God of War II is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 console on March 13, 2007, it is the second installment in the God of War series , the sixth chronologically, and the sequel to 2005's God of War . The game is loosely based on Greek mythology and set in ancient Greece , with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos , the new God of War who killed the former, Ares . Kratos is betrayed by Zeus , the King of the Olympian Gods , who strips him of his godhood and kills him. Slowly dragged to the Underworld , he is saved by the Titan Gaia , who instructs him to find the Sisters of Fate , as they can allow him to travel back in time, avert his betrayal, and take revenge on Zeus. The gameplay is very similar to the previous installment, and focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player