From October 2012 to March 2013, a social experience was available online in the form of a graphic novel titled Rise of the Warrior, a prequel story that tied into the game's single-player and multiplayer modes.

God of War: Ascension received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its fundamental gameplay and spectacle as true to the series, although the story was deemed to be less compelling than in previous installments.

[6] Three relics, the Amulet of Uroborus (Life Cycle mechanic), the Oath Stone of Orkos, and the Eyes of Truth, are acquired and needed for game progression.

[7] As well as the quick time event (QTE) mechanic featured in the previous games, Ascension added a promptless free-form system that allows players to choose when to attack or dodge based on the enemy's actions.

[19] Players can unlock special magic abilities, new and upgraded armor, weapons, relics, and other treasures as they earn experience points (XP) to level-up their warrior.

[22] A prestige feature called "Ascension", added in the June 10, 2013 update, allows players to reset their allegiance progression when they reach Level 40, and receive in-game currency for "Godly" armor and weapons—the "most valuable and powerful items in the game".

For example, on the Desert of Lost Souls map, the cyclops Polyphemus may attack nearby players and killing him with the Spear of Olympus will grant bonus points for that team.

The game's protagonist is Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), a Spartan warrior who broke his blood oath to the god Ares after being tricked into killing his family by his former master.

Other characters include the oath keeper Orkos (Troy Baker), the son of Ares and Alecto, who was disowned by the god as he was not the perfect warrior that Ares sought; Aletheia (Adrienne Barbeau), the Oracle of Delphi with prophetic sight; the corrupted Prophet Castor (David W. Collins) and his conjoined twin Pollux (Brad Grusnick), who usurped the oracle, deciding who can consult her; and the Scribe of Hecatonchires (Robin Atkin Downes), the first mortal imprisoned by the Furies who has been keeping records to maintain his sanity.

Castor and Pollux, the demigod Hercules, the Titan cyclops Polyphemus, the Gorgon Stheno, and the giant scorpion Skorpius also appear in the multiplayer as bosses and/or environmental obstacles.

Confronted by Orkos in the Village of Kirra, Kratos is advised that the visions he has been experiencing are mind tricks created by the Furies, and instructs him to find the Oracle of Delphi.

In January 2010, Santa Monica's studio director John Hight told video-gaming blog Joystiq that "while God of War III will conclude the trilogy, it won't spell the end of the franchise" and said "We're going to be really careful about what we do next.

[44] For Ascension, the development team made the decision to invest in multiplayer after a simple version, tested using two Kratoses, turned out to be "a lot of fun" for the game testers.

[46] David Jaffe, creator and Game Director of the original God of War, spoke with NowGamer prior to the first press announcement in late April.

It looks like another great, impeccably executed Sony Santa Monica game", and added, "If it turns out to be the case that the single player is watered down because of [multiplayer], then I think they have some justification.

For a complex character model like Kratos, "independent textures are needed for body parts unique to him, each wrapping around the head, torso and limbs—all of which form an editable 'UV set' when laid out flat.

[56] Terrence C. Carson, Linda Hunt, Corey Burton, Gideon Emery, Steven Blum, and Kevin Sorbo reprised their roles as Kratos, the narrator, Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, and Hercules, respectively.

[60] According to Santa Monica's senior producer Whitney Wade and director of internal development Chacko Sonny, the beta made the team look at the game as an "evolving service".

[46] The beta allowed the developers to make sure that the game design would meet with the approval of existing fans of the series, and that the system could cope with a high volume of players.

The team designed a process that allowed them to "quickly iterate on fixes, deploy them through infrastructure (testing, certification, patching), and coordinate with internal technology partners within Sony.

Bates did not play any of the previous games and chose not to in order to take the score "to new places without being overtly aware of the great music that is emblematic" of the prior installments.

On the track, "Warriors' Truth", Bates used Gerard Marino's main God of War theme and "twists it for the prequel setting", "taking the harmonic ascending scale and reverting it to a downwards pattern with a harsh choir/brass combination."

[50][66] The E3 2012 single-player demo was included with early copies of the "Director's Cut" Blu-ray edition and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack versions of the film, Total Recall, which were released on December 18, 2012.

The package included a 6-inch (150 mm) statue of Kratos, a premium SteelBook game case, and exclusive downloadable content (DLC) available via the PlayStation Network (PSN).

[80] For a limited time, all copies of God of War: Ascension purchased from Best Buy included the multiplayer weapon Mjölnir (the Hammer of Thor), inspired by the television series Vikings, as DLC.

All multiplayer maps that were released post-launch were free,[101] and players who obtained the Season Pass from the Collector's Edition received all DLC weapons and armors at no additional cost.

Alex Simmons of IGN said the redesigned combat system adds a source of depth: "Learning how to use each power effectively ... provides a strategic lifeline when there's no energy re-gen chest nearby".

[126] Opinions on difficulty varied; Simmons felt that most of the gameplay was balanced, and that Ascension "is probably the easiest" in the series, but both he and Hollander Cooper of GamesRadar commented that some areas, such as the Trials of Archimedes, were too difficult.

He disliked the connection to single-player mode, calling it "a weird narrative tie-in", and was concerned that although the gameplay translates well into the multiplayer element, "the entire experience may be too chaotic to enrapture a large audience ... it doesn't feel deep enough to command much more than a furiously dedicated fan following".

He singled out Team Favor of the Gods as his favorite mode, but did not feel that the combat offered enough depth to make multiplayer "a truly engaging experience", describing it instead as "a curiosity that provides a few hours of enjoyment rather than being an essential addition".