God of War Ragnarok's Atreus has matured since his prior adventure with Kratos in God of War (2018), and so did his voice actor in the past few years. Atreus' voice was edited on multiple occasions during recording sessions, adding a new challenge during the development of God of War Ragnarok.
In a new behind-the-scenes video by PlayStation, God of War Ragnarok supervising dialogue director Jodie Kupsco discussed Sunny Suljic, the voice actor for Atreus, and challenges faced during voice recording. Sunny is a teenage boy in puberty, so his voice changed drastically throughout development of God of War Ragnarok. Since Suljic's voice was maturing, the development team had to adjust to new changes in production. At the same time, the team was adapting to an already extended production period during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. An extensive editing process was key to ensuring Suljic's voice matched what players would come to expect from Atreus.
Although Atreus continues to grow as a young man in God of War Ragnarok, not much time has passed since the end of the previous game. The production team had to "even-out" Suljic's performances so that Atreus' voice would be consistent with his performance in God of War (2018). Pandemic rules also limited the work involving motion capture, so the production team had to work around limitations while ensuring the voice of Atreus met the desired results. These challenges did not exist during development of God of War (2018), but the studio adapted to the conditions without compromising on valuable story content.
God of War Ragnarok senior producer Ariel Angelotti reassures fans that cinematics were not changed in development. The same characters originally planned to appear within all of God of War Ragnarok's cinematics are present, so players won't have to worry about cut content in that sense. According to Angelotti, the team needed to "get creative" with shooting content under various limitations without compromises. Suljic's voice work should meet player expectations when God of War Ragnarok releases next month.
The team at Sony Santa Monica is dedicated to creating a polished and worthwhile experience to end God of War's Norse saga. Atreus is an important character in the current story, so it was vital for the studio to ensure Suljic's voice fits the character for this final journey.
Fortunately, the maturing voice of Suljic did not interfere with the voice work of others during the production process. God of War Ragnarok recently went gold, which means the game is ready for mass production ahead of launch. Christopher Judge returns as Kratos, and the dialogue between father and son should be memorable in God of War Ragnarok.
God of War Ragnarok launches November 9 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Source: IGN
