Spoilers for God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok.
God of War Ragnarok's Narrative Director, Matt Sophos, and Story Lead, Richard Gaubert, recently sat down for an interview on the YouTube podcast show, MinnMax, hosted by Ben Hanson, and in this interview, Sophos revealed that Ragnarok's story was originally very different from what we got in the final product.
Sophos, jesting that he feels comfortable saying it now since "it doesn't happen anymore, so this is all fan fiction at this point," revealed that in the "earliest, earliest draft," that they took to Game Director Eric Williams, Kratos died during his fight against Thor in the early portions of the game.
"He was gonna die," said Sophos, "but it wasn't a permanent death... He would get pulled out of Hel by Atreus, but it's now been like... twenty years have passed." That would have undoubtedly been a stark departure from what we got in the finished game, as it would seemingly mean that you'd play much more as Atreus and that you'd play a significantly older version of him.
Ultimately, Williams decided against it, as he considered it may feel shallow for the audience. "Kratos has died and come back to life too many times," Sophos recounted his conversation with Williams. He considered that the death wasn't going to deliver a proper hook, as fans would likely expect that some form of resurrection was coming.
The reason that the titular character's death was being considered in the first place was that, as many know, the ending of 2018's God of War revealed a mural that showed Kratos dying. Sophos explained that the leads of the studio much preferred the idea of Kratos challenging and rebelling against his fate. Given that Norse mythology focuses a lot on fate and prophecy, the studio wanted to go against that, to affirm that you're not bound by fate and that you can change your outcome, "as long you're willing to change [yourself]." Once they figured that out, then they knew "Kratos couldn't die."
Though God of War Ragnarok may have ended up being just as celebrated, the changes they made were probably smart ones, as the game ended up being one of the most well-regarded titles of the current decade, with a 93 score on review aggregate website OpenCritic, and a whopping 11 million units sold in just a few months.