Spartan Army! November 2nd is only a few short days away, and we thought it was only fair that we give our Spartan Army a sneak peek at all the various skins you get to experience within Ghost of Sparta, and also a first gameplay glimpse of Deimos within God of War III.

Here to walk you through each of the skins is the Game Director of God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Dana Jan.

Kratos

Just for comparison, I thought I would throw in Kratos in his standard gear for a direct comparison. Some interesting notes about the default model: We reworked it and improved a lot of things including better textures, specular shine on the metal (belt, shin guard, weapons), his goatee was fixed (Chains of Olympus didn’t have an alpha channel on it), his face I more expressive due to new facial rig, and subtle improvements like the red tattoo having a softened edge so it looks better up close. The blades were all remodeled to match the Blades of Athena as seen in God of War II as well.

Ghost of Sparta

Throughout the game, Kratos sees visions of his past. We came up with a ‘look’ or visual style for these sequences that helped clearly set them apart from what was happening in present time. Everything and everyone in these visions/flashbacks has a vapor-like effect emitting from them. We took almost all of the color out of the imagery making it fairly monochromatic with the exception of the color red which is associated with Deimos’ birthmark, the fires that burned Sparta the day his brother was taken, and also the blood that stains his memories. Choose the Ghost of Sparta costume and you will take twice the damage from enemies, but your rewarded by inflicting quadruple fire damage with Thera’s Bane. The Ghost costume is also able to regenerate the fire meter four times as fast as the default Kratos costume.

God Armor

One of the first bonus costumes we decided to include with the game was the God Armor. Fans will recognize the armor from the beginning of God of War II where Kratos is wearing it in Rhodes as he battles the Colossus. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that somewhere in Ghost of Sparta you will see Kratos in this armor. Another interesting bit of information about this armor is that Deimos’ armor features some striking similarities. Compare them and see for yourself. This costume decreases the amount of damage Kratos receives from enemies, doubles the damage he deals with Thera’s Bane, and increases the fire meter regen time. Finally, it also causes enemies to drop Red Orbs as Kratos hits them with attacks

Robotos

There has to be a funny costume in every God of War game. We had several on the comic-relief side in Chains of Olympus, but I don’t think any were as good as this. This has to be my favorite of all time. We went back and forth on what kind of robot we wanted to make for this costume. Finally, it seemed like the funniest looking version was robot costume made out of cardboard boxes, metal ventilation hose, and duct tape. Polish it off with some permanent markers to draw the details on the cardboard, and you get Robotos. I’m sure someone is making this costume to wear at a con as we speak. Robotos has the ability to generate massive combos by increasing the amount of time allowed between hits to increment the combo meter. His damage dealt with the Blades of Athena and Arms of Sparta have been decreased along with magic costing him twice as many Blue Orbs to use. He’s still my favorite costume in the game.

Deimos

When we designed Deimos, one of the biggest tasks was trying to create a character that looked like he could stand next to Kratos and be equally as strong and interesting. While they share the similar iconic “mark” as a story point, they needed to be very different people. The years of captivity in the Domain of Death drove Deimos to a very dark place. His birth mark now glows as the flesh sears with rage. When picking the attributes for this costume, we thought it would be cool to make him more proficient with the Arms of Sparta (spear and shield) since he trained with Kratos and is a Spartan after all. Additional adjustments include more damage taken by enemy attacks, and less damage done when using the Blades of Athena.

Legionnaire

(Pre-Order Bundle Exclusive)

This is one over-the-top set of armor, even for Kratos. The idea for this costume started after we learned about the God of War fans known as the Spartan Army. We thought it would be cool to do a costume that would go with the Arms of Sparta (spear and shield) and form a cohesive set of gear. The helmet design is loosely based on that of a Spartan soldier and the chest plate has elements like the Cerberus silhouettes found on Kratos armor from the God of War flashbacks. We also wanted to carry the crimson elements of Kratos’ tattoo and cloth skirt into this costume to keep his palette familiar. This costume gives you the ability to collect double Orbs of all types, and using magic will cost half the amount of Blue Orbs. If that weren’t good enough, the Legionnaire resists enemy damage four times as much as normal and deals double damage with the Arms of Sparta.

Deimos for God of War III

(Available only through purchase of God of War: Ghost of Sparta)

During the production of Ghost of Sparta, we discussed the idea of making Deimos an unlockable costume to be used in God of War 3 on the PS3. We wanted to give players who had both games (and systems) some content that crossed platforms. We provided the team at Sony Santa Monica Studio our assets used on the PSP, and we are really pleased with how Deimos looks in God of War 3. I’m particularly happy with the way his glowing “mark” looks on his body. I’m looking forward to playing through the game again and seeing Deimos tear through some of my favorite moments.