God Of War developers Santa Monica Studios are hiring for a new project, specifically looking for people with "experience in martial arts or dance". Naturally, this is leading a lot of fans down the path of believing the next God Of War game could focus in on an Asian setting, most likely Japan.
The listings (via GamesRadar+) are for an Assistant Cinematic Director and a Cinematic Artist, and would both be working in the motion capture department of the studio. Now, as easy as it's going to be to run away with the idea that this is proof Santa Monica Studios is working on that Asian setting for the next God Of War, I'd encourage you to just hold your Pegasuses* for one moment while we consider the facts.
Realistically, the term martial arts is extremely broad. This could mean anybody who has experience working through fight sequences in a motion capture environment, as much as it could mean people with an intimate knowledge of karate, or another traditionally Eastern discipline.
2018's God Of War does make mention to Japan in some of the game's murals, like the ones just above there. It also makes reference to a bunch of other ancient civilisations known for having multiple powerful deities, so it's best to take any 'confirmation' that Kratos and Atreus will be travelling that far East with a pinch of salt.
The game's director, Cory Barlog, stated in an interview with Game Informer that he'd like to see dad and boi travel to Ancient Egypt to face off against Ra and crew, among other places. There's also the unfinished business of that showdown with Thor we were teased with at the end of the first game.
"The Greek games were the Greek era of God of War," Barlog said. "Moving on, the next mythological belief system he interacts with became the Norse era of God of War. But we may end up going on to the Egyptian era and the Mayan era, and so on and so forth."
If Kratos were to travel to Japan, it's likely he would face off against Hachiman, the syncretic divinity of archery and war. Hachiman is considered to be the divine protector of Japan (at least that's what Wikipedia tells me, I sadly am not well versed in my traditional Japanese deities) so you'd assume he would be no pushover for the ageing Kratos.
At any rate, the God Of War sequel (this new, unconfirmed one, not the 2007 game) has no release date, no story details or indeed much of any information available at this point, so we're free to speculate among ourselves until Sony and Santa Monica Studios say anything concrete.
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(*And yes, we know there's only one Pegasus, but you know what we mean.)
Topics: Santa Monica Studio, God Of War