God of War: Ascension confirmed by Sony, it's a prequel

Sony officially announces God of War 4

Sony today confirmed rumors of a new God of War game and will release more details later this month.

The upcoming PS3 exclusive was announced on the official PlayStation Facebook page this morning. The game was also confirmed by its game director Todd Pappy of Sony Santa Monica Studios in a short blog post. Pappy adds that further information will be revealed on the official PlayStation.Blog and God of War: Ascension Facebook page on April 30.

Rumors that a new title in the series was to rear its head emerged from the social networking site last week, while further information was brought to light when NeoGaf users noted a teaser image for the game on the PlayStation homepage labelled "ps_gow-teaser".

The official announcement confirms the title to be God of War: Ascension, which was posted on in a recent Amazon listing for the game.

God of War: Ascension will follow Kratos' rise, in a prequel that discovers the origins of the Spartan warrior. The game will feature "the origins of Kratos as he takes his first steps on a now legendary quest for freedom and vengeance," according to the description on the official PlayStation YouTube channel

In the original God of War, Kratos is revealed to be a former captain in the Spartan army before allying with the god Ares, something this prequel will have to take into account.

Game director Todd Pappy is no stranger to the series, he worked as design director on God of War III. He now takes the game director role previously filled by David Jaffe, Cory Barlog and Stig Asmussen.

The game currently has a Spring 2013 release date pegged on its official PlayStation page, however we reached out to Sony and were told there are no confirmed details for the release date as of yet.