The man behind the excellent new 'God of War' breaks down in reaction to the game's success: 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm glad I didn't f--- it up.'
- The new "God of War" game is excellent, and critics are singing the game's praises.
- After working on the game for five years, director Cory Barlog filmed himself looking at reviews for the first time.
- As he realized that the game was universally praised, Barlog broke down and began crying.
- "Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said, "I'm glad I didn't f--- it up."
Making video games is a tremendously hard job. Making huge blockbuster video games like the new "God of War" is even harder.
Game director Cory Barlog has been working on bringing the new "God of War" to life for the past five years. More specifically, Barlog and dozens of other people have been working on bringing it to life.
The weight of that is clearly weighing on Barlog.
In a video he posted to his personal YouTube channel on Thursday, Barlog visibly broke down upon seeing the impressively high score "God of War" received from nearly 100 critics on reviews aggregation site Metacritic.
The game's currently sitting at a 95/100 average score, making it the highest-rated game of 2018 thus far. If you're looking for even more confirmation of how good the new "God of War" is, look no further than our own glowingly positive review.
Barlog paused from looking at reviews to say, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm glad I didn't f--k it up."
More than just an outrageously expensive project, the new "God of War" is a major reboot for an important Sony franchise. There's a lot riding on it being a major success, meeting or exceeding the bar set by the original games. It's a platform for re-establishing a major Sony franchise.
It's not the same magnitude, but it wouldn't be far-off to compare Barlog's task here with that of J.J. Abrams in the new "Star Wars" movies - there's a lot of baggage to deal with, and a lot of money involved, and a lot of passionate fans with strong opinions. "God of War" has been a major Sony franchise since 2005, starting on the PlayStation 2.
Like the new "Star Wars" movies, the new "God of War" takes major characters and established series norms to new places. It's an evolution of the series in every sense, from the main character, to the gameplay, to the universe it's set within.
Barlog is clearly aware of the risk involved here.
"I'm not gonna bulls--t you - I was freaked out, man," he said in the video. "I guess I didn't want to believe that others would see it was we saw it. Sometimes a crazy idea can make something special."
You can watch the full video right here: