Saturday, January 20th 2024

"Senua's Saga: Hellblade II" Launches May 21, Digital-Only Release

Hello, Dom here, Studio Head at Ninja Theory. As I write this, we are now in the final few months of development on Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, preparing for our launch Day One on Xbox Game Pass and across Xbox Series X|S, Windows and Steam on May 21. It was a pleasure to give you all a deeper insight into Senua's next journey, our studio and our talented team in Developer Direct.

Since the release of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Ninja Theory has transitioned from being an independent team to one that sits within Xbox Game Studios. Although this has seen change for Ninja Theory, particularly in terms of the support now available to us for striving towards our ambitions, what has not changed is our passion and commitment to our studio mission - to craft life-changing art with game changing tech.
This might sound like a lofty mission, but it is something we are proud to have achieved before in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice—a game built in a space we called "Independent AAA," where we worked with the creative spirit and freedom of independent development but strove for the types of high-end production values often only associated with AAA games. We also took advantage of the freedom that digital-only distribution offered us to create a game of the length that fit perfectly with our intended experience but could be sold at a lower price to reflect the shorter length of our story. This framework allowed us to focus on the things we really care about—taking our fans on an unforgettable journey into Senua's unique world.


In Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, our approach is the same. Although we are no longer an independent studio, our creative spirit has in fact been emboldened by our joining of Xbox Game Studios, and in this new chapter of Senua's life we have been able to push our production values way beyond what we were able to achieve previously. So, my message to players is that if you loved Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, or if you enjoy narrative-led experiences of cinematic immersion, we are building Senua's Saga: Hellblade II for you.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II will be a game crafted from the heart - a game similar in length to the first Hellblade, with a focused narrative, and sold digital-only at a price of $49.99 USD. And you can once again expect to join Senua in understanding her world through perception puzzles led by her experiences of psychosis, in brutal and visceral combat and in traversal gameplay, this time across the harsh but beautiful landscapes of 10th Century Iceland. Crucially, all these elements are intertwined in a unique visual and audio experience, where everything is in service of Senua's story. So, you can expect more of the same, but this time with the support to push our ambitions for immersion, fidelity and richness far further than before.
I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our fans across the world. Your well wishes and support is what drives us on. In Senua's Saga: Hellblade II we want to make it as easy as possible for you all to enjoy Senua's journey and so we have increased the breadth of our localization to 26 subtitled languages - including Arabic, Ukrainian and, of course, the language of the land of our journey: Icelandic!

Know that here at Ninja Theory, our partners and collaborators across music, mental health, art and technology are working hard to bring you, once again, a special experience. We look forward to you joining Senua's new journey on May 21.
Sources: Xbox News, SS:HB2 Steam Profile
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9 Comments on "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II" Launches May 21, Digital-Only Release

#1
Solaris17
Super Dainty Moderator
The original game was sick and some parts made me hella uncomfortable I loved it.
Posted on Reply
#2
Sithaer
Solaris17The original game was sick and some parts made me hella uncomfortable I loved it.
Loved the first game, at first I wasn't sure if its something that I would like but then I ended up finishing th game twice over the years and I might do it again before the launch of this. :laugh:
That late part of the game with the soundtrack still gives me goosebumps every time I play it, damn good stuff.

Luckily I have an active gamepass account till the end of 2024 so I can play this on day 1 for free.:) 'it was a xmas gift from a friend'
Posted on Reply
#3
Lionheart
Those black bars have me worried, I hope there's an option to get rid of them during gameplay.
Posted on Reply
#4
Prima.Vera
I really hope there is proper support for UltraWide resolution and those black bars are removed for 21:9 UW monitors, since the resolutions will fit the screen perfectly.
Also, please have proper AntiAliasing in the game, no TAA, FXAA, or other blurring garbage mode please. Something like TSSAA (8TX) would be perfect and ideal. Not sure why so few companies are implementing it.
Posted on Reply
#5
wolf
Better Than Native
Prima.VeraAlso, please have proper AntiAliasing in the game, no TAA, FXAA, or other blurring garbage mode please
It's a UE5 game iirc?, hoping for no TAA or likely upscaling is setting yourself up for disappointment I feel.

Really enjoyed the first, very keen to check this one out! I live in the other side of the coin, as long as this has DLSS 2 I'll be happy.
Posted on Reply
#6
Stephen.
The 1st game scared me senseless, I halted playing it then resumed a year later and finished it.

The game is epic, patiently waiting for this,..

I hope day one release will also include GOG,..
Posted on Reply
#7
Sithaer
wolfIt's a UE5 game iirc?, hoping for no TAA or likely upscaling is setting yourself up for disappointment I feel.

Really enjoyed the first, very keen to check this one out! I live in the other side of the coin, as long as this has DLSS 2 I'll be happy.
Yep its UE 5 so upscaling options are pretty much a given.
So far every UE 5 game that I've tried had upscalers and I've used DLSS every time else they murder my 3060 Ti and I'm not expecting any different from Hellblade 2.
Posted on Reply
#8
Shou Miko
I really enjoyed the first game Senua's Sacrifice I only played it once didn't feel a need to play it again.
Posted on Reply
#9
Prima.Vera
wolfIt's a UE5 game iirc?, hoping for no TAA or likely upscaling is setting yourself up for disappointment I feel.

Really enjoyed the first, very keen to check this one out! I live in the other side of the coin, as long as this has DLSS 2 I'll be happy.
TAA should be completelly phased out. Is THE WORST method ever developed. Yes, is that bad. I prefer SMAA, even if it has some shimmering, but at least the image is crystal sharp with ZERO performance hitt.
Not sure on why the developers are keep insisting with that garbage.
Funny how DLSS on very high (only), produce way better and sharper image than that TAA junk.
Posted on Reply
Dec 21st, 2024 22:43 EST change timezone

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