Do I need to play the previous God of War titles to understand God of War (2018)? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

No, not really.

There are a few moments in the storyline that reference the original trilogy, such as the gods referring to him as the "Ghost of Sparta", and his final self-absolution of his past. But in all of the cut scenes, these references only take up about 10 or 15 minutes tops.

Some of these references would make more sense if you know that history, but it's not overly disruptive if you don't, the time of these cutscenes usually depicts their importance anyway.

However, if you really want to know the history, you can always find videos on YouTube explaining the history and lore of the game (like this one), without having to spend the time playing the games and trying to explore it all yourself.