It’s something that probably the majority of players have never noticed before. In God of War, the scale of Kratos’ axe is different when he’s holding it from when it’s on his back. Why? To make it more visually appealing, of course.
One of the God of War animators, Robert Morrison, shared that little tidbit on Twitter recently. In response, someone asked, “Is it only the axe? I actually wondered if something like that was happening with Mimir’s head throughout the game?” Morrison answered, “I think the blades may as well but I don’t know for sure as I didn’t animate them. I don’t recall any scale on Mimir. I believe the axe is 20% larger in hand. It’s been a while though.”
Morrison told one of the writers at GamesRadar that the reason for this type of trick is “usually to give the best visual presentation for any given camera view or scenario. Helps to 'frame the shot' if you will.” It’s not too surprising that making the axe larger would be more visually pleasing for the audience, though it’s interesting that most people wouldn’t have noticed without it being pointed out.
In other related news, it was just at the end of last months that a dev from God of War opened a new studio with devs from The Last of Us and Destiny. They received a $100 million investment for their new studio, That’s No Moon, and their first game is going to be third-person, action-adventure.