Merlin Is a Talking Sword in Rumored God of War Spin-Off

"A talking sword will also be present in the game, which is said to be Merlin."

That line, buried in MP1st's report on the rumored next God of War game, might be the single strangest sentence I've read about this franchise since Kratos started being a good dad. The claim comes from a now-deleted Reddit comment by a FandomWire writer who originally reported on the project back in 2023, and it paints a picture of a God of War game that sounds radically different from anything Santa Monica Studio has shipped before.

According to the leaked details, the spin-off is a prequel starring Faye, Kratos' deceased wife who was central to God of War (2018) but never playable. Tyr, the Norse God of War, is reportedly the second playable character. The FandomWire writer's Reddit comment also describes a companion that's some kind of "gelatinous cube" and, yes, a floating sword that is apparently the wizard Merlin. If you're reading that list and thinking it sounds like someone mashed God of War together with a D&D campaign, you're not alone.

East Meets West

The mythological scope is where this gets ambitious. MP1st claims to have independently confirmed that Chinese and Japanese mythological elements will feature in the game, on top of previously reported Mayan influences. "We here at MP1st can confirm that East-Asian mythologies will be part of it, as we've heard that elements from Chinese and Japanese mythologies will be part of a new entry in the series," the outlet wrote, while cautioning that details could shift during development. Santa Monica Studio has always taken liberties with its source material, blending Greek and Norse myths with its own lore, but jumping across three or four distinct mythological traditions in a single game is a massive escalation. I'm curious whether this means full regions built around each mythology or something more like flavoring layered onto a core story.

There's some connective tissue in God of War Ragnarök that makes these claims feel less random than they sound. In the free Valhalla DLC, Tyr wields weapons from a range of cultures during his fights with Kratos, including a Japanese katana, a Mesoamerican macuahuitl, and an Egyptian khopesh. Those felt like deliberate breadcrumbs at the time, and the katana and macuahuitl line up directly with the Japanese and Mayan claims here. The Merlin angle is harder to square, but if the game is already pulling from Arthurian legend alongside East Asian and Mesoamerican myth, Santa Monica might be building something far more globe-spanning than anyone expected.

The big question I keep coming back to is tone. God of War's Norse saga worked because it grounded its mythology in a tight, personal story about a father and son. A prequel starring Faye with a gelatinous cube sidekick and a chatty Excalibur sounds like it could go in a very different direction. That's not automatically bad; Santa Monica earned a lot of trust with how they reinvented the series in 2018. But it's a risk, and I think the studio knows it.

We might not have to speculate for much longer. Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has claimed the next God of War game will be announced this month, and with a State of Play reportedly scheduled for April 16th, the timing lines up. If a reveal does land this week, it'll be fascinating to see how Santa Monica frames a game this weird. As for a release, the only window anyone has floated is the first half of 2027, which would wisely keep it clear of GTA 6's launch window. Ragnarök currently sits at a 92 average on OpenCritic with a 97% recommendation rate, so whatever comes next has enormous expectations riding on it, talking sword and all.