At the end of February, I finally had all the awards behind me, and it was time to start looking at the soundtracks that have already come out this year. I had collected quite a few already, and on top of that list was the soundtrack for the game God of War: Sons of Sparta. It is a 2D retro-style platformer that was announced and, to everyone’s surprise, released simultaneously. There was another surprise for me, because the music is composed by Bear McCreary, who also wrote the stunning scores for God of War and God of War: Ragnarok. After listening to this music, as my first soundtrack of 2026, I knew I had to write a review.
There are two reasons I want to write about this score, and both are evident in the first track, “Sons of Sparta.” The first reason is that this track contains the main theme from this score. It is no surprise that McCreary can come up with stunning melodies, and the one in this track is no different. The theme differs from the ones McCreary has created for the other God of War games, especially since the main character, Kratos, already has one. You can hear the God of War DNA in the main theme’s melody for this game, but this theme, which is more fast-paced and more playful than McCreary’s version of Kratos’s theme from God of War, sounds more like Atreus’s theme. The theme depicts Kratos as a teenager with his brother Deimos, and it is quite fitting because Kratos’s son is around the same age in Ragnarok as Kratos is in Sons of Sparta.
The second aspect I want to highlight in “Sons of Sparta” is the soundscape McCreary uses for this score. If you are familiar with McCreary’s style, you know he tends to go for bold-sounding orchestral scores, with fantastic theme integration and memorable melodies. The music for Sons of Sparta has that in spades, but doesn’t use the orchestra. Instead, according to McCreary on Social Media, you can hear a wide range of retro computer sounds he has collected over the years, and these two elements, a stunning main theme combined with those retro sounds, result in a fantastic start to this album. In the track, you can actually hear orchestral elements as well, but it sounds like, since this is not a big-budget game, no real orchestra was hired to record them.
The first track is not the only amazing piece on the album; they all are. I do have to say, though, that the best ones are in the first half. “For the Glory of Sparta” features a fantastic version of the theme on electric violin on a foundation of retro sounds as percussion. In many of the following tracks, you keep hearing alternate versions of the theme, with different combinations of retro and orchestral sounds, and a choir and solo instruments from time to time mixed in. Many of these tracks are perfect to set on full blast in your car while you’re driving somewhere, as I have been doing the past couple of days
The last couple of tracks I would like to mention, though I really recommend listening to the full album, are “Ode to Olympus” and “Passage of Monuments,” both wonderful choir pieces. They are quite the contrast to the majority of fast-paced tracks on the album, which you can hear in the game while the two brothers are traversing through the world, while defeating monsters.
I am quite happy that the music for Sons of Sparta is the first score from 2026 I have heard. I can say without a doubt that this is the best 2026 score I have listened to! I know this is a silly remark, since I have listened to only a handful of scores between then and me writing this review. Seriously, though, it will be a strong contender at the end of the year. The music is that good. Sony has also announced the remake of the first three God of War games, for which McCreary has written the trailer music. This will hopefully mean that McCreary will be involved in writing the scores for them, and I look forward to that.
Listen or buy
- Buy this soundtrack from Amazon or Apple Music
- Listen to this soundtrack on Spotify
Tracklist
The highlights are in bold.
- Sons of Sparta (3:14)
- For the Glory of Sparta (3:19)
- Eurotas River (4:04)
- Sparta (2:35)
- Mount Taygetos (4:35)
- Port of Messenia (4:53)
- Ode to Olympus (2:40)
- Laconian Woods (3:53)
- The Gallery (1:50)
- The Grand Cistern (3:50)
- Stone Hollows (2:35)
- The Enchanted Isles (2:26)
- The Sanctuary (2:55)
- Oenus Vineyard (3:31)
- Passage of Monuments (3:29)
- The Sunken Agora (3:41)
- The Veiled Bog (2:34)
- The Barren Steppe (2:49)
- The Splintered Peak (3:22)
- The Drifting Spire (2:10)
- Foundry of Invention (2:41)
- Vyros Gorge (1:09)
- The Pit of Agonies (3:26)
- Always United (2:00)
- Flute of Calliope (1:36)
- Brotherhood (3:19)
Total length: 1 hour and 18 minutes
Sony Classical (2026)
