With the recent release of the new God of War game, now's a good time to take a look
back at the previous entries in the franchise and examine the ways the series was changed
in different regions around the world.
Censored Gaming has previously highlighted some of the ways the series has been toned
down over in Japan, leading to things like all explicit nudity being removed from the
Japanese versions of the game due to the strict rules of Japan's console rating system.
However, it's not just the Japanese versions that have had changes made.
Today we'll be taking a look at how the franchise has been toned down over in Europe and why
these modifications were likely made.
The original God of War title from way back in 2005 actually ran into some big issues
over in Germany and it was initially refused a rating, meaning an official release would
not be possible.
This is also despite Sony toning down the violence in all European copies of the game,
likely to try and avoid any issues in the German market.
Sony appealed the refusal and eventually managed to convince the German government to allow
the game to be released without any further changes.
This resulted in massive delays for the German version though, with it finally releasing
May 16th 2006, almost a year after the European release.
Furthermore, by this time both the US and Europe already had rerelease 'Greatest Hits'
copies of the game out - yet the German version was still sold at full price.
As mentioned, all European versions of the game had changes to the game's violence and
these changes can also still be found in European copies of the HD Collection release.
The US release, however, remains uncensored.
The censored content involves a puzzle you had to solve involving a human sacrifice.
Kratos must offer the life of a human character in order to be able to proceed.
The human is found in a cage and Kratos pushes him across the room and then sets him ablaze
via a furnace.
The European version changes this section in multiple
ways so that the sacrifice is no longer a living human, but a monster.
There is also dialogue when you first encounter the cage containing the human, which is different
between the versions.
Alongside this, all of
the other cages attached to the ceiling all had humans inside them too.
Likewise, all of these human characters were changed to monsters in Europe.
The note you can find in the area was also altered in Europe.
In the US, the note reads: "What the Gods ask of me, no man could do.
Note even Pandora's Box is worth such a terrible price."
This note refers to the human sacrifice and was altered in Europe so that it now says:
"What the Gods ask, I can not do, even for Pandora's Box.
They are monsters now, but they were once men."
"I know I am weak but I can not be a part of this.
I have failed Athens."
As you can see, the European note explains that they are monsters but that they used
to be men.
This also means the European copies have an extra text box that the US version.
Curiously, there was a further change made over in Europe and to this very same area.
It is only in the US version, where you will be able to find a save point right before
the cages.
The European versions remove the save point, likely to make replaying this section of the
game over and over again harder.
That's all for God of War 1, though, but Europe would in fact have changes made again 8 years
later, with the release of God of War Ascension.
Like the first game, this was most likely to try and avoid any issues over in Germany
and it saw changes being made to 2 parts of the game.
In one section of the game, Kratos must solve a puzzle using a corpse attached to the chain
of an elevator.
When he pulls on the corpse, the elevator rises up, and he must secure the body so the
elevator stays in place.
If he does this incorrectly though, and jumps on the raised elevator before completing the
rest of the puzzle, his weight will cause the elevator to drop, resulting in the corpse
having his limbs ripped off.
It is only in the US release where you can blood shoot out of the corpse's arms.
In the European versions, all blood has been removed, as shown here.
The other change occurs following the boss fight with Castor and Pollux.
Pollux will be left seriously wounded but still alive and you must walk towards him
and crush his face with your foot.
The European version changes the camera angle, so that you can no longer see his face being
crushed.
That's all for the changes made to the God of War series over in Europe, though, with
all other titles, including the new 2018 reboot, being the same as in the US.
Part of the reason for this is likely due to Germany becoming a lot less strict when
it comes to video game violence in recent years, which has allowed most titles to remain
uncensored in Germany and the rest of Europe.
As for why Sony would change all European versions, rather than just the German release.
This is something that Sony has a history of doing with their European releases - likely
due to wanting to save resources by not having to producing different versions of games for
different regions.
The Last Of Us, for instance, also had its violence during toned down in all European
versions.
This saw dismemberment being removed from the online multiplayer and the same changes
were also made to the PS4 Remastered release.
As always, Censored Gaming is committed to providing information on changes like these
being made to games, in not just Europe, but worldwide.
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