God of War’s 20th anniversary celebration gives you Kratos’ most badass throwback skin

Sony is celebrating God of War’s 20th anniversary with goodies found in digital Norse mythological worlds, an LA art studio and your dusty old record player. The highlight is Kratos’ positively badass Dark Odyssey skin (above). In God of War II, acquiring that game’s version required hours of punishing gameplay on the most brutal mode of the 2007 sequel; all you have to do in 2025 is own a measly copy of God of War: Ragnarök.

The Dark Odyssey collection will be a free update on March 20 for all God of War: Ragnarök players on PlayStation and PC. You get Kratos’ shadowy black and gold look (above) that once required beating God of War II on God Mode difficulty (that would be the really hard one), as well as Dark Odyssey-themed armor, weapons, shields and more for the Ghost of Sparta, Atreus and Freya.

If you haven’t sunk enough hours into the game to max out your weapons, you may be disappointed to learn that the Dark Odyssey weapon skins are only available for the fully upgraded version of each. But at least Santa Monica Studio is adding the ability to edit the appearance of the weapon attachments and shield rönd.

Also part of the 20th-anniversary celebration is a boatload of merch. These include a new set of art prints (like the one above by Ollie Hoff), a two-volume retrospective book set that chronicles the franchise’s development since 2005 and a 13-LP soundtrack set of Kratos’ two decades of immortal skull-bashing. (You’ll also be able to order double LP soundtracks for the Greek trilogy games for the first time.)

But no God of War collection would be complete without the 67-inch Jörmungandr pictured below. In a nice detail, it includes a magnetized tongue to grip a removable Leviathan Axe. (Given that there’s no companion Kratos plush, we’ll assume he met a slithery demise in this timeline.)

If you live in Southern California, you can check out a God of War exhibit at Gallery Nucleus in LA, showcasing new artwork inspired by the franchise, concept art and “unique memorabilia.” It runs from March 15 to 23.

Finally, for those who are curious about the franchise but don’t own all the games, you can check them out for less. PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra members can claim his last three journeys — God of War Ragnarök, God of War (2018) and God of War III Remastered — from the game catalog. And PC gamers can buy a discounted God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök — $20 and $48, respectively — on Steam.

You can read about the full list of anniversary goodies on the PlayStation blog.