Key Highlights:
- Sony Santa Monica will release a God of War: Ascension single-player demo in late February 2013.
- The January announcement did not reveal an exact date or specify which part of the campaign would be playable.
- The Prison of the Damned demo ultimately launched through the PlayStation Store on 26 February in North America and 27 February in Europe.
Sony Santa Monica will release a single-player demo for God of War: Ascension in late February 2013, giving PlayStation 3 players an early look at Kratos’ new campaign.
The studio described the upcoming release as a “full-fledged” demo but did not initially confirm an exact date or reveal which section of the game it would contain.
God of War: Ascension is set before the events of the original God of War. The story follows Kratos after he breaks his blood oath to Ares and becomes imprisoned by the Furies.
The game introduces revised combat mechanics alongside secondary weapons that Kratos can collect from defeated enemies. Ascension is also the first God of War game to include online multiplayer.
Sony fulfilled the February announcement with the Prison of the Damned demo. Members of the Spartan faction who won the Rise of the Warrior social challenge received early access on 20 February.
The demo then became available to all PlayStation Network users in North America on 26 February and across Europe on 27 February. It covered the opening section of the campaign, in which Kratos escapes imprisonment and fights the Fury Megaera’s infected creatures.
God of War: Ascension launched exclusively for PlayStation 3 on 12 March 2013 in North America. The European release followed from 13 March, while the game arrived in the UK and Ireland on 15 March.
Ascension is also the first GOW game to include online multiplayer, which Santa Monica Studio later supported with new weapons, armour and multiplayer DLC.
The demo therefore met Sony’s original late-February window and gave players access approximately two weeks before the full game launched.
