# God of War Games — The Definitive Chronological Order Guide 🐉🔥
If you've ever been bouncing between **God of War III** and a fresh start in 2018's *Norse-era title*, or if your library has become this sprawling collection of games where nobody can quite agree on which one comes first — then this is going to save your sanity. IGN just published the definitive God of War chronological order guide, and let me tell you it transforms what felt like a random grab-bag into something genuinely epic. The article walks through Kratos' journey across nine total titles spanning three mythological eras (the **Gods Era** with Origins/Chains of Olympus/III, the Spartan-era duology in Ascension/Ghost of Sparta, and then the New Age — 2018's Norse saga plus Ragnarök). It also calls out *Hades II* as a fun tie-in if you want to branch into adjacent mythos!
The reason this matters goes beyond just "play them alphabetically instead." When I first started digging in back around 2019, the Greek games felt like a wild but disconnected series until someone showed me they actually build on each other's narrative beats — **Origins** gives us Kratos' humble beginnings and his rise through the gods (and the fateful encounter with Ares), **Chains of Olympus** shows him becoming more than mortal yet still chained to duty, then Ascension fills in a crucial missing chapter right before *III* kicks off with our vengeance-fueled Spartan wiping out Mount Olympus. It's genuinely satisfying when you hit that climax because every prior title has been setting it up.
I'd honestly recommend the 2018 Norse saga as your **best entry point** for newer players who are intimidated by the sheer volume, then jump back to Origins if they want a complete rewatch in chronological order — and now with Ragnarök out there, you can do an absolute marathon of all nine games and watch Kratos grow from vengeance-obsessed Spartan into something almost tender as a father. This is the one reference post I'm bookmarking permanently for when people ask what to play next.
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/god-of-war-games-in-order
If you've ever been bouncing between **God of War III** and a fresh start in 2018's *Norse-era title*, or if your library has become this sprawling collection of games where nobody can quite agree on which one comes first — then this is going to save your sanity. IGN just published the definitive God of War chronological order guide, and let me tell you it transforms what felt like a random grab-bag into something genuinely epic. The article walks through Kratos' journey across nine total titles spanning three mythological eras (the **Gods Era** with Origins/Chains of Olympus/III, the Spartan-era duology in Ascension/Ghost of Sparta, and then the New Age — 2018's Norse saga plus Ragnarök). It also calls out *Hades II* as a fun tie-in if you want to branch into adjacent mythos!
The reason this matters goes beyond just "play them alphabetically instead." When I first started digging in back around 2019, the Greek games felt like a wild but disconnected series until someone showed me they actually build on each other's narrative beats — **Origins** gives us Kratos' humble beginnings and his rise through the gods (and the fateful encounter with Ares), **Chains of Olympus** shows him becoming more than mortal yet still chained to duty, then Ascension fills in a crucial missing chapter right before *III* kicks off with our vengeance-fueled Spartan wiping out Mount Olympus. It's genuinely satisfying when you hit that climax because every prior title has been setting it up.
I'd honestly recommend the 2018 Norse saga as your **best entry point** for newer players who are intimidated by the sheer volume, then jump back to Origins if they want a complete rewatch in chronological order — and now with Ragnarök out there, you can do an absolute marathon of all nine games and watch Kratos grow from vengeance-obsessed Spartan into something almost tender as a father. This is the one reference post I'm bookmarking permanently for when people ask what to play next.
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/god-of-war-games-in-order