When God of War: Laufey was revealed, the usual suspects got upset that the game had a female protagonist. Despite it being long suspected that the next entry in the God of War series would see us play as someone other than Kratos, some were upset that this someone else was Faye, Kratos' wife.

Now, Deborah Ann Woll has addressed this pushback. Speaking at Game Con Canada, Woll says that Faye's story isn't specific to her gender and that players of all genders should find something to relate to in God of War Laufey.

Deborah Ann Woll On Faye's Story: "These Are Universal Ideas That Don’t Have Anything To Do With Gender"

When the topic of Woll playing God of War's first female lead comes up, Woll says that this expands the narrative possibilities, even if she does feel that anyone can enjoy Faye's story.

"We need as much diversity as possible within these stories so that we can tell even more stories," says Woll (as reported by CGMagazine) "This is all just about enjoying each other’s perspectives and widening our experiences. If I get to, in some small part, do that for women within gaming, I’m very excited about that."

However, Woll doesn't think that Faye's gender is the most significant part of her story.

"I think we find universality through specificity. And there is nothing about this experience that Faye is having that anyone else of any gender could not relate to," Woll continues. "This is a story about a parent. This is a story about regret. This is about being a better person than who you were before.

"These are universal ideas that don’t have anything to do with gender. We’re just going to see it through this woman’s perspective. I think about the people who, maybe because of their childhood or their parents, now really relate to Kratos and Atreus’ story, and feel really seen by that. I love the idea that now we’ll have more people who feel seen by Faye’s story, and hopefully those same people will also feel seen by that."

True enough, many feel that when you try to make something for everyone, it ends up being for no one. So, by honing in on the mother's experience this time around, it can still end up telling a story that resonates with others. Plenty of women would have already played through the previous games as Kratos without issue, after all.

As it happens, Faye was always supposed to pick up the torch like this. Woll revealed that she was initially pitched her own game all the way back in 2018, so almost a decade ago. And yes, she was always supposed to have a cube companion.

God of War Laufey Like Follow Followed Action Adventure Hack and Slash RPG Systems Developer(s) Santa Monica Studio Publisher(s) Sony Interactive Entertainment Prequel(s) God of War, God of War Ragnarok Franchise God of War Number of Players Single-player 9 Images Close
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Genre(s) Action, Adventure, Hack and Slash, RPG Powered by Expand Collapse