Instead of delivering PS5 updates of the first two God of War titles or actually moving the saga forward, Sony’s big idea is a DualSense with Kratos sprayed on it. Same hardware, zero functional upgrades, now priced at $84.99 instead of the standard $74.99 for a paint job.
The foundation of the series has been stuck for years. The Greek-era openers (God of War, God of War II) last received an official HD touch-up on PS3 as the God of War Collection; the PSP pair (Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta) arrived via the Origins Collection. PS4 got God of War III Remastered, but the seminal first two never crossed over, and on PS5, there is still no remaster or remake. For a twentieth-anniversary icon, leaving its starting point locked to a last-last-gen bundle is not a tribute – it’s neglect.
As for the present, God of War Ragnarök launched on November 9, 2022, and the franchise has been effectively quiet ever since. A short epilogue doesn’t equal a roadmap. Into that silence drops a themed controller: no better battery, no tuned triggers, no improved grip – just poster-Kratos on plastic to tick the “limited” box.
And what “brilliant” creativity it must have taken to land on this fantastic pattern – clearly a crack marketing team spent years figuring out how to paste the key art onto a shell. That isn’t an investment; it’s window dressing pretending to be work.
At the checkout, you’re paying a $10 premium – $84.99 vs. $74.99 – for something you can’t actually play. If the anniversary means anything, start by preserving the Greek era on PS5 with native resolution, a locked 60 fps, modern QoL and accessibility, then talk about the future with a real sequel. A pricier paint job isn’t a plan; it’s stalling.
A Coat of Paint Isn’t Content
Collectors will put it on a shelf because the motif is iconic. Everyone else sees a phoned-in, overpriced reskin that makes the packaging louder than the progress. Fans asked for two things – a respectful PS5 treatment of the classics and a concrete next chapter – and got neither. Until those arrive, this controller is just a reminder of how thin the strategy looks when cosmetics have to stand in for commitment.
Kratos deserves preservation and momentum, not marketing varnish. Deliver the games; the merch can wait.
