David Jaffe is an accomplished and respected game developer who now spends his time streaming games live on his channel. Team ASOBI came out swinging with a new exclusive title for the PlayStation 5, and the game creator now content creator did not waste a minute diving into the game like the rest of the world on release day and noticed some things about it that could have benefitted his earlier projects.
Game development then was drastically different. Jaffe reflected on his past work and wished he could have improved in some areas.
David Jaffe Realized He Could Have Made the First God of War Game Easier Than It is
The creator of God of War is renowned for his sarcastic nature and occasionally shares his two cents about the current gaming trends. Jaffe spent a few hours playing Ubisoft’s latest project: Star Wars Outlaws and quickly shared his thoughts about the highly-anticipated Star Wars project and admitted it was not bad but the game could have been much better. Jaffe’s previous experiences in the industry made his comments and opinions invaluable and credible to a certain degree.
While playing Astro Bot, Jaffe noticed the game had no difficulty settings and each level got harder and harder as he advanced. Platforming is an area the developer had experience with and the gaming community called him out for complaining after he made one of the hardest platforming levels in the original God of War. Jaffe immediately responded and acknowledged his shortcomings at the time and wished things could have been different.
YES and those sections are BAD and we didn’t MEAN to make them hard. And so I learned. The proper response is to LEARN, not protect the SAME FUCKING WAY you’ve always done stuff, including the misses.
— David Jaffe (@davidscottjaffe) September 9, 2024
Jaffe never intended for the gaming community to struggle during the ascension of the Spiked Column in Hades section. He admitted that those levels were bad and were used as a learning experience later on and he avoided repeating the same mistake twice since then. As a game developer, Jaffe wanted to learn and grow and not the other way around by being protective of something that did not work initially.
Developing games today is much more advanced than it was 20 years ago and there is no telling what Jaffe and Santa Monica Studio could have done if he had access to much advanced technology. Platforming looks easy from a distance but it takes a great amount of effort to perfectly time the jumps from one terrain to another and Kratos struggled in that department early on in his career as the God of War.
The Original God of War Game and Astro Bot Have Something in Common
The family-friendly nature of Astro Bot is a great counter to the mature approach Jaffe had in mind for the original God of War project. Despite their distinct differences, both games have insanely difficult platforming levels that could benefit from a difficulty setting as Jaffe suggested.
Trusted gaming insiders like Jeff Grubb spent 20 minutes playing the game months before it was officially released giving him confidence that Astro Bot had a strong chance of being nominated for Game of the Year or winning the award outright. The sheer quality and level of design ticked all the marks and fans loved discovering secret easter eggs and references to other iconic gaming franchises.
Perhaps the criticisms in the original God of War could encourage and motivate other game developers to avoid making the same mistakes. Team ASOBI could develop more sequels in the future and implement ideas and feedback from other respected gaming figures like Jaffe taking his suggestion to adjust the difficulty settings into account.
Team ASOBI realized the potential of this franchise and wanted to give Astro the attention and acknowledgment he deserved by giving him a proper outing. Perhaps the success of Astro Bot will usher in a new era of platforming games.
What are your thoughts about Astro Bot so far? Do you think it is worthy of being nominated for Game of the Year? Let us know in the comments section below!
