God of War: Laufey story — what happens, explained (so far)

The premise

God of War (2018) opened on Faye's funeral pyre — her death drove that whole game, even though she never appeared alive. Laufey picks up at that exact point and follows what happens to her. Santa Monica Studio frames it as a single question: how does a dead woman find her way back to the family she left behind?

Waking in the Everywhen

Instead of the Norse afterlife she expected, Faye wakes in the Everywhen — a transcendent realm above the mortal afterlives, described as the beginning and end of all magic. It's a melting pot where gods and creations from many mythologies meet and don't always get along, which is how Egyptian and Buddhist-Mongolian deities end up sharing a God of War game for the first time. Early on she encounters two hostile gods, Sekhmet and Begtse, and meets her companions Phranque and Rue.

Faye's goal

Faye discovers that the careful plans she made in life to protect Kratos and Atreus are unravelling. Her drive throughout the game is to escape the Everywhen and return home — the emotional engine the developers say sits at the centre of the whole experience.

Open mysteries from the gameplay

The gameplay showcase hinted at threads the studio hasn't fully explained. Recurring masks appear tied to ideas of freedom and escape; a gateway “only the dead can pass through” is shown closed; there's a child held in a cage who needs rescuing; and Faye remarks that magic itself behaves strangely in this place. Treat the meaning of these as unconfirmed until launch.

Quick facts

FAQ