God of War: Betrayal is the third installment in the God of War series, released for the J2ME in 2007. Chronologically, it's set in-between the events of God of War I and God of War II.
Taking place during Kratos's crusade of Greece, the new god of war finds himself in hot water when he's framed for the murder of Argos, a monstrous servant of Hera. The game's story explores Kratos further decent into carnage, as his quest to find the perpetrator causes him to do more heinous acts.
Betrayal is best known for being a 2D sidescroller, standing out from the rest of the games in the franchise. It's also infamous for its uncertain canon status, caused by some of the game's plot points getting abandoned in future entries of the series.
Betrayal contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Present. You can notice Kratos' tatoos switching from one side to another because of the mirroring.
- Bag of Spilling: Inverted. Kratos retains almost all of his arsenal from God of War I, only getting stripped off Poseidon's Rage and Zeus' Fury.
- Blood Knight: Betrayal follows the period of Kratos' life when continuous warmongering with his fellow soldiers was the only thing that brought him joy.
- Dual Wielding: Mirroring Kratos' own weapons, the assassin wields two blades.
- Extra Eyes: Argos has many extra eyes covering its back.
- Frame-Up: The mysterious assassin murders Argos during one of Kratos' confrontations with him, making the Olympus believe that it was the god of war who is the killer.
- Frontline General: Throughout most of the game, Kratos participates in combat together with the Spartan army, helping them advance further by slaying inhuman beasts and solving puzzles.
- Interquel: Chronologically, the game takes place between God of War I and God of War II, presumably after the events of God of War: Ghost of Sparta.
- Genre Shift: A franchise-wide example. While all other GoW games are 3D action adventures, Betrayal is a 2D sidescroller.
- In the Hood: The assassin wears a hood to hide his face.
- Schrödinger's Canon: According to
Word of God, Betrayal was supposed to be the first entry in a dedicated trilogy of mobile GoW games, the story of which would reveal the assassin to be Kratos' brother. Since the two other games never came to be, and the idea of Kratos having a brother was later used in Ghost of Sparta, the canon status of Betrayal remains a question. - Sequel Hook: One of the soldiers who saw the assassin remarks how he has the same tattoos as Kratos, hinting that he might be related to the god of war, and that we could learn more about him in the future.
- Shoot the Messenger: Ceryx' only job was to deliver Zeus' warning to the Ghost of Sparta. Naturally, since he stood in Kratos' way, Hermes' son ended up getting beat to death.
- Taken for Granite: Medusa's Gaze returns in this game, allowing Kratos to petrify a single enemy in a flash.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The identity of the assassin remained unknown due to the cancellation of other mobile sequels.