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2022’s God of War Ragnarök hosted some of the year’s most thrilling fights and emotional peaks in gaming. While the main story had its own highs, its Favors (a.k.a. side quests) contained some of its most memorable character moments. Implementing these optional adventures, however, invited challenges to the game’s development.

Developer Santa Monica Studio set out to create unique side missions hosting small yet impactful narrative beats that accentuate the stories of its characters. These quests humanized not only protagonist Kratos but also the friends, allies, and family that the once ruthless God of War has found since the end of his journey in Olympus.

We spoke with Lead Player Investment Designer Anthony DiMento and Lead Writer Rich Gaubert to explore the implementation of a few of the game’s most memorable side quests.

Serving the bigger picture

God of War Ragnarök’s side quests are designed to expand not only on the world, but most importantly its characters and the larger themes arising from their journeys.

“We had a better sense of what we wanted from side quests this time. And I think that the impulse for many developers is to use them to flesh out the world and its lore.” Gaubert explains. “While that’s certainly part of it, we didn’t want that to be the main focus. The focus is on these characters and themes and ensuring that the critical path, storyline, and side quest storylines are pieces in a larger puzzle. That lore and world-building should be byproducts of exploring the characters rather than the other way around. It’s too easy to get lost in the minutia if it’s not anchored by characters, as they’re easier to relate to.”

The game’s first Favor, In Service of Asgard, is a perfect example of this approach. This quest sees Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir confront Mimir’s past of misguided attempts to win Odin’s approval, namely, persuading the dwarves of Svartalfheim to build mining rigs to generate resources for Odin. The mining came at a great cost, polluting the surrounding area and stripping Svartalfheim of resources, and now Mimir wishes to reverse the damage to heal the realm and clear his conscience.

The Favor not only explores one of Mimir’s deepest regrets, adding more context to his deep hatred of Odin, it also reflects on the broader theme of not running from the past – something Kratos has struggled with himself. While Kratos is not the focus of the Favor, in doing this side quest, the team at Santa Monica Studio was able to shine a new light on the once God of War as he helps Mimir right the wrongs of his past serving under a cruel master – touching on many broader themes for both characters including personal accountability and repentance. 

From the minds behind Wave Break and Fujii, Funktronic Labs brings you The Light Brigade—a roguelike VR shooter. Featuring intense PlayStation VR2 gunplay and immersive light magic, The Light Brigade puts you in the middle of heart-pounding action.

A twilight that won’t end and survivors hanging on to the hope of bringing light back to the world. This is the journey you will embark on when you first awake, beckoned by a mysterious voice. Arriving at the Last Temple, you are greeted by Mother and anointed as a member of the Light Brigade. As the sun continues to dim, humanity’s last hope is to release the trapped souls of the dead before it’s too late.

Immersive gunplay meets powerful light magic

The Light Brigade is set in a historical fantasy world, reflected in the World War-inspired weaponry. From the Gewehr 43 rifle to SMG M3 and Nambu Type 14, this wide array of weapons is pulled from a historic time period. However, the feel of these guns is even more important than the aesthetics.

Designed with realism in mind, physics-based gunplay like aiming, shooting, and reloading bolt-action rifles, machine guns, and pistols feels incredibly immersive and tactile. In PS VR2, this creates intense gunfights that put you directly in the center of the action. To add to these engrossing battles, you also have magic at your fingertips, allowing you to pair gunslinging and spellcasting beautifully. From infusing your rifle’s bullets with light magic, to raining fireballs on enemy hordes, magic spells provide the perfect complement to your rifle and combat arsenal.

The Light Brigade Weapon & Attachment – Concept Art

The many roguelike layers

You begin your journey as a lowly recruit, and set off with only a standard-issue rifle. But soon after entering the Sunken World, you will begin to loot enemies and discover treasure chests containing various gun modifications.

You can attach magic charms to your rifle and activate them mid-battle to imbue your bullets with light magic, turning them into explosives or armor-piercing rounds. Red-dot reticles provide better aim, while poison barrels cause damage-over-time effects, offerin

Most video games put you in control of a strong, powerful character, ready to crush their enemies. That’s not exactly the case of Junon, The Wreck’s main protagonist. In fact, the first time you meet her, she’s… passed out on a hospital toilet floor.

This first encounter sets the tone: Junon’s having a hell of a day. She just learned that her mother, Marie, had a stroke and is now in a critical condition. And unbeknownst to Junon, Marie has designated her as her trusted advocate. Junon is going to have to make very important decisions on her mother’s behalf – and she’s not exactly thrilled.

You may wonder how the game tells you that. The thing is, with The Wreck, we wanted to make a game about intimacy, a game about how people feel, and process the things that happen to them. That’s why we decided to allow you to gain access to Junon’s reflections and feelings. When a thought pops up in her mind, it appears on screen in the shape of a big word. Activate it and you enter her mind, investigating how she reacts to what’s happening.

But as we wanted you to really connect with Junon, we thought a good way to achieve that would be to give you a way of influencing her directly. That’s why, from time to time, you’re able to orient her thoughts in a direction or another. Doing so is important because it’ll allow Junon to come up with new ideas, and thus new dialog options in the conversations she’s having.