One fan of Blizzard’s Diablo 4 decided to use the game’s early access beta period to come up with an epic gaming crossover, designing a spitting image of God of War’s Kratos using the game’s character creator. Currently in early access beta testing ahead of the game’s launch this summer, Blizzard just released a hotfix for the Diablo 4 beta that addresses several issues with the popular preview.
Originally announced at BlizzCon 2019 after years of speculation from fans, Diablo 4 is the latest entry in Blizzard’s long-running action RPG series that debuted in 1997. Featuring a darker, grittier visual style compared to Diablo 3’s distinctly World of Warcraft-inspired aesthetic, many fans of the franchise have been holding out hope that Diablo 4 marks a return to the series’ roots. While many gamers have had praise for their brief hands-on time with the game as part of the ongoing early access beta, long queue times for Diablo 4 have had some players stuck staring at their screen as they wait to get into the game.
In a new post on r/gaming, Reddit user The_Fassbender showed off a screenshot of their creative use of Diablo 4’s character creator. The image shows a near-perfect facsimile of God of War’s Kratos, with the Ghost of Sparta's bright red tattoos standing out boldly on his ash-white skin. Apparently hailing from Kratos’ earliest PlayStation adventures, this version of the iconic character lacks Kratos’ distinctive beard.
Fans of both Diablo 4 and God of War responding to the post were impressed by The_Fassbender’s ingenious use of the character creator. Giving readers of the thread a taste of Kratos in action, The_Fassbender linked a YouTube clip showing the spirited Spartan as he appears in the cutscenes included in the Diablo 4 beta. Having a bit of a laugh at the impressive recreation, one commenter joked that he “looks familiar from somewhere.” Another response shared an anecdote claiming that Kratos’ original design featured blue tattoos that were later changed to red to keep God of War’s protagonist from looking too similar to Diablo 2’s Barbarian.
Even though fans will still have to wait until summer to get the full Diablo 4 experience, it's clear that players are already coming up with clever ways to make their own fun with the game’s early access beta. And while this creative crossover of two of gaming’s biggest properties might seem slightly out of place, at least fighting Lilith’s demonic hordes seems like a better fit for the Ghost of Sparta than the time Kratos made an appearance in Animal Crossing.
Diablo 4 releases June 6 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
