God of War: Ghost of Sparta is a 2010 action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable; a remastered version, also developed by Ready at Dawn, was released for the PlayStation 3 as part of God of War: Origins Collection. It is part of the God of War series, and a successor to God of War: Chains of Olympus (2008).
Loosely based on Greek mythology, God of War: Ghost of Sparta takes place during the period of time between God of War (2005) and God of War II (2007); the game's story follows Kratos as he explores his past as a mortal man, and depicts his reunion with his long-lost brother Deimos and battle against Thanatos, the god of death. As with previous games in the series, Ghost of Sparta is an action game played from a fixed-camera perspective and utilizes a combo-based combat system. Outside of combat encounters, Kratos is challenged by puzzle and platform segments.
Ready at Dawn began development on Ghost of Sparta in 2008, following the release of Chains of Olympus, and work lasted for 23 months. The team aimed to push the PSP to its limits, including a greater amount of enemies and bosses; Ready at Dawn estimated that Ghost of Sparta contained approximately 25% more gameplay than its predecessor. For the story, the team wanted to explore both Kratos' background and the decade-long gap between the first two mainline installments. Ghost of Sparta was announced in May 2010.
God of War: Ghost of Sparta received positive reviews upon release. It received praise for its visuals, graphical advancements, combat and story, though its gameplay was criticized for lack of innovation in comparison to previous installments. It was followed by God of War: Ascension (2013), developed by Santa Monica Studio.