Introduction
Before the twilight of the gods, a legend rose to take his place among them. And even as Kratos sat on the throne as the new God of War, he was haunted by dreams of his family, the family he himself had murdered. But the hands of death could not defeat him, the sisters of fate could not control him, and on this day, the man, the legend, Kratos, would take his revenge.
Story
Following the conclusion of God of War II, God of War III picks up directly after it with a shocking opening narration from Zeus, who talks about the actions of the rebellious Kratos, the God of War, who is “commanding” a small army of Titans who have escaped the Great War (using the power of fate). The Olympians immediately rush into battle. Helios rides his chariot over Olympus, Hermes speeds down from the peaks of Olympus as Zeus watches, Hercules is ordered to lead his troops down into the fray, Hades leaps out and engages several Titans in his gigantic form, and Poseidon (using it) fires a missile from Olympus, delivering a fatal blow to Epimetheus’ chest before revealing himself as a giant blue creature, producing several hippocampi to aid in the battle. With Poseidon as their greatest threat in battle, having already destroyed numerous Titans and soon to be after Gaia herself, Kratos engages the sea god and manages to knock the weakened Poseidon out of his godly form after he drags him into Gaia's clutches. On a separate platform, the two spar briefly before Kratos rises and brutally beats the sea god, eventually gouging out his eyes and snapping his neck before throwing him into the ocean. With Poseidon's death, the sea's calamity and ocean levels rise significantly, causing a flood that seems to engulf the entire Greek world and nearly destroys all of humanity above Olympia.
After killing Poseidon, Kratos and Gaia arrive at Zeus's pavilion, where the king of the gods is angrily awaiting Kratos' arrival, and eventually, he attacks them with a powerful bolt of lightning that blasts off a massive chunk of Gaia's arm and sends the two spiraling down to the bottom of Olympus (Kratos presumably survives by using the Golden Fleece to absorb most of the blast). However, even using the Blade of Olympus to stab himself in the back, Kratos is unable to hang on as Gaia fights to stay alive and climbs back up to Zeus. She warns him that he was just a pawn and is expendable now that the Titans have reached Zeus, allowing the bitter Spartan to fall to his death. Kratos contemplates his life as he crosses the River Styx and its caverns, deciding to escape Hades (once again) and destroy Zeus. On his way to Hades' chamber after having nearly all of his power sucked out of the dead soul of Styx, he meets a newly formed Athena who claims to have reached a "new level of being" and is willing to help Kratos resume his revenge, giving him new weapons to survive the underworld and the enemies ahead, as well as setting up his next quest to find and extinguish the Flame of Olympus to truly defeat Zeus.
Kratos makes his way through the Underworld, encountering several lost souls, encounters statues of the Three Judges of the Underworld, meets Hephaestus who enlightens him more and more about the secrets of Olympus and Zeus, and finds mysterious snoring on the ground that is silent in silence. He acknowledges that he is from various people in his past. Eventually entering Hades' palace, he finds the body of Persephone's coffin bride that Hades had rebuilt, and engages the god of the Underworld himself inside a dark cave. Hades races Kratos until the bloodthirsty Spartan manages to rip off his helmet and steal his weapons, then pulls out Hades' own soul and absorbs it using the Claws of Hades. Having escaped the Underworld through Hyperion's Gate, Kratos renews his journey across Olympus, except that he now encounters Titans and gods – he encounters Helios on his chariot, where Kratos later breaks the sun god's head with his bare hands and receives Helios' head. He cuts off Hermes' legs and obtains Hermes' boots, brutally beats his half-brother Hercules to death with the Nemean scythe, and breaks Hera's neck after she insults Pandora, Hephaestus's little childish creature. The key to extinguishing the Flame of Olympus and revealing its contents, encountering the radiant Aphrodite and her maids in the Goddess's Chamber, stabbing the Titan Cronus in the head with the Blades of Olympus in Tartarus, Hephaestus receiving the Nemesis Whip from Hephaestus just before his death after betraying Kratos to Cronus, battling Scorpius, the Queen of Scorpions, and finally reaching the Chamber of Flame with Pandora, but Zeus himself cuts it off.
Zeus holds Pandora back from her fate, where a battle between the God of War and the King of the Gods begins, Kratos takes on the best King of the Gods in a duel and suddenly changes his mind. Pandora was created as the key to Pandora's Box, which is actually contained in the Flame of Olympus and must sacrifice herself. However, due to Zeus's unwitting plea that Kratos "not defeat her like he defeated his family", Kratos frees Pandora and attacks Zeus in a fit of rage, but is stunned by the loss of the Flame. Kratos opens the box once more, just like in the first game, but finds that the box is empty. Zeus mocks him for "another failure" and goes outside to recover, while Kratos' anger grows even stronger. Father and son meet again outside on a familiar platform, but before either can claim victory, the platform is suddenly shaken by an awakened Gaia (presumably killed during the fight and the object of the wrath of many Titans against Kratos). It shakes them violently, causing them to flee from inside her body. Inside her chest, Kratos and Zeus duel near her heart. Zeus sucks out her lifeblood and becomes as young as Kratos, and Gaia is ultimately killed when Kratos stabs Zeus in the heart, apparently killing Zeus as well.
Kratos awakens in the cracked earth to find Zeus' body lying on a rock and painlessly removes the Blade of Olympus. However, when Kratos attempts to leave, Zeus's still-active spirit, consumed by his constant hatred for his "infidel" son, attacks Kratos, seemingly draining his willpower and anger, instead filling him with fear and a sense of loss. He is brought to the brink of death. Before dying, Kratos shares a last-minute mental journey with his guide Pandora, whose spirit lives within him, and begins to undo various things that torment his soul - the same things that Astral Zeus uses to kill his mind. Much like Ares once did. Overcoming these blows with a sense of hope, Kratos regains consciousness and regains his godlike powers, returning Zeus' soul to his body before beating Zeus to death with his bare hands, ending the reign of the Olympians once and for all. It seems.
Athena arrives to congratulate Kratos on his victory and asks him to retrieve the power he claimed from Pandora's Box, but he reveals that there is nothing inside. Athena claims that she is lying because when the demons of the Titanomachy were first sealed in the box, as a safety measure, she placed "the world's most powerful weapon", Hope, in the box to counter the demons. She demands that Kratos return the power he gained from the box, which is rightfully his, as now that the world has been cleansed of chaos, she will rebuild it under her rule with the power of Hope. However, Athena realizes that when Kratos first opened the box to kill Ares, the demons had infected and taken control of the gods of Olympus, especially Zeus. Hope was buried deep beneath anger, a need for revenge, and guilt, and when Kratos finally learned to forgive himself for his past, he let go of the power. Athena again asks Kratos to give her the power, but Kratos refuses and impales himself on the Blade of Olympus. It releases a large beam of blue light into the sky, granting all of humanity the power of hope. Athena becomes enraged, claiming that humanity does not know what to do with Hope. She takes the Blade from Kratos and leaves, telling Kratos how disappointed she is with his actions. He grumbles that he does not owe her anything (a callback to the beginning of the second game).
In one scene, the spot where Kratos' body lay is now empty, and a trail of blood flows from the edge of the cliff. This scene is reminiscent of his suicide attempt in God of War.
However, he appears to have traveled to another world in God of War (2018).
