Shortly after having officially unveiled God of War Laufey, Santa Monica Studio has taken to social media to elaborate on why Cory Barlog isn’t in the role of director for the project. Responding to a question about Barlog, the studio said that he is still working as the Head of Creative at Santa Monica Studio. This means that, rather than directly heading up games himself, he is working with game directors, like Ariel Lawrence. Barlog’s direct focus is more on the long-term vision of the God of War series.
“Cory is the Head of Creative at Santa Monica Studio,” wrote the studio on social media, “this involves working with game directors like Ariel Lawrence and guiding the long-term vision for all games in the series.”
It is worth noting that the studio’s last project featuring Barlog as the sole director was 2018’s God of War. Its sequel, 2022’s God of War Ragnarök, credited him as working alongside Eric Williams as directors. His exact role on the studio’s most recent release was that of producer and creative director.
Curiously, rumors from back in July 2025 indicated that Santa Monica Studio was working on a new project that was being directed by Barlog. Whether plans changed and that project is an entirely separate one from God of War Laufey, or whether Barlog was initially slated to direct the newly-unveiled title is currently unknown. The report at the time was also unsure about whether this project is the new mainline God of War, or whether it was the then-rumored Metroidvania spin-off, which would eventually be released as God of War Sons of Sparta.
As for God of War Laufey, the title was revealed with a lengthy trailer that gave us a look at a long cutscene, culminating in actual gameplay footage of what appears to be a boss fight. The title is slated to be a spin-off, telling the story of the wife of Kratos and mother of Atreus, Faye, and is set almost immediately after her death – an event that essentially kicks off the story of 2018’s God of War.
The story kicks off with Faye, or Laufey, suddenly waking up and finding herself in a strange new world. Through a series of events, she learns that the plans she had made to ensure that Kratos and Atreus would remain protected have come under risk, and she sets off on a new journey. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Santa Monica Studio wrote about wanting to make sure that Faye feels like the formidable warrior in gameplay terms that she has been described as being throughout the story of God of War and Ragnarök.
One of the major new changes in God of War Laufey will be the fact that just about all mythologies will be present in some form or another in the game’s primary setting – the Everywhen. Described as “the birthplace and endpoint to which all magic returns,” the new setting will give players plenty of enemies to fight and allies to befriend.
God of War Laufey doesn’t yet have a release date.
