Sony and Santa Monica Studio have announced that the side-scrolling Metroidvania game God of War Sons of Sparta is making its way to PS4 on November 16th. This release will coincide with a free update that brings a host of new content to the game, including dedicated speedrunning tools through Hermes Mode and a new higher difficulty option dubbed Erebus Mode.
Hermes Mode adds a clock that allows players to keep track of how long they have been playing. Along with this, there are also split-based timers, a persistent scoreboard, and other features that players who like speedrunning will enjoy. Hermes Mode can be unlocked by beating the game for the first time or by entering this code in the game’s start menu: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, R1, Touchpad.
Details about Erebus Mode are sparse aside from the fact that players will die in a single hit. A quick look at the provided screenshot also indicates that it will display a death counter, allowing players to keep track of how many times they have been hit throughout their run. Both Erebus Mode and Hermes Mode can be enabled when starting a new game during save slot selection. It is also worth noting that, once enabled, neither of the modes can be disabled for that save slot.
God of War Sons of Sparta was released on PS5 earlier this year. The title tells a brand-new story that revolves around young Kratos and his even younger brother Deimos. The narrative itself is told through the framing device of an older Kratos telling a story to his daughter Calliope – an event which can only really take place before the original God of War’s plot is kicked off.
Things kick off when Kratos is able to travel outside the city without an escort thanks to him earning his Eiren’s pass. Using this, he takes Deimos with him on a monster-hunting expedition. Upon their return, the duo learns that one of their training buddies, Vasilis, has gone missing, and since much of the Spartan force has its hands full with patrolling the borders to avoid more lethal incidents, Kratos and Deimos take it upon themselves to find Vasilis, or failing that, at least figure out what happened to him.
Due to its place in the overall timeline, God of War Sons of Sparta is the earliest point in the God of War franchise. Several years later, the events of God of War: Ascension would play out, which would then be followed by the rest of the games.
For more details about God of War Sons of Sparta, take a look at our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its fantastic art style and fun combat system that starts out simple but gets more complex as you get deeper into the game. Our only complaints revolved around the loot system feeling unnecessary, long conversations, and some platforming issues. Despite these issues, however, we found Sons of Sparta to be a great surprise.
