Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 had its first trailer drop in 2019, and progress reports were mere whispers until Ninja Theory released a trailer focused on gameplay toward the end of 2021. In fact, before the release of the gameplay trailer, in June 2021, the developers revealed Hellblade 2 had not yet entered full production, much to the befuddlement of franchise fans. Usually, when titles are announced, unless otherwise stated by the developers, gamers are used to getting the release within a relatively short window of time. Instead, Hellblade 2 seems to be stretching the limits as much as possible, just like Forspoken, another title that has endured incessant delays throughout its development.
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New Partnership Could Be Causing Hellblade 2’s Delay
A reason for this delay in production could be the new partnership between Microsoft and Ninja Theory. Where the first game, titled Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, was developed solely by Ninja Theory, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is a collaborative project for both developers, with Microsoft set to handle the publishing. Ninja Theory prided itself on its creative style of artistic freedom, and Microsoft is well-known for its structured approach to releases, so it’s not incomprehensible that this inflection point could cause some misunderstandings in the developmental process.
One would be forgiven for being skeptical about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 due to this unforeseen union. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice garnered a lot of positive reviews from fans and critics alike, and many expected the franchise to continue on its trajectory to build Hellblade into a household name. Combining efforts with a new publisher can add more than a few hurdles for the team along the path to develop the sequel, but early gameplay reveals are encouraging. Despite its strange position, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 still has the necessary ingredients to get the gaming community interested in its goods.
The franchise has an enthralling story to build upon from the foundations of Senua’s Sacrifice, where Senua went on a pilgrimage carrying her dead lover’s skull in an attempt to save his soul from the grip of Helheim and the goddess Hela, despite her journey eventually ending in disappointment. The game was so successful due to its mode of storytelling and unique method of portraying mental health conditions in the eighth century, and from the looks of things, Hellblade 2 is retaining those key components.
The content of Hellblade’s story is still largely shrouded in mystery, but the gameplay trailers have enough evidence to suggest there isn’t much radical change coming to the franchise’s storyline. The showcases will have soothed gamers’ fears, as there is often a paradigm shift in the direction of a franchise when a new partner gets involved. There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for fans of the Hellblade franchise, thankfully. Ninja Theory recently posted a cryptic Tweet that alluded to news updates resuming for Hellblade 2. Gamers can only hope Hellblade 2 releases soon, because while the anticipation for the sequel remains high, some fans do not have the patience to wait much longer for updates.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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