‘I Feel Cheated and I Want a Refund’: Fans Lash Out at New PS5 God of War’s Unlockable Local Multiplayer Mode

God of War: Sons of Sparta is, ostensibly, a two-player local co-op game. But there’s a catch: you need to complete the story once in single player to unlock it.

While back in the PS1 and PS2 era this would have been considered a bonus feature to look forward to, some fans are absolutely furious at the feature being gated behind progress.

In response to Santa Monica Studio’s clarification, one irate fan took to X (or Twitter) to complain:

“By every metric, this game looks like a co-op side scroller. The way the description is written on the store, the ads for it, the ‘2 players’ [detail in the game info]. I thought I’d be able to experience the story with my partner through playing together. I feel cheated. PlayStation, I want my refund.”

And that one user is not alone: dozens are making similar declarations, demanding a refund.

The PS Store page does list the game for “1-2 players” and states the title has a “single player or two-player couch co-op mode”, so we can somewhat understand the confusion.

This does feel like a sign of the times, though: back in the day, unlocking additional features like this through gameplay was part of the fun. We remember running through Tekken’s arcade mode multiple times to earn all of the secret characters.

But these days, it’s expected that everything will be unlocked and available on day one, reducing the friction – but robbing the releases of some of their rewards.

While we imagine dev Mega Cat Studios was paying homage to retro classics with this unlockable extra, such is the severity of the feedback, we expect it to alter this promptly in a future patch.

But how do you feel about it all? Is tying the co-op mode to gameplay progression an insult? Or is this just a harmless extra that you have to earn, much like in the old days? Let us know in the comments section below.