Kratos was redesigned days before debut

God of War's gruff hero, Kratos, is easily recognized by his red design, but the character's first look painted him a different color, according to a recent post from director David Jaffe.

Jaffe posted an image of Kratos's original design, featured above, and explained that the change was made after one team member noticed a striking similarity to another game.

"Literally days before we announced the first game to the press, this was Kratos," Jaffe wrote. "And then someone on the team ... showed us [a Barbarian from Diablo 2]."

"I had played Diablo 1 but never 2, and this was sure news to me," Jaffe wrote. "As it was clearly to many/all others on the team, as this was the first time we'd heard of the character, let alone the similarity."

Kratos was quickly given a makeover, spawning the blood red players know today.

The redesign isn't the only developer factoid posted on Jaffe's blog. Recently, Jaffe uploaded photos of cancelled game Heartland.