10 Hidden Secrets In God of War Games

“God of War” (2018)

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2018’s entry featured a lot of hidden scenes and dialogue that would only occur if you went back to a location following certain events. And one of, if not the biggest instances of this featured a tease for Kratos and Atreus’ next big adventure. Upon completing the game, you’d be free to continue sidequesting and wreaking havoc on the monsters of Midgard. But going back to where your journey began unlocked this tantalizing cutscene. After lying down for some much deserved rest, Atreus has a dream that Thor comes for him and his father. The Norse God of Thunder was a presence felt throughout the game, though never seen. And his tease had us shivering with anticipation at the thought of the upcoming battle.

“God of War” (2005)

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If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to have an actual conversation with Kratos, these secret messages have the answer. By completing the first game on God Mode, the hardest difficulty, you’d unlock Secret Message 1 in the Treasures Menu. The phone number it gives leads to a recording of Kratos, praising your talents for completing the mode and revealing a hidden chamber in which he keeps Ares’ soul. Secret Message 2 can be obtained by destroying the two statues in Kratos’ Throne Room. Descrambling this phone number also leads to a recording of Kratos, though this time he’s interrupted by director David Jaffe. Hilariously, Kratos kills Jaffe after he insults the God of War’s pasty white skin.

“God of War” (2018)

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Atreus’ real name came as a pretty shocking twist at the end of the game. But if anyone had thoroughly studied the first area, and we do mean thoroughly, they would have seen it coming. Similar to how the developers placed a damaged Jotunheim mural in the first fight with Baldur, they also hid Atreus’ true identity in Kratos’ home. Inside, you can find four runes that, when translated and put in the right order, spell ‘Loki.’ As the game tells us, this is the name Faye (or Laufey) wanted to give her son before she and Kratos agreed on a Greek name. This grand twist will likely make for some interesting story beats for the sequel considering Loki’s role in Ragnarok.

“God of War II” (2007)

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It sounds ridiculous, but tweaking the rules in the Arena mode can let you get this insanely high combo. And once you reach that number, the url islandofrhodes.org will briefly appear on the screen. Initially, all that could be seen by visiting the site was a countdown. And when it reached zero, players discovered its own secret that led to the game’s hidden HD mode. By following the site’s instructions, you’d be able to play in high res. The mode was so deeply hidden as it was apparently tough to implement, with the last bug getting fixed on the final day of production. In this case, the process of figuring out the secret was much more interesting than what it turned out to be.

“God of War III” (2010)

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Despite the lackluster payoff of the hidden url in “God of War II,” the developers decided to hide another one in the sequel. But this time, the site actually led to a cool tease and was likely more obtainable by a wider array of players. By getting the game’s Platinum Trophy, you’d be shown spartansstandtall.com. At first, it only showed a spartan shield with a meter around it set against a rainy backdrop. But over time, the meter filled, revealing the full picture: Kratos looking at his younger self in a massive puddle. The site was teasing “Ghost of Sparta,” a PSP spin-off set in between the first two games. Hiding its reveal within the third entry was a great way to build hype.

“God of War II” (2007)

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In the original game, the developers hid an Easter Egg that spelled out, “Surrender Kratos” in the sky. But for the sequel, they did one better. After Kratos’ fight with Perseus, you can backtrack a bit through the Hall of Atropos and find three stars on the ground: one by the exit to the balcony, a second under the window outside and a third by the two trees near the giant horses. Pressing R1 on each of them quickly enough will cause a ton of red orbs to pour out of the trees. And another message will appear in the sky, this time reading, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” It comes from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, but there’s no arguing it fits Kratos incredibly well.

“God of War III” (2010)

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We all know how Kratos’ accidental murder of his wife and child was the catalyst for the series. But you can still track his daughter Calliope’s steps after her death. In “God of War III,” you can find a letter that is clearly from her next to the Three Judges. She writes about her death and mentions that the Judges sent her to Elysium, a section of the underworld where good souls are sent. But Kratos already knew his daughter’s location, as did anyone who played the PSP spin-off “Chains of Olympus.” But for console players, the letter was news that Calliope’s final resting place is actually a nice one.

“God of War” (2018)

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The latest installment gives players a lot more variety when it comes to item and weapon management. One relic is called the Shattered Gauntlet of Ages, the game’s version of Marvel’s Infinity Gauntlet. It isn’t that impressive on its own, but there are six gems that can enhance its power significantly, though it can only hold 3 at a time. Each of them corresponds to one of the six Infinity Stones, such as Njord’s Temporal Stone, which has a chance to briefly slow enemies after you deal damage. Most of the stones are fairly hard to get, so you better be prepared to work for them. But it’s all worth it to gain even a fraction of the power that Thanos felt.

This 2013 prequel houses one of the most fascinating teases in the series. During the Cistern chapter, Kratos comes upon a mysterious painting of what looks to be Olympus. A message from Aletheia warns of a terrible prophecy and lists jumbled letters. But if you descrambled the letters and solved the subsequent puzzle, the painting would change to Earth, clearly showing the supercontinent Pangaea. The message also changed to read, “When the Earth stops, the journey begins.” The painting puzzled fans for years. But it was likely a tease for the future of the series. Pangaea explains how Kratos could go from the world of Greek myth to Norse. And the main quest in the 2018 game is called The Journey.

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This poor guy. What first seemed like a very minor character has popped up multiple times throughout the series. In the first game, he gets swallowed up by the Hydra and ends up in the Underworld, with Kratos leaving him for dead in both instances. In the second game, he’s one of the souls summoned during the fight with the Barbarian King. In the third game, you can find a letter from him in the Underworld that curses Kratos’ existence. He’s even referenced in the Norse world. One of the many treasure maps you can find on the Lake of Nine comes from one of the captain’s crewmen. Following it leads you to part of a destroyed ship; the very same one where Kratos began his journey all those years ago.