A God of War Ragnarok developer has shared the bittersweet story behind one of the game's side quests.
This article contains very minor spoilers for God of War Ragnarok side content.
Across the Realms is a quest that begins in Midgard as Kratos discovers a makeship camp and attempts to track down the people that made it. The quest takes players throughout the realms, locating ingredients to make the campers' favourite dish, the locations marked by a heart. Upon returning to the camp with the ingredients, Mimir tells Kratos the story of Jari and Somr.
In real life, Jari and Somr are Jake Snipes and Sam Handrick, two Santa Monica Studio developers. In a thread on Twitter, Handrick talks about how the two met, became close friends, and fell in love. He discusses how "we'd talk about how much we'd love to leave some symbol of us in Ragnarok. Some indication within this game that had been the reason we'd first met, our first game made together. He once suggested simply a heart, with our initials in Norse runes, carved into this world we made."
Snipes died in 2020 due to complications from epilepsy. When Handrick eventually returned to work on Ragnarok, he "wanted it to be everything [Jake] deserved. And I hoped I could leave some piece of him within it." He went to director Eric Williams, who had been an important part of their relationship, asking if the team could include a memorial to him within the game, and says "he made it so much more."
I told Eric and the team about Jake's suggestion of our initials carved into a heart. And he and the team returned with that and something even more special.A story of two men who find each other in an often cruel world, and who find a place to belong simply with each other. pic.twitter.com/OEazLi8jQINovember 18, 2022
The campfire that Kratos returns to at the end of the quest never stops burning. Handrick says "I wanted this story to be one many queer people know: journeying through a world that doesn't always understand you to find a place that truly feels like home."
You can read the full story via Sam Handrick's Twitter thread.