were quick on the draw with their disappointment and rage. “The God of War games were always about Kratos!” they exclaimed. “Why would God of War become ‘woke’ like the rest of gaming is becoming now and start being about a woman?”
It also didn’t help that Sony revealed that the director for the game was a female developer and designer, Ariel Lawrence. For these people, it was already bad enough that a woman was the protagonist; having a woman take over and direct a game in the traditionally macho series was definitely worse.
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The virtual battle of the sexes
For those who aren’t aware of why the fight for stories like these is such an important issue in gaming, you must understand that the industry, much like Hollywood today, is one of the hottest battlegrounds in the ongoing global culture war between progressivism and conservatism.
For decades up until the 2010s, the gaming industry was solely shaped by the male gaze and touch. That means games were often a male power fantasy that demanded protagonists be athletic, rugged, manly, and musclebound if they were men; and attractive and oftentimes highly sexualized if they were women.
This isn’t a joke or a mere putdown—wade into any male-dominated gaming space online and you’ll eventually find a male gamer venting and admitting in frustration that they play games to escape the tether of reality, not to be reminded of the ugly truth and learn about politics and the harshness of real life. In fact, I just saw a tweet that said, unironically, that the “male gaze is the only gaze that matters in gaming.”
In short, if the vernacular “woke” refers to being enlightened about society and social issues, many gamers would be very happy to be asleep. This is despite The Matrix, despite intelligent and poignant philosophical and political themes baked into games they grew up playing in the ‘90s and 2000s.
Casual misogyny and sexism were already a part of the culture for the longest time, but their most hateful form sprouted from the embarrassing 2014 scandal known as Gamergate, in which gamers harassed female gaming journalist Anita Sarkeesian for being a feminist critic, as well as women game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu. Gamers who did the harassing identified as far right politically and calcified it into a real movement, which some analysts say directly or indirectly led to the rise of MAGA, QAnon, and definitely got Donald Trump elected twice.
So, yes, every toxic misogynist conservative you encounter online could possibly be traced back to angry male gamers.
Kratos would be disappointed in gamers
Going back to God of War Laufey. Gamers tend to get angry when presented with a “realistic” woman, especially when they’re not white, Asian, sexualized, and fetishized.
That means Black and brown women who aren’t conventionally attractive are considered “DEI” designs that they rage and call for boycotts against. Which is why it’s also infinitely weird that they’re also mad about a beautiful white woman in Woll, who isn’t presented as a highly polished sex symbol—incredibly irate gamers will post side-by-side comparisons with fetishized Japanese designs of female characters while highlighting an unflattering angle of Laufey in the trailers.
Again, to them, only the male gaze matters.
“I, for one, think actresses should be made less appealing. I hate the current world of cinema that doesn’t allow normal-looking people in it,” said a gamer on Reddit.
“Laufey being a bit more weathered/maternal/primitive looking in the face perfectly suits the hair and costume. Characters having constantly polished looks and surgically improved features without narrative basis . . . makes for actively bad art,” agreed another.
“It pains me how any time I see an interesting female character onscreen, my excitement is dampened because I immediately know what the online discourse is going to be right after. I’m so very sick and tired of it,” remarked another exhausted gamer on the same thread.
Ironically, the male gamers who idolize the stoic and manly Kratos would likely disappoint their hero if he were real and heard the sheer, toxic disrespect they were spewing about his late wife. God of War Laufey’s story picks up from after Laufey’s body is burned in a funeral pyre—while Kratos and their son Atreus (who is revealed to be none other than Loki) bring her ashes to the highest peak in the realm. Laufey will now be fighting other gods from other world pantheons in a divine afterlife known as the Everywhen.
I mean, how is that not badass?
But male gamers—not all, but too many—would rather still be trapped in their misogyny, too preoccupied with coming out ahead in the culture war that only they are interested in continuing, to appreciate something good. While it’s nice to keep having something to write articles like this about, the online discourse is also so exhausting when you just want to play a good work of art. Many of us at some point matured and realized that other viewpoints and voices are great to experience. That’s called actually being a decent adult.
And it is for that reason why I’m actually excited for God of War Laufey, because as an ancient mythology nerd since childhood, I think it’s a pretty cool premise to be a warrior goddess going toe-to-toe in combat with other gods from around the world. That alone should be selling people on the game, and if the presence of a woman as the main character ruins the experience for you, then sorry not sorry—you’re just weak.
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