Ninja Theory is currently one of the most exciting studios working under Xbox, with plans for a hugely ambitious sequel to Hellblade. We've only seen small snippets of what's to come, but according to studio co-founder, Tameem Antoniades, Hellblade 2 will make the original ‘look like an indie game'.
Ironically, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was in fact an indie game and garnered a lot of praise for the quality of graphics and gameplay while on an independent budget. With Hellblade 2, however, Ninja Theory is looking to crank everything up to 11, with a bigger world, next-gen graphics and animations, and cinematic story telling.
In an interview with NME this week, Antoniades discussed the team's ambitions for Hellblade 2 a bit more, saying: “The goal with Hellblade 2 isn’t to perfect it, but to create an experience that feels more believable and more refined. Its ambition in terms of scale is bigger. I think Hellblade 2 will make Hellblade look like an indie game”.
“The idea is believability – making things look real or believable – and the best way to do that is to base everything on real things”. This is an area that the team paid close attention to, scouting over 40 locations across Iceland to create the world, while also making real costumes, which were then scanned in to the engine. Additionally, the actress for Senua, Melina Juergens, underwent combat training and motion capture sessions to enable more realistic combat animations in-game.
Currently, Hellblade 2 does not have a release date, but we did see a good chunk of gameplay in late 2021. It is expected that Hellblade 2 will be a marquee exclusive for Xbox Series X/S, PC and Game Pass in 2023.
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KitGuru Says: Hellblade 1 was already fantastic and based on what we've seen so far, Hellblade 2 is going to take things to the next level. Are many of you looking forward to Ninja Theory's Hellblade sequel?