God of War: Ascension

When Sony Santa Monica released God of War: Ascension on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, it was during the era when Sony was putting out a lot of high-quality live-action ads that for some reason didn’t actually include any gameplay. But Ascension’s Super Bowl ad still remains one of the most moving live-action trailers for any video game. Set to Ellie Goulding’s cover of “Hanging On,” the trailer shows Kratos’ daughter Calliope running up to her father. When he picks her up, she immediately turns to ash, which is grafted onto Kratos’ skin as a punishment for his crimes. It’s an incredible tone setter for the character, and feels more reminiscent of the prestige storytelling the series would go on to have in the Norse mythology series that began with the 2018 game. Ascension hasn’t had the same shelf life as the rest of the series, as the prequel lacked a lot of the set pieces that have kept the memory of its predecessors alive and well and had a story many found lackluster and superfluous. But this trailer? It’s still a beautiful, tragic take on Kratos’ legacy.