Sony reveals God of War: Ascension's gory multiplayer

During a live stream earlier this morning Sony revealed the next big feature in God of War -- multiplayer. Yes, God of War: Ascension will allow you to pick your own overly muscled, bloodthirsty soldier to take on other wannabe warriors. The coop/competitive gameplay seems unique, but does it stand up to the God of War standard of quality?

The map that was shown and discussed online features a 4v4 battle, where players both battle each other and attempt to control a humongous one-eyed ogre. Once one team gains control of the map through turning various gears, they "win" and perform a gory execution on the helpless ogre. Gameplay on this map seemed rather MOBA-style, where fighting was a secondary goal to map control. There didn't appear to be any scores or kill-counts, just the final ogre execution. Expect around 6-7 maps at launch.

Each of the players had unique Kratos-like soldiers, which could mean an amount of customization. Also revealed was the ability to choose a god for your character, providing them different magics to cast while fighting. We can only assume you also choose your weapons, as we saw swords, hammers, and axes, each with violent executions when you defeat an enemy player.

Todd Papy from the God of War: Ascension development team promises their rock, paper, scissors-style combat feels just as good as in single-player. In that vein of thought, he always promises that the new mode won't detract from the single-player experience. They're still aiming to go bigger and better than ever before. Time will tell, this could all just be a publisher rushed deal to encourage retention, or to add an online-pass. Or... it could be Odyssey level epic.