God of War Ragnarök Devs: The Mask Parallels Were a Coincidence

comingsoon.net:

contains a sly allusion to Sony’s platform fighter and all sorts of unsubtle nods to various other PlayStation games. Many also thought strangely referenced 1994’s starring Jim Carrey (and, by extension, the related comic series and animated show) since Odin’s mask carries some striking similarities to the one seen in the film. However, those were merely coincidences.

Narrative Director Matt Sophos plainly stated that Odin’s mask in “had nothing to do with the Jim Carrey movie” in an interview with MinnMax. Sophos explained alongside Story Lead Richard Gaubert how they wanted the mask in the game to metaphorically reflect Atreus’ search for himself.

But since the mask is green when it glows up, is made of wood like the one from the movie, and revolves around Atreus, who also goes by Loki (the mythological figure the mask hails from from the film series), the parallels were hard to ignore. Even people on the writing team saw the resemblances.

“One of the writers brought [the film] up later and was like, ‘You realize that it was Loki’s mask?'” said Gaubert.

But these similarities didn’t make the team want to change course.

“We went, ‘Ah, crap. Does that mean we need to change it?'” said Sophos. “And we were like, ‘No, it fits because it is about identity.’ He’s all those things that Rich said, and he’s Loki or Atreus. Who is he trying to be? So we went, ‘All right, we’re sticking with the mask.'”

Many brought it up near the game’s release, as it was the subject of multiple articles, some of which went a little further than the developers would at that time. Various members of the team did speak about it then, but were never as direct as Sophos was in this latest interview.

Sophos himself was also one of those other