God of War

Plot

The game begins with the main protagonist Kratos standing at the edge of a cliff, the Suicide Bluffs, on the highest mountain in Greece. Lamenting that the gods have abandoned him, he throws himself off the cliff into the waves below. The game then shifts to events of Kratos' past, using flashbacks to reveal his history and the events of the three weeks prior to his apparent suicide.
More than ten years in the past, Kratos was a young and ambitious Spartan captain. He became a servant to Ares, the God of war, during a battle against an immense barbarian horde numbering in the thousands, Kratos and his men were far outnumbered. After the merciless Barbarians onslaught couldn't be stopped by the disciplined Spartans, Kratos realizing that he could not win, offered his life and servitude to the mighty Ares in exchange for salvation. Ares who saw the makings of a god in this mortal, heeded this plea and subsequently saved Kratos and his men from a massacre, using his godly power to destroy the barbarians. He then instructed Kratos to rebuild his army and use it to conquer areas of Greece, as a display of devotion and piety to Ares. He granted Kratos great strength, and also gave him the Blades of Chaos, short-bladed swords connected to long, whip-like chains seared to Kratos's arms, impossible to remove. The blades also served as a reminder of Kratos' pledge.
Soon afterwards, Kratos and his army began a bloodthirsty rampage through Greece, destroying villages and killing many innocent people in the name of their master Ares. In one particular village, worshipping Athena, Kratos broke into the village's temple (against the village Oracle's dire forebodings and his own sense of insecurity) and in a frenzy, slaughtered all the people inside. However when the massacre was over, Kratos realised that the last two people he'd killed were his own wife and daughter. It is later revealed that this move was orchestrated by Ares, who believed Kratos' family was the final barrier linking Kratos to his humanity, and without them, Ares could transform Kratos into the manifestation of death itself. The village's Oracle then declares that the ashes of his family will be fastened to his skin, never to be removed. From that point, Kratos was to be known as the Ghost of Sparta. Realising what he had done, Kratos immediately renounced his service to Ares and began to wander the Aegean Sea, offering service to the other gods of Mount Olympus in exchange for redemption for his sins. Ultimately his final desire is to be given the chance to destroy Ares in retribution for the God's actions.
The story then moves forward to three weeks prior to the present. Kratos, having served the gods for the previous ten years, is constantly tormented by recurring nightmares of his past deeds. He is asked by Poseidon to kill the Hydra, a giant sea serpent with many heads, that has been terrorizing his seas - killing sailors and destroying ships. Shortly after killing the Hydra by impaling the main head on the ships mast, Kratos learns from his new patron, the goddess Athena, that Ares is moving a numberless army of monsters and undead soldiers through Greece, in order to take over Athens. She requests that Kratos stop him, since the other gods cannot intervene (forbidden by Zeus to wage war on each other). She tells Kratos that the defeat of Ares is the final deed he must complete in order to gain absolution.
Arriving at the war-torn city, Kratos begins fighting his way to the Temple of the Oracle, where he was told he could gain knowledge on how to defeat Ares. On his journey, he meets a mysterious old man known only as The Grave Digger, who has mysterious knowledge of Kratos' past. Upon arrival at the temple, Kratos learns from the Oracle that the only way to defeat Ares is to use the legendary Pandora's Box. The Oracle explains that this Box can give any mortal the power to kill a god. However, it is locked deep inside the Temple of Pandora, placed there by the gods to prevent just anyone from gaining its power. The Temple is located on the back of the last living Titan, Cronos, who was ordered by Zeus to forever wander the Desert of Lost Souls until the sands rip the flesh from his bones, as punishment for his past deeds.
Kratos proceeds to travel across the Desert, and successfully kills the three Desert Sirens to uncover a secret passageway to Cronos. Kratos blows into a huge horn to summon the Titan and climbs the mighty structure on his back to enter the Temple. After solving the challenging puzzles, besting the deadly traps and killing the monsters that populate the Temple, he successfully retrieves Pandora's Box. However, this event does not go unnoticed by Ares. As Kratos drags Pandora's Box towards the exit of the temple, Ares senses Kratos' success. Picking up a broken pillar, he hurls it through the Desert and into the entrance of the Temple as Kratos is leaving, impaling and killing him, sending him into the Underworld.
While plummeting into Hades, Kratos manages to grab onto a ledge, and prevents himself from falling into the river Styx below. He begins to make his way through the realm, eventually returning to the world of the living with the help from the Grave Digger that he met earlier (who vanishes after helping him, leaving the player to suspect that the Grave Digger may be a god - possibly Zeus.) After escaping, Kratos returns to the destroyed Athens to confront Ares, who is threatening to usurp Zeus and the other gods with Pandora's Box. Kratos uses a lightning bolt (a power granted to him by Zeus) to retrieve the Box. He then uses the power of Pandora's Box to grow to the size of Ares. The two engage in a furious sword fight. When Kratos proves superior, Ares uses his godly power to suck Kratos into another dimension. Kratos is then shown images of his family, inside the temple where he had originally murdered them. Kratos is then pitted against monstrous versions of himself (representing his grief, anger and remorse over his past deeds) inside the temple, as Ares tries to torture Kratos into madness by making him watch the death of his family again. However, Kratos defeats the monstrous versions of himself, and Ares, in fury, strips Kratos of the Blades of Chaos (and the magical abilities granted by the other gods) and kills his family with them.
Kratos is transported back to the battleground where he had been fighting Ares. He discovers the Blade of the Gods, a sword serving as a giant bridge within Athens, and uses it to once again duel with Ares. After another vicious fight, Kratos defeats Ares by impaling him with the sword, ignoring Ares' pleas for mercy. Athena thanks Kratos for killing Ares; however, she explains that, although they can forgive his sins, they never promised to remove the nightmares of his past. Believing that his toil has been for nothing, Kratos wanders to the Bluffs of the Aegian Sea and throws himself off, returning to the point at which the game began. It is revealed that Athena appears at the last moment to save Kratos, telling that they cannot let one die that has done such a great service to the Gods. Kratos is then transported to the temple on Mount Olympus, where Athena offers Kratos the chance to become the new God of War.