Sony Santa Monica has left a truly heartwarming in-game tribute to a developer who passed away during the production of God of War Ragnarök.
Please note that while this tribute is not an integral part of the main story, it does relate to one of the game’s ‘Favour’ side quests. If you want to avoid spoilers, read no further.
As players make their way through the realms of God of War Ragnarök, they may notice love hearts adorning the environments. These hearts are connected to the side quest Across the Realms.
This quest tells the story of Jari and Somr, a couple who traveled the realms together and eventually found a place to call home. Players can find their camp – the Eternal Campfire – in Midgard, and from here start collecting the ingredients needed for the pair’s next dish (thanks, SirusGaming).
However, this in-game love story is actually connected to the Sony Santa Monica couple Sam Handrick and Jake Snipes.
The couple met when Snipes started working in Santa Monica in 2019. The two quickly became inseparable, traveling the US together and baking (a lot) for the studio.
But their relationship ended too soon. In 2020, Snipes very sadly passed away from his epilepsy, leaving Handrick heartbroken.
Handrick shared their story on Twitter, recalling how the pair would talk about how much we’d love to leave a symbol of ours in Ragnarok. together.
“[Snipes] once just suggested a heart, with our initials in Norse runes, carved into this world we made.
He continued, “I told Eric [Williams, Ragnarök’s director] and the team on Jake’s suggestion of our initials carved into a heart. And he and the team came back with that and something even more special.
“A story of two men who find each other in an often cruel world, and who find a place to simply belong together.
“I wanted this to be a story that a lot of queer people know: traveling through a world you don’t always understand to find a place that really feels like home.
“And sometimes that place is just a person. And something as simple as a recipe can be a link to that house.”
You can read Handrick’s full, incredibly beautiful thread below.
There is something about God of War Ragnarok that is most special to me. I got to pitch it and the team made everything I could have hoped for.
I had hoped to wait some time to talk about it, but want to share now, just in case.
It is the ballad of Jari and Somr. pic.twitter.com/S9itiutGbq
— Sam Handrick (@MDSVeritas) November 18, 2022
