In God of War Ragnarok there is a special mission in tribute to a dead developer
God of War Ragnarok has only been out for a few weeks, but it has a strong chance of winning the best game of the year award. The new chapter of the series starring Kratos and Atreus offers a special secondary mission called Across the Realms or Through the realms which was dedicated to a developer who disappeared two years ago, colleague and life partner of one of the managers who worked on the title of Santa Monica Studio. It all begins when you meet one of the many symbols of a green heart painted on a stone with two initials in the runic alphabet in the centre, the first step of a very particular adventure within the game.
To tell this touching dedication is the developer Sam Handrick with a short thread on Twitter in which he tells how the production studio has agreed to add a quest to the game that tells the story of two men – Jari and Somr – who seek each other at inside an often cruel world, only to find a place to belong. These two characters represent Sam and Jake Snipes, a colleague right at Santa Monica Studio who first became a friend and then a life partner, but who unfortunately died in 2020 from complications due to the epilepsy from which he suffered. Sam talks about how they fell in love and their passion for making cakes that are very popular in the office.
From there, the idea that the quest had as its theme the search for ingredients through the immense open world of the game. The mission begins by finding a notebook on the ground near a bench in front of a fire at Eternal Campfire. As per the title of the mission, traveling through the various kingdoms you can collect the ingredients and bring them back to the cauldron to end the story. The name of the location where the quest begins and ends is significant, given that the translation is precisely Eternal Bonfire : a place of warmth, a fire that does not go out within the dangerous and frozen lands of the game.
