Hindu
Hinduism in games isn’t something that’s really been touched on before. The only other title to do so was Asura’s Wrath in 2012, but otherwise, nothing else has hit the AAA space since then. This would be the perfect opportunity for AAA gaming to explore an untapped mythology.
Because there are multiple gods of war in Hinduism, the lead character wouldn’t have to be an ordinary human like Kratos was. In Hindu mythology, the god of creation Brahma is said to have created demonic creatures called Rakshasas in his sleep before Vishnu came to his aid and banished them all to Earth. In the two major Hindu epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Rakshasas were a populous race and were divided up into good and evil, with some fighting alongside armies on each sides. Some were powerful warriors, others were magicians and illusionists. It’s also said that they were able to assume physical forms, but it wasn’t always clear if they even had a real form.
Given the obvious divide between good and evil, playing as a Rakshasa born into slavery and battle on either side would be ideal. Playing as a god would basically just be like that one scene from Wrath of the Titans, and we’ve already played as a human going up against monstrous demons in the previous titles. There could even be a midpoint alliance switch. The gods would be fine with the shapeshifter taking their appearance so long as the Rakshasa doesn’t try to escape the conflict or kill them. With the Rakshasa being shapeshifters, it’d be easy to justify the player character having the abilities of the gods. God of War Ascension’s multiplayer played around with the idea of choosing your allegiance to a god as a “team”, and that could return here in the single-player campaign, with bonuses provided dependent on your specialty of warrior or mage. Unlike Kratos, however, you probably won’t end up brutally murdering these gods. It could be more like the other way around…
