A foley artist who worked on God of War Ragnarok has shared some of the behind-the-scenes tricks and sometimes unusual sources for the realistic sound effects in the game. Though the follow-up to 2018’s God of War has been out since November 2022, the award-winning title continues to be at the top of some people’s minds, with the surly protagonist Kratos showing up in the Diablo 4 beta character creator recently, as well as in Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, and pretty much any game that lets players customize their avatar.
Several of the awards won by God of War Ragnarok have been for the game's audio, whether that be sound direction, score and music, design, or simply Best Audio, which the title earned at the 2023 Game Developers Choice Awards on March 22. One notable award Ragnarok received came from the 21st Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards for Best Game Foley. For those who don’t know, foley is the name given to recorded sound effects that are added to movies, music and, in this case, video games.
Foley artist Joanna Fang works for PlayStation Studios and recently shared the behind-the-scenes of her work during an interview with Wired. After speaking generally about how she uses unexpected everyday objects to reproduce an impressive array of sounds, Fang goes into specifics about how the sound effects for the barroom fight scene in God of War Ragnarok were made, which can be viewed at timestamp 6:26.
In some instances, Fang uses objects that weren't too out of the ordinary. For example, when the bouncer in the scene sets her swords on the weapon rack, Fang places an actual sword on a wooden pallet to recreate the sound. But a yellow crowbar conspicuously serves as the second sword. For the effect of Atreus gathering his bow, quiver, and arrows to lay down on a table, the foley artist uses a blue leather purse, a pistol holster, and a few wooden dowels. The range of items used throughout the scene is impressive, including actual armor, a boxing glove, a cantaloupe, celery stalks, pasta, and even a wet rag.
Fang reveals that for a scene in God of War Ragnarok as short and seemingly simplistic as the bar fight, she and her team could easily create over 1,000 assets. And the entire game is filled with similar scenes, each requiring intense attention to detail that results in many months of work just to record sound effects. “Foley to me is a very powerful performance art language,” says Fang during the interview, “that connects the audience with the characters and gets you to feel what they’re going through.”
There’s a reason why behind-the-scenes footage for games like God of War Ragnarok appeals to so many people. It's truly fascinating to see the actors in their mocap suits or in the recording booth, a large orchestra creating the tracks that build the ambience and drama in a game, or a foley team producing the sound effects whose very quality means they’ll often go unnoticed.
God of War Ragnarok is currently available on PS4 and PS5.
