In 2005, Santa Monica Studios offered players a bloody new experience simply called God of War. Players were so enthralled by its action and cinematic presentation that even the game’s villainous anti-hero, Kratos, quickly became an unexpected PlayStation mascot. Though God of War was seemingly designed as a one-off story, its success virtually guaranteed a sequel. The second game proved to be equally profitable and praised, so more projects were given the green light. In the grand tradition of many long-running video game series, these sequels quickly formed an elaborate timeline that was as confusing as it was impressive.

Admittedly, the series avoids the worst curse of narrative bloat that plagues franchises like Kingdom Hearts, but each installment of God of War offers fascinating additional lore and background. To make things even more confusing, major entries in the series contain references that call back to earlier events that players may have missed if they hadn’t tried some of the series’ lesser-known titles. Even the most recent God of War game, which is a soft reboot of the series, has countless connections to previous games that some players may have missed.

So, if you’re waiting to dive into God of War: Ragnarök and need a refresher (or explanation) of how the series got to this point, here’s a chronological breakdown of the God of War timeline so far.

God of War: Ascension (Release Date – 2013)

Since the first God of War game is where the series began, it makes sense that chronologically this would be the first game in the series. Instead, Santa Monica Studios saved Kratos’ true origin story for the final installment of the Greek saga in the series. Imagine this:

God of War: Ascension takes place six months after Kratos was tricked into murdering his wife and daughter. Much of Ascension’s story builds on the storyline and backstory players know from previous installments, but with added details that provide additional context and character motivation. As usual in previous God of War games, Ascension mainly consists of Kratos killing Greek monsters and mythological figures. This time, Kratos’ revenge is directed at the Furies, evil arbiters who punish those who break oaths and promises. They also have hypocritical personalities, and worked with Ares to have a child and overthrow Olympus. The child, Orcus, did not live up to their expectations, so the Furies and Ares turned to Kratos.

At this point in the series, fans should already know that Kratos sold his soul to Ares to gain power. Ascension expands on this plot point by revealing that Ares did this because he thought Kratos would be a good pawn in his plans. Furthermore, Ares tricked Kratos into murdering his wife and daughter so that he could serve the God of War without interfering with his family. At the end of the game, Kratos kills the Furies and is told that their deaths will free him from bondage. In a final plot twist, Orkos reveals himself to have been transformed into Kratos’ Oathkeeper. In stark contrast to previous releases, Kratos initially refuses to kill Orkos, but eventually relents. This frees Kratos from his oath to Ares, but it also awakens the memory of his family’s murder, setting him on a path to absolution that will determine the rest of the timeline.

God of War: Chains of Olympus (Release Date – 2008)

A few years after the launch of the PlayStation 2, Sony launched its first handheld gaming console, the PlayStation Portable. Sony needed some killer titles to capture fans of its handheld console, but what could be more “killer” than a spinoff of the PlayStation 2’s best hack-and-slash series?

Before Santa Monica developed God of War: Ascension, the studio worked with Ready at Dawn to create another prequel, God of War: Chains of Olympus. The game takes place during Kratos’ 10-year sentence in service to the Gods of Olympus. In a desperate attempt to free himself from the nightmare of his family’s murder (something he unwittingly brought upon himself through the events of Ascension), Kratos takes on random missions for the gods. At the beginning of Chains of Olympus, he is defending Attica from Persian invaders. But the plot soon changes when the sun falls from the sky.

The rest of the Chains of Olympus are pursuing Kratos on a mission to save the sun god Helios from the god of sleep, Morpheus. Helios’ sister, Eos, promises Kratos that Zeus will finally free him from his nightmares if he saves Helios, and Kratos has doubts, but does it anyway. After all, a little hope is better than none at all.

Along the way, Kratos also encounters Persephone, the Titan Atlas, and his dead daughter Calliope. Kratos reluctantly serves the gods to get rid of his nightmares, but Persephone offers him a better deal: that he give up his powers and reunite with Calliope in the afterlife. Unfortunately, this offer turns out to be a cruel trick that allows Persephone to unchain Atlas and destroy the world (along with the afterlife).

Had Persephone not boasted, she might have escaped the plan, but Kratos manages to retrieve his weapons and powers in time to kill her during her monologue. With Persephone and Atlas conspiring, Kratos rebinds Atlas so he cannot destroy the world again. After Persephone and Atlas were defeated, Helios was finally freed. He did not take away Kratos’ memories, but instead sent Kratos off peacefully near the Aegean Sea, where the first God of War game begins.

God of War (Release Date – 2005)

The original God of War game is narratively the simplest adventure of the series. In fact, the ending strongly suggests that the game was intended to be a one-off story of a man determined to kill a god.

God of War properly begins in the Aegean Sea, three weeks before the creepy opening scene that suggests Kratos jumps off a cliff. After Kratos kills the Hydra, Athena gives him one last mission before the gods fulfill their promise to end his nightmare: to kill Ares, the god of war. Of course, mortals cannot kill a god, so to complete this mission, Kratos must retrieve Pandora’s Box and the weapons contained within.

Interspersed with flashbacks to inform the viewer of Kratos’ backstory, Kratos’ adventure takes the player through a mythical version of Greece, full of bloodshed and monsters. Kratos is blessed by various Olympian gods and finds Pandora’s Box in the temple of the wandering giant Kronos. But before he can actually use it, he is killed by Ares, and Kratos is sent to the Underworld. However, Kratos, the protagonist, crawls out of the afterlife (this happens so often in the series that it’s almost a running gag) and encounters a mysterious gravedigger on his way out.

Finally, Kratos is able to get his hands on Pandora’s Box, open it, and fight Ares on an even footing. Kratos wins, but despite his success, the gods only forgive him for killing his family; they do nothing about the actual nightmare. Soon, Kratos decides to attempt the cliff jump that was hinted at in the game’s opening sequence. However, instead of leaving him to his death, Athena saves Kratos and elevates him to the status of the new God of War. After all, Ares’ throne is now vacant, and who better to occupy it than the man who killed Ares?

God of War: Betrayal (Release Date – 2007)

While most God of War games were developed for the PlayStation series of handhelds and consoles, God of War: Betrayal was actually developed for mobile phones. In case you were wondering, we’re talking about the retro flip phones that existed before touchscreen smartphones.

The story of God of War: Betrayal isn’t particularly extensive. The game takes place after Kratos becomes the new God of War. He leads the Spartan soldiers and plans to conquer all of Greece, when they are attacked by a creature called Argos. Hela sends a monster to stop Kratos, but before he can kill it, a mysterious assassin completes the job, apparently in an attempt to turn the remaining gods against Kratos. Kratos tracks down the assassin to discover its identity and who its messenger is, but is stopped by Hermes’ son, Selix. As with Argos, the gods sent Selix to stop Kratos. Kratos kills Selix, and the game ends with Kratos realizing his mistake.

Betrayal’s story doesn’t add much (or anything) to the overall narrative of God of War, but Santa Monica Studios animation director Bruno Velazquez has insisted that the game is canon. The assassin’s true identity is never revealed, so the company was probably planning to expand on the betrayal in a later installment. Unfortunately, that never happened.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Release Date – 2010)

Aside from God of War: Betrayal, Ghost of Sparta is the series’ only true midquel, taking place while Kratos is deified.

In most God of War games, Kratos tries to thwart nightmarish visions of his family being murdered. But in Ghost of Sparta, he explores the origins of his childhood visions. Kratos’ journey takes him to Atlantis, and the game soon reveals that Kratos had a brother named Deimos, who was born with a rare birthmark that the Olympian gods feared. Why were the gods so scared? According to a prophecy, they would be killed by the “Marked Warrior”, but because they were flawed characters, the Greek gods assumed the prophecy was referring to Deimos’ birthmark.

During his journey, Kratos also meets his mother, who tells him that Deimos is imprisoned in the realm of Thanatos, the god of death. She also tries to tell Kratos the name of his father (spoiler: it’s Zeus), but as is tradition in Greek storytelling, doing so turns her into an unintelligent monster. Kratos must regain his senses with a punch in time to eventually discover Deimos and team up with Thanatos.

Thanatos kills Deimos, but realizes too late that the “Marked Warrior” prophecy referred to Kratos’ tattoos and grey skin. However, most players saw this unexpected twist coming, as Ghost of Sparta was released after God of War 3. Still, players will get to see supporting characters from previous God of War games, such as the Last Spartan from God of War 2 and Gravedigger from the original God of War. Oh, and Ghost of Sparta ends with Kratos donning the same armor he wore at the start of God of War 2.

God of War 2 (Release Date – 2007)

God of War 2 takes place 13 years after the events of the original God of War. Kratos may sit on the throne of Ares, but the other gods have not accepted him, mainly because he is now trying to conquer Greece. The feeling is mutual, however, as Kratos has not forgiven them for breaking their promise to him.

God of War 2 begins with Kratos leading the Spartan army against Athena’s plea at the island of Rhodes. There, an eagle seizes Kratos’ power and transfers it to the Colossus of Rhodes. Kratos soon blames Athena, until Zeus comes to his rescue, offering him the Blade of Olympus (which he used to defeat the Titans). However, using the blade comes at a price, as Kratos must channel his remaining divine power into the blade. This gamble is successful, but it leaves Kratos vulnerable. Just then, Zeus arrives and twists the knife, revealing that he has tricked Kratos.

Zeus whispers cryptically about killing Kratos and ending the “cycle”. As you’ve probably guessed, Kratos soon escapes from the Underworld again, this time with a pep talk from the titan Gaia. At Gaia’s suggestion, Kratos decides to visit the island of the Fates and shake up the space-time continuum by going back in time with the loom. As always, Kratos’ mission takes him to countless lands, where he encounters and kills famous characters from Greek mythology, including Atlas (who has not yet forgiven him for the events in Chains of Olympus).

Arriving on the island of the Fates, Kratos encounters people who ask for his help in reversing fate, including a mysterious figure known as “The Last Spartan”. During Kratos’ absence, Zeus decided to destroy Sparta, so this last warrior called on the Fates to help him stop this. Unfortunately, the encounter ended fatally for the soldier, but Kratos pushes forward, defeats the Fates, and takes their weave for himself. While Kratos uses it to undo the defeat at Rhodes, Athena sacrifices herself to save Zeus, explaining that the “cycle” Zeus was referring to was actually a curse that plagued his descendants. Each son had killed their father, or at least tried to, so Zeus hoped he could break the curse by killing Kratos. Of course, Zeus escapes, and God of War 2 ends with Kratos bringing back the Titans from the past so he can wage war against the gods in the present.

God of War 3 (Release Date – 2010)

Unlike every other God of War game on the market, God of War 3 picks up pretty much where its predecessor left off. In this case, it starts with Kratos riding on the back of the Titan Gaia.

All the Gods unite against the invading Titans, with Poseidon being the first to die. When Kratos next reaches Zeus, Gaia intervenes, allowing her and Kratos to quickly return to Olympus. Then, Gaia, in her infinite wisdom, claims that Kratos is nothing more than a pawn and casts him into the Underworld (did I mention this is a Running Gag?). Stripped of his powers once again, Kratos meets Athena, who has been restored from death and gained what she calls a “higher being.” That’s a good thing, because she points Kratos in the direction of the Flames of Olympus, which she believes to be the source of Zeus’ power.

In his search for the Flame of Olympus, Kratos encounters faces old and new, including the corpses of Hephaestus and Persephone. Eventually, Kratos finds the Flame of Olympus and discovers that it contains Pandora’s Box. The only way to extinguish the flame is to enlist the help of Pandora, Hephaestus’ “daughter.” Kratos only finds them after crossing a river of blood, killing most of the Olympian pantheon, and retrieving the stone from the stomach of Kronos (long story). Kratos brings Pandora into the flame, but in the process, his fatherly instincts are awakened and he bonds with Pandora. It soon becomes clear that the only way Pandora can destroy the Flame of Olympus is by sacrificing herself. It turns out that Pandora is willing to do this because Zeus treated Hephaestus that way. Zeus pleads with Kratos not to let Pandora put out the flame, and Kratos temporarily agrees with his father. Zeus then tells Kratos not to fail as he failed his family, spoiling his own message, triggering Kratos’ desire for revenge.

After Pandora kills the flame and herself, Kratos opens the box to get the weapon. Unfortunately the can is empty. Of course, Kratos doesn’t let such small details stop him from killing Zeus (and Gaia of course). Once the deed is done, Athena returns and demands Kratos return the weapon from Pandora’s Box. It took her a while to realise that he had her in his possession since the first God of War game. As any buff of Greek mythology will tell you, the weapon was hope, and it was in Kratos’ body. Unfortunately, this means that when Kratos opened the box, he released the great evil contained within, which infected the Olympian Gods. In other words, Kratos unwittingly triggered the events of God of War 2 and God of War 3. Oops.

Athena is unfazed and demands that he restore hope, but Kratos can’t believe her, having been burned at the stake by gods so many times. So he commits suicide one last time to bring hope to mortals. God of War 3 ends with Athena walking away in disappointment, followed by a post-credits scene in which Kratos appears to have recovered from the dead.

God of War (Release Date – 2018)

Released in 2018, God of War is a soft reboot set an unknown number of years after God of War 3. Kratos has left Greece and its gods behind and finds himself in the Nordic land of Midgard (not to be confused with Midgar from Final Fantasy 7). Not only that, but he has found a new wife, Faye, with whom he also has a son named Atreus. Unfortunately, Faye dies before the game begins. So Kratos sets off to fulfill his final wish and scatter her ashes from the top of the tallest mountain in existence. But before he can, he is attacked by a mysterious man who seems unable to feel pain. Kratos fights off the attackers but is soon forced to take Atreus on his journey.

Unlike previous installments, God of War’s plot does not revolve around Kratos’ need for revenge. Instead, she focuses on his growing desire to be a good father to Atreus, while at the same time hiding the truth about his divine origins from the boy. This results in Kratos and Atreus traveling through several realms of Norse legend as they try to find their way to Jotunheim, the land of the giants. Along the way, they encounter friendly people such as the dwarves Brok and Sindri and the goddess Freyja.

Finally arriving at their destination, Kratos and Atreus have become stronger from their journey together. Atreus has grown up and experienced the burden that comes with being a god, while Kratos has finally made peace with his bloody past. Of course, they have to kill several Norse gods along the way, including the sons of Thor and the mysterious stranger, who they eventually discover is Freyja’s son Baldur.

Kratos didn’t want to kill Baldur, but he had to in order to save Freyja. Kratos says that by doing so, they can break the cycle of children killing their parents that has plagued the gods for too long (not unlike his father’s words in God of War 2). Unfortunately, Freyja swears revenge on Kratos for killing Baldur even though it meant saving her life.

God of War ends with three important developments. First, Kratos and Atreus learn that Faye was in fact a giant. Second, the Second Two-ists discover that the giants predicted their journey and left behind another prophecy about their participation in Ragnarok, the coming Norse apocalypse. Finally, we learn that Faye wanted to give Atreus a different name, “Loki,” which will be more familiar to fans of Norse mythology.

God of War: Ragnarök (Release Date – 2022)

2018’s God of War actually ends with a post-credits cutscene in which a mysterious cloaked man visits Kratos and Atreus. We don’t see the stranger’s face, but we know it’s Thor from the hammer hanging from his waist. Of course, the cutscene is actually supposed to be a prophecy of the future, which is where God of War: Ragnarök begins.

God of War: Ragnarok takes place several years after the events of God of War. Midgard is in the midst of Fimblewinter, a three-year blizzard that covers everything in the kingdom in snow and devours magical items (the developers had to somehow remove the weapon upgrades from the previous game). It turns out that Balder’s mistaken murder was the beginning of Fimbulwinter, and as the snowstorm subsides, Ragnarök will arrive.

We can’t reveal too much about God of War: Ragnarök’s story, but know that Kratos and Atreus will travel to all nine realms of Norse mythology and face off against even more gods (including Thor, Tyr, and Odin). And more importantly, God of War: Ragnarök will answer many questions that were left unanswered in its predecessor. Isn’t that why most of us want to play the game? It’s also, of course, a chance to indulge in Norse beasts and legendary gods.