There’s something incredibly magical about the latest God of War. Kratos’s world feels like a rich tapestry woven from various strands of ancient mythologies; a complex re-imagining of stories and history that has resulted in the creation of a mysterious Nordic world. This sort of depth can only be achieved through careful research and design, and Santa Monica has (rightly) received a great deal of attention for its clever use of mythology to write the game’s lore.
But the devil is in the details.
On the surface, God of War’s runes may seem merely decorative, but a closer inspection reveals the game features a working runic system all of its own. Written in ‘Elder Futhark’- the oldest form of the runic alphabets- they are scattered across the game and appear everywhere from Kratos’s axe to Atreus’s neck.
Source: Eurogamer Cracking the Norse code – how fans are deciphering God of War's runes