Every so often, a leak comes along that makes you stop, stare, and remember why you fell in love with a game series in the first place. That’s what happened this week when early screenshots surfaced from a cancelled God of War multiplayer game, a game not set in the frost-bitten Norse realms we’ve come to know in God of War Ragnarok, but in the dusty marble of ancient Greece.
Instantly, I missed it. The cracked statues. The molten skies. That operatic grandeur made God of War’s original setting just feel right. These screens, while not showing anything in motion, look like beautifully stylised dioramas ripe for ripping apart, or at least, some unruly vase smashing.
The Greek world, reborn (and then abandoned)
The images, first shared by MP1st, are from an early build developed by Bluepoint Games, the studio behind the exceptional Demon’s Souls remake for PS5 and the beautiful Shadow of the Colossus remake for PS4 (one of the best designs in video games). They show a wonderfully atmospheric world: temple courtyards littered with shattered columns, underground caverns glowing with sulfur, and a sprawling armory seemingly dedicated to Hades himself.
It’s immediately, unmistakably Greek. The geometry, the patina, the way light bleeds through the cracks of a ruined dome, you can almost hear the echo of Kratos’ chains clattering against the stone. As gamers again lose their minds over how Unreal Engine 5 is being used to remake Halo CE, here's a remake that brings the old games back in a satisfying way, and as a multiplayer game, it would have been a new experience.
What’s fascinating here is how the spaces are built. These aren’t narrow corridors or cinematic boss arenas; they’re wider, more open, designed for multiple players to explore, fight, or perhaps even collaborate. This was a game with scale in mind, not just in visuals, but in intent, and I'm sad we're not getting to play in this world again.
Myth meets multiplayer
For all its single-player brilliance, God of War has never quite cracked the multiplayer formula. There was a brief experiment with 2013’s Ascension, but it came and went. What Bluepoint seemed to be building here feels bolder, but importantly, a space that feels like the games released on PS2 and PS3.
The leaked environments even hint at gameplay systems. One image shows an area described as a “cursed armory”, with veins of red energy creeping across the floor. It’s pure myth turned mechanic, the sort of concept art you can imagine evolving into a core system, whether it's to be stolen, defended, a corrupt influence, perhaps?
Sadly, reports suggest that this project was shelved earlier this year, one of several PlayStation live-service titles quietly canceled in the fallout from Sony's cancellation of Firewalk Studios Concord, but it also followed a spate of big-budget live-service games falling short, including Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. It’s hard not to feel the loss when you see just how atmospheric these environments already looked.
The one that got away
What strikes me most isn’t just the technical artistry (though it’s superb), but the tone. There’s a sense of melancholy running through these renders, that mix of grandeur and decay, the Greek games, like God of War 2, did so well. Bluepoint clearly understood that God of War’s early aesthetic wasn’t just about spectacle; it was about tragedy, about gods who built worlds only to destroy them.
We’ve grown used to the intimacy of Kratos’ Norse saga, all snow-dusted forests and quiet reflection, but there’s something to be said for the fire and chaos of his origins. These screenshots reminded me of how visual storytelling once defined God of War: the light, the scale, the solidity and simplicity in design, the awe.
What could come next
Bluepoint is reportedly working on a new third-person action project, and seeing these assets makes you wonder if those Greek foundations might resurface in some form, perhaps as a full remake or something entirely new.
For now, these glimpses serve as a kind of digital archaeology, a look at what might have been. But they also reignite a simple truth: God of War’s mythic Greece still holds incredible creative power. Even in unfinished form, it can stop you mid-scroll and remind you of the raw, operatic energy that made this series legendary. And honestly, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it until now. It's time Kratos went back to his roots.
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