God of War Quietly Gains New Multiplayer Mode, Fans Feel Cheated

God of War: Sons of Sparta has been heavily criticised by fans for locking an advertised feature behind hours of progress.

Last week, Sony shadow dropped God of War: Sons of Sparta, a metroidvania prequel to the entire series featuring a young Kratos during his youth in Sparta.

One aspect of the game that may not have been clear from the beginning however, is that the game supports co-operative multiplayer… but only if you complete the game first.

“After completing Sons of Sparta's main story, you will unlock a challenge mode that can be played solo or with local 2-player couch co-op,” reads a post on X (formerly Twitter) from Santa Monica Studio.

❗PSA: God of War Sons of Sparta 2-Player Mode

After completing Sons of Sparta's main story, you will unlock a challenge mode that can be played solo or with local 2-player couch co-op.

— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Sons of Sparta (@SonySantaMonica) February 13, 2026

“Why would you lock co-op behind beating the game? I don't want to play it twice, I want to play it once with my wife. Trying to return now for the false advertising…” reads one comment underneath the post.

Co-Op Being Locked Behind Story Mode Completion Isn't That Fun

Legally speaking, I don’t think it’s classed as false advertising.

On the PlayStation Store listing for God of War: Sons of Sparta, the store says the game supports “1–2 players”, and Santa Monica Studio has not avoided talking about the co-op mode, as evidenced by the X post above.

However, you can’t deny that it sucks a little bit to have to complete the entire game just to unlock a co-op mode.

God of War: Sons of Sparta is already quite a chunky game, requiring hours of your time to beat. Many players won’t have an interest in completing the game twice over just to be able to do a full playthrough with a friend.\

“A whole part of wanting to play co-op games like this is so you can share the experience with others,” reads a comment on Reddit. “Why would I want to play the game fully by myself then play it again with someone else? It's like me watching a TV show then just watching it entirely again with someone else who hasn't seen it. You'll both have 2 completely different experiences.”

Another added: “To add to this sentiment: beating something and then dragging someone new through it while you already know it all can actually seriously kill their interest in a game.”

Ouch.

Hopefully Santa Monica Studio hears players’ concerns and adds the ability to play co-op from the beginning in a future patch.