God of War Laufey is the next mainline entry in the God of War series, announced by Santa Monica Studio during PlayStation’s State of Play on June 2, 2026, with a gameplay trailer running over twenty minutes. It marks the first game in the franchise’s history not to star Kratos. Instead, the protagonist is Laufey, also known as Faye, his warrior wife and the mother of Atreus, stepping into the lead role for a story set after her death. The game is in development for PlayStation 5.
God of War Laufey Story and Setting
The story picks up after Faye’s funeral, the event that opens 2018’s God of War. Rather than ending there, Laufey awakens in a strange land called the Everywhen, the afterlife of the gods. She discovers that the plans she set in motion to protect Kratos and Atreus are now at risk, and to save the people she loves she has to fight through an afterlife where gods from across mythology battle for power in a realm overflowing with dangerous magic. Santa Monica framed the premise simply: death was supposed to be the end, but for Faye a new adventure is just beginning.
Setting the game in the Everywhen lets Santa Monica pull from mythologies beyond the Norse pantheon that defined the 2018 game and Ragnarok, since the afterlife is described as a meeting ground for ruthless gods from across mythology. It also fills in a character who was pivotal but mostly absent in the modern games, Faye shaped the events of both prior titles from beyond the grave, and Laufey finally puts her at the center.
Laufey, the New Protagonist
Laufey is voiced by Deborah Ann Woll who reprises her role from earlier games in the series. In God of War lore she is a Jotunn, a giantess who hid her heritage, and she married Kratos and raised Atreus before her death. The 2018 game and Ragnarok revealed how much she had planned in advance to guide her family, which makes her the rare protagonist whose importance was established across two games before she ever became playable. Faye is the name Kratos and Atreus know her by, while Laufey is her giant name, and the game uses both.
The trailer also revealed a companion character: a talking cube voiced by Jack Quaid that accompanies Faye through the Everywhen. Santa Monica has not detailed the cube’s role in the story yet, but it appears to fill the guiding-companion function that Atreus and Mimir served in the previous games.
God of War Laufey Gameplay and Combat
Santa Monica describes the combat as building on the modern God of War system, the over-the-shoulder, weighty melee established in 2018, while folding in what the studio calls Greek-era DNA, a nod to the faster, more aggressive style of the original Greek-saga games. The result is pitched as quicker and more fluid than Kratos’s combat, built around Faye’s own lethality and speed rather than reusing his moveset. The reveal showed her moving through the Everywhen and fighting in extended sequences, though the full weapon and ability set has not been detailed.
God of War Laufey Platforms and Release Date
God of War Laufey is confirmed for PlayStation 5. No release date has been announced, and Santa Monica has only said the game is in development. Industry speculation points toward a late 2026 or 2027 window based on how much gameplay was shown, but nothing official has been given.
Notably, the game has been positioned as a PlayStation 5 exclusive without a confirmed PC port, a shift from recent franchise history. God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok both came to PC roughly two years after their PlayStation launches. Multiple outlets have reported that Sony is holding its biggest narrative franchises back from PC, so PC players should not assume a port is coming on the previous timeline. As always with unannounced plans, this could change, and Sony has not made a formal statement ruling a port out permanently.
What God of War Laufey Means for the Series
Handing the lead to Faye is the boldest structural change the franchise has made since it moved from Greek to Norse mythology in 2018. It keeps the story inside the world Kratos and Atreus built while telling it through a character fans have wanted to understand for years, and the Everywhen setting gives Santa Monica room to introduce gods from mythologies the series has not touched. Until a release date arrives, Laufey stands as one of the most intriguing PlayStation 5 exclusives on the horizon and one I cannot wait to play.
