Over the last three decades or so, PlayStation has tried to cultivate a sizable roster of premium, critically-acclaimed first-party exclusives, and by all accounts, it's succeeded. From the early days of the very first PlayStation, the publisher has had a set of iconic exclusives ranging from Gran Turismo to Metal Gear Solid, and though the names and faces on the covers have changed over the years, PlayStation's line-up has always been stacked with premium exclusives. That's never been more true than today, with PlayStation having some of the greatest gaming experiences of all time under its belt, from The Last of Us to God of War Ragnarok. Intriguingly, most of its recent heavy-hitters have all had one theme in common.
Over the last decade or so, PlayStation has really ramped up its development of AAA first-party exclusives, with God of War, The Last of Us, Horizon, Uncharted, and Ghost of Tsushima all being key reasons behind buying a PlayStation console. While these games all have fairly different gameplay mechanics and overarching stories, they all share one key thematic through line - that being the 'Troubled Family' trope - though it's used a little differently in each one.
How God of War Ragnarok Fits with PlayStation's 'Troubled Family' Trope
When looking back on PlayStation's last 10 years or so of releases, the 'Troubled Family' trope is impossible to miss. The general essence of the 'Troubled Family' trope sees a parental figure, often an unconventional one, attempt to have a familial relationship with a child. Along the way, there's high amounts of friction between the two due to the unconventional nature of their relationship. This trope is present in pretty much every AAA first-party PlayStation release of the last decade.
Perhaps the best example of this trope in action is during Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series. During the first game, players assume the role of Joel who, at the start of the outbreak, loses his daughter. Joel eventually meets Ellie, a young girl that's immune to infection, and he's tasked with taking her to the Fireflies so that they can find a cure. Though their relationship is incredibly tense at first, with Joel viewing her merely as cargo, he begins to trust Ellie, and his hardened exterior starts to break. By the end of the first Last of Us, it's clear that Joel now sees Ellie as a sort of surrogate daughter, and upon hearing that she needs to be sacrificed for a cure to be made, Joel decides to massacre everyone in the hospital and leave with Ellie.
During The Last of Us Part 2, Ellie learns that Joel killed all those people to protect her and cuts him out of her life. Though the two reconcile slightly, Joel's killed before she can fully forgive him. However, that doesn't stop Ellie from going on a murderous rampage to find his killers, a journey that costs her everything. Joel and Ellie's familial relationship is never conventional, and it's always strained in one way or another.
Santa Monica's God of War series is another excellent example of this trope, albeit a slightly different one. While Kratos is Atreus' actual father, their relationship is unconventional in that they're both gods, and Kratos' murderous past has made him too cautious to fully embrace fatherhood. Surprisingly, God of War is actually one of the more wholesome examples of this trope in PlayStation's line-up. Though Atreus and Kratos begin the saga very distant from one another, by the time God of War Ragnarok has ended, Kratos trusts him completely, understanding and respecting his need to go off on his own journey.
God of War Ragnarok is available on PS4 and PS5.