God of War Laufey Brings Back the Jump Button After 13 Years

God of War Laufey, the next mainline entry in Sony’s long-running action series, closed June’s State of Play with something the franchise had not done in 13 years: it let the player jump. Santa Monica Studio handed control to Faye, the late warrior wife of Kratos, and built her combat around aerial juggles and near-constant movement. The game is a PlayStation 5 exclusive with no release date, available to wishlist now.

The lead swap drew most of the headlines, a mother taking the wheel of a series long built around a furious father. The mechanical reset underneath it is the part returning players will feel in the first five minutes.

Jump Returns to God of War After 13 Years

Sony saved the reveal for the end of the broadcast and then let it run. The studio showed off Faye leaping, stringing enemies into the air, and chaining magic into mobility in a way no God of War protagonist has done since the series rebooted in 2018. The footage looked closer to the fast Greek-era combat of the mid-2000s than to the grounded axe work of the Norse saga.

You can see the full sequence in the 20-minute gameplay reveal that closed the show, which appears to cover the opening stretch of the game. The jump button is the headline mechanic for anyone who has logged hundreds of hours in these games, because its absence shaped how every encounter played for the better part of a decade.

• 13 years since a God of War game let the player press jump, the last being 2013’s God of War: Ascension
• 20 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay closed Sony’s June State of Play
• First time a character other than Kratos headlines a mainline entry in the series

Outlets that covered the showcase, including Insider Gaming, flagged the jump and aerial juggles as the clearest break from recent titles. Faye fights with speed and air control rather than the weight and stagger that defined Kratos with the Leviathan Axe.

Why Santa Monica Took the Jump Button Away

When Santa Monica rebooted the series in 2018, it rebuilt combat from scratch around an older Kratos. The camera moved in tight behind his shoulder, the fixed cinematic angles of the Greek games went away, and so did jumping. The design leaned into heavy, deliberate strikes that suited a character the writers had aged into a tired, guarded father. God of War Ragnarok kept that template in 2022 and refined it rather than reinventing it.

Faye changes the math. She is written and animated as a younger, more agile fighter, so the team could reach back for tools the reboot had retired. The official line from the studio is that her combat blends the movement and fluidity of the Greek era with the world-building and character focus of the Norse one. In practice that means the acrobatics come back without the camera and tone reverting all the way to 2005.

That table is the short version of why this reveal matters beyond a casting change. Santa Monica is not patching combat; it is restoring a pillar it removed on purpose, and a younger protagonist is the reason it can.

Faye Leads, and the Everywhen Is the Stage

Faye, also called Laufey, dies before the events of the 2018 game; her ashes are scattered in its opening. The new title picks up after her funeral, when she wakes inside a realm called the Everywhen, described in Santa Monica Studio’s first look at Laufey as the afterlife of the gods and the place where all magic begins and returns. The story runs parallel to the Norse journey players already know, filling in a character the series killed off years ago.

The Everywhen also opens the door to mythologies God of War has not touched. Faye will face gods from outside the Norse and Greek pantheons, including the Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet and the Tibetan deity Begtse. That mix of pantheons is new ground for a series that has so far kept each game inside one culture’s gods.

The Cast and the Talking Cube

Deborah Ann Woll returns as Faye, reprising the role she voiced in God of War Ragnarok. She is joined by two companions who set the game’s lighter tone:

• Jack Quaid voices Phranque, a talking gelatinous cube that fights alongside Faye
• Perlina Lau plays Rue, a set of talking ribbons attached to Faye’s legendary sword
• A giant six-legged cat that can fly rounds out the party shown in the reveal

It is a stranger supporting cast than the Norse games offered, and the humor is a clear gamble. Ragnarok earned its emotional weight with a restrained, mournful Kratos. A wisecracking cube and a flying cat push in the opposite direction, and how that lands will shape whether the tone reads as fresh or as a departure fans did not ask for.

What Is Still Unknown

The reveal answered the long-running question of how Faye died only by implication, framing the journey through the Everywhen as the path to that answer rather than spelling it out. There is no word yet on length, progression systems, or how much the game ties back to Atreus. Santa Monica showed combat and setting and held the rest.

Where Laufey Fits Sony’s God of War Slate

God of War has become one of Sony’s tentpole properties, sitting alongside The Last of Us and Horizon. The 2018 reboot and 2022’s Ragnarok both sold in the tens of millions, and the brand has spread well past its main games. Earlier this year Sony surprise-launched a 2D prequel called Sons of Sparta, and a live-action adaptation is in development at Prime Video.

Laufey arrives into a packed PlayStation 5 release calendar. Sony has been stacking the year with dated titles, from Remedy’s Control Resonant release on PlayStation 5 on September 24 to a refreshed hardware lineup that includes Sony’s new PlayStation fight stick and monitor due in August. Against all of those firm dates, Laufey stands out for not having one.

The game is up for wishlisting on the PlayStation Store today and is labeled coming soon to PS5. No platforms beyond PlayStation 5 have been mentioned. That fits Sony’s recent pattern of launching marquee single-player games as console exclusives first and weighing a PC port later, though nothing about a second platform has been confirmed.

A Mom in a Genre Built on Dads

For most of the last decade, the prestige end of the blockbuster game has run on fathers. Joel in The Last of Us, the rebooted Kratos, the worn-down protectors of half a dozen prestige titles; the grizzled dad protecting a kid became a genre shorthand. Putting Faye at the center, a mother who has so far existed mostly as a memory other characters carry, breaks that habit at the studio that helped set it.

Whether that reads as a meaningful shift or a marketing line depends on the writing players have not seen yet. What is concrete is the combat. Santa Monica built a faster, airborne moveset, gave it to a new lead, and made the change the centerpiece of a 20-minute pitch. The jump button is back after 13 years; the release date is the one thing the studio still will not commit to.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does God of War Laufey come out?

There is no release date. Sony has labeled the game “coming soon” to PlayStation 5 and opened wishlisting on the PlayStation Store, but Santa Monica Studio gave no launch window at the State of Play reveal.

What platforms is God of War Laufey on?

It is confirmed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. No PC, PlayStation 4, or other platform release has been announced, though Sony has ported earlier God of War games to PC after their console debut.

Who voices Faye in God of War Laufey?

Deborah Ann Woll voices Faye, reprising the role she first played in God of War Ragnarok. The cast also includes Jack Quaid as the talking cube Phranque and Perlina Lau as Rue, the talking ribbons on Faye’s sword.

Is Kratos in God of War Laufey?

Kratos is not the playable lead. The story runs parallel to the Norse journey he and Atreus take in the 2018 game, and Faye’s path through the afterlife connects to those events rather than retreading them.

What is the Everywhen in God of War Laufey?

The Everywhen is the realm Faye wakes in after her funeral, described by Santa Monica as the afterlife of the gods and the place where all magic originates and returns. Gods from multiple mythologies appear there, including Sekhmet and Begtse.

Why does God of War Laufey have a jump button again?

The 2018 reboot removed jumping to suit an aging Kratos and his heavier combat. Faye is designed as a faster, more agile fighter, so the team brought back aerial combat last seen in 2013’s God of War: Ascension.