Cory Barlog

“I can't learn Swedish to save my life. I tried, but I'm not very good at it.”

“My wife is Swedish, so I'm familiar with the Scandinavian kind of odd humor. It's very dark and very deadpan.”

“If something evokes a strong emotional reaction in me, I need to push myself in that direction.”

“Strength comes in so many forms. Not just the physical strength, but to understand the emotional strength. To have emotional vulnerability, to show that's not a weakness.”

“Picking just one game above all is nearly impossible for me, but if I had to, it would be 'Metal Gear Solid.' I remember being completely blown away with the story, the mechanics and the overall presentation on my first playthrough.”

“The dynamics of storytelling are very important. To just be serious and morose all the time would be not very enjoyable.”

“God of War' was a 40-60 person team. It was a lot of very different, very passionate, very crazy people.”

“I'm trying to be better for my son. And regretting every moment that I'm not spending with him.”

“God of War' is traditionally known for these cinematic, pull back cameras, which I think are fantastic.”

“But that's a part of life; you're going through and nothing ever works out how you wanted. Nothing ever completed cleanly the way that you wanted. It is sloppy and messy, and when you think it's over, 'Oh great. We have a bit more to do.' There's always another bit of road ahead, even when you think you've gotten to the end.”

“Despite what many say or think, the PS2 is here to stay. I know that Microsoft dropped the Xbox like a bad habit but PS2 still has more staying power.”

“That feeling of being rewarded for your curiosity is huge. It's why I play games, this idea of truly existing in a world.”

“There's nothing new, even 'new' is inspired by something. We're all, either consciously or unconsciously, we're inspired.”

“I'm very - I love talking about games, I love talking about movies and TV shows and love what I do at work. But after work, I don't want to talk to anybody. I'm super private. I stay home.”

“I went to work with George Miller on game stuff, but to also learn every possible thing I could from somebody I admire so much.”

“I love movies.”

“A game director, in my mind, is somebody who makes everybody on the team miserable for the duration of the project.”

“The Resident Evil' series. Not only are they great games, but the creators' willingness to reinvent the game every so often is something I think positively affects our industry.”

“Play the way you want to play. I want to give as much power back over to the player as possible. That's where games are leaning: give me the tools, let me do what I want to do with it. Let me solve the problem the way I want to solve it - experience the combat the way I want to experience it.”

“I don't think I've ever worked on anything that wasn't way bigger than we expected. That's all the way back to working on fighting games at Paradox. Everything seems to balloon when more and more people get involved.”