Originally slated for a 2021 release, the game was delayed in part due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on development, and also because of Kratos actor Christopher Judge's health problems in August 2019. In the months following the game's announcement in September 2020, many gaming journalists and websites regarded the sequel as one of their most anticipated games the game won awards for Most Wanted Game and Most Anticipated Game from the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards and PlayStation.Blog awards, respectively. Serving as the finale to the Norse era of the series, the game will cover Ragnarök, a series of events that bring about the end of days and depicts the deaths of the Norse gods, which was foretold to happen in the previous game after Kratos killed the Æsir god Baldur. Loosely based on Norse mythology, the game will be set in ancient Norway and feature series protagonists Kratos and his teenage son Atreus.
It will be the ninth installment in the God of War series, the ninth chronologically, and the sequel to 2018's God of War. It is scheduled to be released in 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. God of War Ragnarök is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.