What if you took God of War and rendered it in Super Mario Bros. and/or Adventure Island style? That’s the concept behind Bit of War, an 8-bit demake of Sony’s most visually brutal video game series. It’s been around for a while — the demake first appeared in 2012 — but it’s now available to play online for free.
Or you could pay for it if you liked, given that the download on Itch.io gives you the option to hand over some cash. But you can relive an alternative take on the very first God of War (on Windows) entirely free if you like. It’s just the thing to while away the last few days of the year when nobody is really working anyway.
Fancy, a Bit of War
The gameplay for the little platformer takes a ton of inspiration from old-school NES games, but with Kratos in the starring role. The iconic Blades of Chaos are present, and the pixelated enemies take some killing (as with the 3D version of the game), but it looks like a fun experience overall.
Since, as developer Holmade Games explains, Bit of War is “not affiliated with Sony in any way”, the side-scrolling adventure featuring gaming’s bloodiest protagonist could be disappeared from the internet at any time. Since there’s not really a profit motive here, and given that Sony isn’t nearly as aggressive in taking down fan projects as, say, Nintendo is, you’ll probably be able to snag it as a download before lawyers happen.
