 On April 12 , 2012 , Sony released a teaser image for Ascension on its official PlayStation Facebook page , which was followed by the game 's announcement on April 19 on PlayStation.Blog. Todd Papy , who had previously worked as a designer on God of War and God of War II and as design director on God of War III , assumed the role of game director ; God of War III director Stig Asmussen was busy with another project at Santa Monica and did not work on Ascension . The announcement officially confirmed the game 's title and Papy said it was not titled God of War IV to avoid confusion because it is a prequel , rather than a sequel , to the trilogy . The game features a retooled God of War III engine , enabling online multiplayer battles for up to eight players . The decision to add multiplayer came about from curiosity , according to lead combat designer Jason McDonald . The multiplayer was first tested using Kratos , and McDonald said the testers had " a lot of fun " . Seeing their reaction made the team feel that the multiplayer had value and they then began to put the " God of War spin on it " . In the developmental transition from God of War III to Ascension , one of the graphics engineers , Cedric Perthuis , noted that the limits of the God of War III engine restricted artist creativity , so they " tried to remove or push those limits as far as possible without losing any performance . " Ascension did not have a graphical leap over its predecessor like God of War III did . Dynamic lighting was added , which allowed for development of the Life Cycle gameplay mechanic . Particle effects were also greatly improved upon from God of War III . 
