A God of War Ragnarok sidequest pays a touching tribute to a deceased developer

God of War Ragnarok features a side quest that is truly an incredibly moving tribute to Jake Snipes, a developer who worked on the game who passed away in 2020.

Across the Realms is said to be a sidequest, one that you can discover in your game, where you are tasked with finding four ingredients in all four realms. But as developer Sam Handrick shared, the sidequest was made in memory of Snipes, his partner and coworker.

“There is something about God of War Ragnarok that is most special to me. I was able to release it and the team achieved everything I could have hoped for,” Handrick wrote on Twitter. “I was hoping to wait a while to talk about it, but I want to share it now, just in case. It’s the ballad of Jari and Somr.”

Handrick went on to talk about their relationship, how they traveled the US together visiting theme parks, began sharing their baked goods with the Santa Monica Studio crew, and how the two wanted to “leave some symbol of us at Ragnarok.” within this game that had been the reason we met, our first game made together. He once suggested simply a heart, with our initials in Norse runes, carved into this world we created.”

Snipes sadly passed away in 2020 due to his epilepsy, leaving Handrick in an understandably heartbroken state. “But when I returned to Ragnarok, I wanted him to be everything he deserved. And I hoped I could leave something of him inside,” Handrick wrote. “When I got back to work I asked Eric [Williams] if we could include a memorial to Jake. He did so much more.”

“I told Eric and the team about Jake’s suggestion that we carve our initials into a heart. And he and the team came back with that and something even more special. A story of two men meeting in an often cruel world, and that they find a place to simply belong to each other.”

Handrick wanted this to be a story that “a lot of queer people know about”, with the game containing a rainbow campfire that “never stops burning”.