The Kingpin himself has stepped into the God of War Laufey controversy to defend his fellow actor friend Deborah Ann Woll. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio has, of course, starred alongside Woll in the Daredevil series, in which he plays the supervillain Wilson Fisk, while the actress plays Karen Page, Daredevil’s friend and lover.
When a gamer called for a boycott of the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive on the grounds that the developers purposely made her character, the titular Laufey/Faye, unattractive, D’Onofrio replied:
Not that you asked, but…
In no way do I agree with you.
Deborah is beautiful and extremely talented. She is as smart as a whip and a complete nerd.
Also incredibly kind.
How perfect she is!
And a good friend.
I am a fan of God of War. I, for one, cannot wait to play the new game with my son.
The gamer then made it clear they weren’t criticizing Deborah herself, but the God of War Laufey development team’s design choice:
That is not Deborah. THIS is Deborah.
Sony butchered her looks and gave her the most breastless, androgynous armor you can find just to spite heterosexual men and further their feminist agenda.
However, they chose a 10-year-old-plus picture of the real-life actress to make the comparison, as others quickly pointed out in the comments.
A Troubled Public Reveal
God of War Laufey has been weathering a series of controversies since its reveal at the June 2026 State of Play. Much of the early backlash focused on her being the new protagonist, with fans online complaining that it was a God of War game without the God of War. Domino’s Pizza’s official X account even piled on, likening it to a pepperoni pizza with no pepperoni, prompting Santa Monica Studio to quip in response: “ok thanks for the feedback, Domino’s Pizza corporate account.” Meanwhile, the studio stressed that Kratos remains the God of War with many more stories to tell, and clarified that Laufey isn’t a spin-off or prequel, as it runs parallel to the events of God of War 2018 and Ragnarök. A follow-up game starring Kratos and connecting directly to Laufey has also been confirmed.
Even series creator David Jaffe joined in during the reveal, comparing the footage to Forspoken and calling it uninspired and dull. More recently, The Last of Us co-creator Bruce Straley singled it out as an example of the boring game design trend in triple-A games, though he later apologized to the developers for his comment.
Phranque didn’t escape criticism either. The talking cosmic jelly cube, voiced by The Boys star Jack Quaid (who also played Eis in God of War: Sons of Sparta), was dismissed by some as too whimsical for the series, as was Rue, the talking ribbon attached to Faye’s sword. Game Director Ariel Lawrence pushed back on that, explaining that Phranque and Faye were the very first characters Head of Creative Cory Barlog established when laying the foundation for Laufey, and that the cube’s shape has enabled cool mechanics for combat, traversal, and puzzle-solving.
Faye’s in-game design was the other major sore point, with critics comparing her face to that of Deborah Ann Woll, who voices and performs the character, and calling the model a downgrade, just like the aforementioned gamer did in this recent exchange. Lawrence also pushed back on the sexist tone in much of the criticism, insisting that Faye and Kratos are very different characters but equally strong and capable. Woll herself, when asked about the misogynistic backlash, said she had expected to be far more affected by it, and admitted she hadn’t seen much of it. Instead, she focused on sharing that God of War Laufey had been planned since 2018 as part of Santa Monica Studio’s master plan for the saga.
A Familiar Pattern
None of this is stuff we haven’t heard before. Accusations that some developers are pushing a feminist agenda at the expense of male players have been a recurring feature of gaming culture since at least Gamergate in 2014.
In 2018, Battlefield V’s reveal trailer, featuring a female soldier with a prosthetic arm, spawned the #NotMyBattlefield hashtag, with EA’s then-chief creative officer Patrick Söderlund bluntly telling unhappy players they could either accept it or not buy the game. The Last of Us Part II was famously review-bombed on Metacritic when it released in 2020, with much of the vitriol aimed at Abby’s muscular physique, while her actress, Laura Bailey, received death threats. A year later, a close-up screenshot of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West sparked a wave of mockery over her supposedly unattractive appearance.
More recently, the protagonists of Star Wars Outlaws and Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet both drew complaints for not being attractive enough. These campaigns rarely achieve their stated goal, though. The Last of Us Part II sold four million copies in its first three days and went on to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
Whether God of War Laufey follows the same path remains to be seen. The game launches on February 16, 2027, exclusively on PlayStation 5, and pre-orders are now open at $69.99.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief.
In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech’s gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews.
Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications.
His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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