God of War is an action-adventure video game series, the first era of which was loosely based on Greek mythology. Debuting in 2005, the series has become a flagship title for the PlayStation brand and the character Kratos is one of its most popular characters. The series consists of eight games across multiple platforms; the first seven make up the Greek era of the series. Five of the Greek era games have been re-released through three separate compilations for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) platform: God of War Collection (2009), God of War: Origins Collection (2011), and God of War Saga (2012). With the exception of God of War III in the God of War Saga, each collection features remastered ports of the games that were not originally released on the PS3. God of War III was later remastered as God of War III Remastered and released on PlayStation 4 (PS4) in July 2015. God of War: Betrayal, God of War: Ascension, and God of War (2018) are the only installments that have not been remastered for a newer platform or included in a collection.
Each collection was praised for how the games were remastered, as well as their price. IGN claimed that the God of War Collection was the “definitive way to play the game[s]”. God of War Collection prompted Sony to make a new line of remastered games for the PlayStation 3 (which expanded to the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 4). Although the Origins Collection was criticized for its lack of new bonus content, IGN said that “Sony succeeded at making good games better.” For the Saga, Digital Trends claimed it is “perhaps the best value buy for any console available.”