During the recent Xbox Showcase event, the next Hellblade game by Ninja Theory titled “Senua” was revealed which is scheduled to be released in next year for the Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 5, and PC. Check out the official reveal trailer below:
“Announcing Senua, a new action-adventure set in the Hellblade universe. Senua, a Celtic warrior, is trapped between life and death in a fractured vision of purgatory. She must fight to reach the afterlife and reunite with those she loved and lost, battling forces that threaten everything she believes in,” the official game description reads.
In an interview with Xbox Wire, Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews shared insights on what’s their newest entry in the Hellblade series is all about, in a nutshell: “It is a different style of game. I think [Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice] and [Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II] had an intention that we delivered on–but this is a different intention. I think of it as being additive–we’re taking all of that goodness and adding the types of things that people expect from a premium action-adventure game.”
One of the complaints about the last Hellblade game is how it had leaned into it’s cinematic storytelling aspect more than it’s gameplay, which is kind of odd for most videogames. However, the dev confirmed that the latest entry will aim to balance out those two segments:
“[Senua is] not a combat-action game–people shouldn’t expect that this is like two-thirds combat. We’re really thinking about it as being a fairly even split between combat, traversal, and puzzle solving. The way I think about it is really about studio potential, looking at our expertise and allowing the team to go and do their best work in this game–and so much of that experience comes from the likes of DmC, Enslaved, and Heavenly Sword as well as the Hellblades.”
He also revealed some of the gameplay elements which will be featured in the upcoming title: “One of the things that you see in the trailer is her ability to shatter reality. She can do that to unlock spaces in the world, but you can also use it within combat–particularly when there’s multiple enemies in the same space–to really do some of that crowd control, buy some time, push some enemies back.”
