https://www.polygon.com/interviews/2018/4/27/17287292/god-of-war-ps4-sony-toxic-masculinity

The new God of War is the first entry in the core series to not feature a sex scene. Even though the minigames have composed a fraction of the series, they’ve encapsulated the approach with which previous God of War games portrayed women as objects and their antihero as the brooding, entitled meathead. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with sex, in or outside games. The issue in God of War was the gratuity and the presentation, which was, at best, tasteless, and at worst, contributing to the culture of toxic masculinity.

Likewise, it’s not particularly interesting that God of War’s creators cut sex from the new game, but that they try and largely succeed in scrapping gratuity. Kratos’ bad behavior now has meaning and purpose. It serves the plot rather than titillating the player. Yes, Kratos definitely has that grating air of “now that I have a child, I see the error of my former ways.” But the game’s creators make a genuine and applaudable effort to grow upon the series, rather than erasing its history.