God of War Laufey is bringing back the fast, acrobatic combat of the Greek era

Sony Santa Monica has revealed that God of War Laufey — the new series entry starring Faye — is deliberately pulling combat back toward the fast, acrobatic style of the original Greek trilogy. The game is in development for PS5 with no release date announced.

The extended gameplay demo makes it immediately clear that Faye plays nothing like Kratos. She opens with a dodge-counter, then slides straight into an air juggle, and the footage goes on to show her chaining grapples into air juggles into ground slams. The rhythm is noticeably faster than anything in the Norse era. In a blog post published shortly after the reveal, the studio confirmed this is intentional, saying one of its top priorities was "injecting some old school, classic DNA of the Greek era" into how combat works. Squint at the footage and it looks like a lighter version of Devil May Cry — which, not coincidentally, was a major inspiration for the original trilogy. The camera does zoom out at times, particularly when Faye is airborne, and her smaller frame compared to Kratos helps with readability.

The speed increase hasn't come at the cost of weight. Sword combos and Faye's Jötunheim golden palm still hit with the chunky, hard-hitting feel the series is known for. That balance matters, because one of the loudest criticisms of the 2018 reboot was that slowing the combat down — a deliberate Souls-influenced choice — alienated fans of the classic action. Laufey looks like Sony Santa Monica's answer to that long-standing complaint.

The return of the jump button alone has fans excited, and the broader community reaction to the combat reveal has been positive. No release window has been given yet.