God of War director Cory Barlog has discussed his time working on Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, specifically one of the big ideas he had for that game and why he decided to leave the project.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Star, Barlog was asked about the new God of War’s one-shot cinematic technique, which presents its entire story in one, uninterrupted shot without cuts or fades. This, he said, was something that he originally pitched for Tomb Raider, though his efforts were unsuccessful.
“I wanted to do [the one-shot camera technique] and I had pitched it to Crystal Dynamics when I was there working on Tomb Raider and everyone was like, ‘That’s crazy, we don’t want to do that,'” he explained.
The studio’s resistance to the idea contributed to his decision to leave and return to Sony Santa Monica, where he directed God of War 2, wrote multiple other God of War titles, and is now directing the newest entry in the series for PS4.
“My reaction was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I don’t know if this is the best place for me anyway.’ I was already starting to talk to people about new roles at Sony and then I think I realized [the new God of War] is the one I can do it on.”
Barlog added that he now has “a lot more creative support and faith with Sony,” which he says is willing to support crazier ideas “regardless of how much of a leap off of a cliff it is.” Despite this, the path to getting the one-shot in God of War wasn’t easy, and it’s only recently that people have understood why it was important.
“I’ve had a bee in my bonnet about the one-shot camera for quite a long time and you know, I got a lot of resistance,” he said. “In the beginning, I had to fight the fight with everybody on the development team. And eventually, one by one, you win them over, you show them something, you explain how it’s going to be. But, honestly, I think even then, they weren’t convinced.
“In this last month, everybody’s had a lot of free time. Bugs have to be reproduced and as most people are creating content, they are playing the game more. And I’m getting leads from various departments and animators and artists from the studio coming into my office and saying, ‘Okay, I get it. Seeing the game as a whole makes sense, I see why you wanted this thing.'”
God of War’s release date has been set for April 20. GameSpot recently played the game and you can hear about our impressions in this God of War gameplay preview. The series’ iconic protagonist, Kratos, has also undergone some significant changes for his latest outing, and we talked to Barlog about that in an interview. You can watch him discuss Sony Santa Monica’s new vision for Kratos in the video at the top of this page.
In Tomb Raider news, Square Enix recently confirmed that the next Lara Croft game will be Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The company also announced the Shadow of the Tomb Raider release date as September 14. It will come to PS4, Xbox One, and PC simultaneously, rather than being a timed exclusive to Xbox One like the previous game.