God of War: Ascension gets multiplayer

The God of War is making the jump to multiplayer. When the series prequel God of War: Ascension arrives on the PlayStation 3 next year, it will do so with a new multiplayer mode, Sony has confirmed.

While the publisher has not revealed the extent of the mode yet, it has detailed one game type. The Team Execution mode will feature two groups of four players battling for control of a specific part of the map. In one version of the game, the teams fight to activate a cog chained to a giant imprisoned Cyclops, with the winning team earning the right to kill the helpless monster.

The game's multiplayer mode will feature some persistent features as players develop their Troy or Spartan soldiers over time. Performance on the battlefield can yield blessings from the gods in the form of new perks, weapons, and abilities. There will also be a number of different combat roles for players depending on the god they associate themselves with, be it Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, or Ares.

Speculation about a multiplayer mode for God of War picked up last year when job listings at Sony Santa Monica called for people to join the God of War development team to create multiplayer services for the franchise. However, when Ascension was first announced earlier this month, Sony's official product page for the game specified that it was a single-player adventure with no online mode.

For more on God of War: Ascension multiplayer, check out GameSpot's first look at the mode.