George Mawle, one of the designers who helped create the Leviathan’s Ax in God of War, passed away on September 2nd. The news is given to us by Santa Monica Studio itself, which invited fans to remember the man, father of the unique feeling that the Ax of Leviathan and the Blades of Chaos have been able to give us during the soft reboot of the epic of the Phantom of Sparta.
God of War: George Mawle, father of the Ax of the Leviathan, has died
It is undeniable that Leviathan’s Ax in God of War is a weapon capable of leaving its mark, both on the unfortunate enemies who take it in the face during the clashes, and on the player, who uses it, given the perfect feedback that his shots produce on the PS4 controller. With its powerful impacts and its iconic sounds this weapon has become somewhat of the symbol of God of War 2018.
This unique feeling that the weapon is capable of giving would not have been attainable without George Mawle, game designer who, among other things, took care of the in-game behavior of the Ax. The news regarding his passing arrived a few hours ago, thanks to a tweet by Mihir Sheth, lead combat designer from Santa Monica, who explained how Mawle was decisive during the work on the Ax of Leviathan and the evolution of the Blades of Chaos.
If you’ve ever enjoyed throwing & recalling the Leviathan Axe, or twirling the chains of the Blades of Chaos in GOW’18, please take a moment to recognize that it was possible in large part to the engineering and energy of George Mawle, who sadly passed away on September 2nd, 2021 https://t.co/JfoVkVJKH7
— Mihir Sheth (@youtheremehere) September 4, 2021
Before joining the Santa Monica team, George Mawle has worked as a programmer on several noteworthy games. From 2003 to 2010 he worked as technical director at Radical Entertainment, programming games such as Scarface: The World is Yours and Prototype 2.
But what George Mawle will always be remembered for are his contributions to 2018’s God of War, one of the best-reviewed action games of all time. The game director of Santa Monica, Cory Barlog he explained on Twitter yesterday how much Mawle gave for the project, saying: “Without curiosity and intellect (by George Mawle) those moments of pure satisfaction when calling the ax in God of War would never have existed.”