God of War Laufey has already become a culture war disaster

PlayStation closed its June 2026 State of Play showcase with 20 minutes of gameplay for the next God of War game, God of War Laufey. It looks, to put it scientifically, cool AF. It has also immediately become a culture war disaster. God of War Laufey is a spinoff of God of War (2018), which served as a tonal reboot for one of gaming’s most infamously meatheaded action series.

The 2018 game opened with Kratos mourning the death of his wife, Faye, and he and their son Atreus embark on a journey to bring her ashes to the highest peak — an emotional sendoff and thoughtful deconstruction of the unchecked masculinity that defined the original trilogy.

Laufey takes place concurrently with those events, following Faye into the afterlife where she encounters gods like Egypt’s Sekhmet and the Mongolian and Tibetan deity Begtse (and… a talking cube voiced by Jack Quaid?).

laufey, playstation, gameplay, faye, kratos, atreus, culture war, sekhmet, begtse, jack quaid