“That is the place my story started, and so it has to finish right here, as a result of I can not see additional than this.” These are the ultimate traces of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, delivered by Senua herself in a fourth-wall break that sees actress Melina Juergens flip her plaintive gaze to the digital camera. Developer Ninja Principle doesn’t share the sentiment. For half a decade, the studio has been onerous at work on the subsequent chapter – appropriately named Senua’s Saga – and I used to be invited to Ninja Principle HQ for a peek behind the scenes and a hands-on preview of Hellblade 2 within the closing weeks of its growth.
After I step into the reception space, I come head to head with a group of beaming BAFTA masks, in pleasure of place on the shelf reverse the entrance desk. Within the boardroom, the angelic countenance of two TGA statuettes wink from a cupboard on the far finish of the room. From accolades to canvas prints, Senua’s legacy has seeped into the material of the constructing itself. It’s no shock, then, that there’s a frisson of nerves operating beneath the studio-wide pleasure for Hellblade 2’s first hands-on preview. It additionally explains the meticulous schedule of the occasion itself, which aligns nearer to a studio tour than any conventional preview occasion.
The preview is cut up into two components outlined by their location: Reykjanestá and Freyslaug. A lot of Senua’s Sacrifice is spent suspended out of time and area, however Senua’s Saga is distinct on each counts. Studio head Dom Matthews describes it as a “love letter to Iceland,” delivered through an anamorphic cinema lens primed for photograph mode. Within the studio’s effort to completely seize Iceland’s topography, elevation information was rapidly deemed enough, prompting on-location visits to amass drone scans for photogrammetry. After I ask artwork director Dan Attwell why it had to be Iceland, the reply is straightforward: “It’s otherworldly. It’s like a geological theme park virtually, there’s a lot range in it.” Within the wake of such excessive geological distinction, the psychology of Iceland’s panorama is an in depth match for Senua’s personal.
The rocky shores of Reykjanestá are the stage for a brief sequence to ease me again into the Hellblade expertise after so a few years. “[Senua] spent the primary recreation being buffeted and overcome by her experiences, and she or he manages to reach at a spot of relative peace and acceptance,” Derham explains. “She’s in a spot now the place, as an alternative of it being such an inner journey, she’s capable of push out into the world and into the long run somewhat greater than she may have earlier than.” The boring roar of the Icelandic sea units a primordial tone that echoes the opening moments of Senua’s Sacrifice, a throughline that connects the pitch and keel of the binaural voices of the Furies, distant shouting, and the agonal choking of helpless victims dying round Senua. “It’s your fault,” the Furies hiss, and it’s the primary clear suggestion of the shift in the direction of that exteriority.
I additionally get a style of the Furies in motion in an audio demo that sees voice actors Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalan reprise their non-corporeal but omnipresent roles from Senua’s Saga, swooping round a binaural dummy head sporting a set of fluffy microphones connected to every ear. This dance is about to a unfastened script that’s topic to improvisation, bolstered by the physicality that Greenland and Goalan inject into their actions. With out the visible stimulus of Senua’s journey, it’s extra obvious that their accompaniment mirrors the strain and launch of musical cadence, as they shift seamlessly by means of frantic whispers, stuttered fricatives, and deep-throated despair. Composer David Garcia Diaz compares their efficiency to jazz, through which the pleased accidents that emerge by means of improvisation lend the Furies a “prismatic” high quality that mirrors the unpredictability of psychosis.
Again to Reykjanestá. I take within the crashing waves, the intricate element of a ship smashed to bits on the shoreline, then brace myself as a Northman stumbles out of the ocean mist. He advances on Senua, a tower of corded muscle that grows taller because the digital camera pulls in shut to fulfill him, and whereas my intuition is to step again, I as an alternative step ahead and parry his first swing effortlessly. This ease is partly because of Hellblade 2’s management scheme, which stays trustworthy to the light-weight mechanics of its predecessor. Mild and heavy assaults are punctuated by dodges and parries, however the influence of every blow has way more weight and precision this time round. I ultimately throw the Northman off-balance, exploit this opening to chop him down the place he stands through a brutal finisher, and Reykjanestá fades to black.
The second sequence finds Senua in Freyslaug – what I assume to be the Fosslaug sizzling spring in modern-day Iceland, albeit in Hellblade 2, a ruined settlement occupies the panorama. It’s additionally right here that we see Senua work together with different individuals, although the person in query is tied to a wood put up and he’s not very pleased about it. “What does it appear like and really feel like when somebody with a really sturdy distinctive world mannequin comes into contact with different individuals with their very own mannequin of the world?” Matthews asks, then factors to the notorious blue-and-black (or is it white-and-gold?) costume that was the topic of fierce on-line debate in 2015. “I went across the studio and requested, ‘What shade is it?’ When individuals have been unsuitable, and also you advised them that they have been unsuitable, they really bought offended, as a result of it challenged their mannequin of the world.”
On this case, the person denounces Senua as a “loopy witch”, and the Furies drown out any additional dialogue as Senua wrestles along with her rage and the rising impulse to kill him. Naturally, this was a deliberate alternative. “She’s having conversations internally with the Furies whereas additionally attempting to have a dialog with one other particular person,” Matthews explains. “For individuals who do expertise psychosis, it’s a every day battle to try to handle that.” Whereas I usually depend on subtitles for auditory processing, I discover the tumultuity of this second so placing that it’s sufficient to make me chorus from turning them on; in spite of everything, Senua doesn’t have subtitles to assist her navigate these moments.
After taking petty revenge in a not-so-harmless faucet on the person’s maimed leg, Senua turns her again on him and in the direction of what stays of Freyslaug. Whereas there’s an total linear path by means of the settlement itself, I’m additionally free to select by means of the desiccated stays of every residence, and the sound shifts to react to Senua processing what she sees. “The dense expertise of household and settlement life that you just get from the Sagas was one of many methods through which we approached how one can depict the settlements,” scriptwriter Lara Derham reveals. Within the case of Freyslaug, these remnants of household life serve to raise the horror of its destruction. The echo of screams aligns with the glistening entrails of human stays, whereas the frantic whispers of a mom attempting to hush her child accompany the sight of an empty cradle.
A mutilated physique strung up in ritualistic sacrifice on the head of a wood bridge brings Senua to a standstill, and as she struggles to course of what’s in entrance of her, a kaleidoscopic portal of whirling limbs, torsos, and faces blocks the trail ahead. Identical to its predecessor, Senua’s Saga employs pareidolia because the crux of its puzzles – a type of sample recognition that picks out connections in disparate shapes the place none exist. As I choose my means by means of the settlement, runes swim throughout the display screen, prompting me to discover a matching form someplace within the surroundings. These puzzles have been my least favourite a part of Senua’s Sacrifice; not solely am I exceedingly unhealthy at them, however I discover them pretty reductive as a illustration of psychosis. That mentioned, the sensory expertise of this puzzle solely surpasses those who seem in Senua’s Sacrifice, and the longer I spend looking for what I’m searching for, the additional I’m submerged into the near-hypnotic, cacophonic soundscape.
“Audio performs a large function,” VFX director Mark Slater says. “We frequently say that the Furies are type of our HUD in a means.” Nevertheless, there are many visible signposts – similar to gentle, geological formations, and sure, a smear of white paint – that additionally assist to subconsciously information me by means of each the puzzle-solving and common exploration of Freyslaug. Right here, too, pareidolia performs an element, as a human face materializes on a lump of rock barring one residence then fades away to disclose a brand new path. “We made it actually onerous for ourselves, proper?” Slater laughs. “We’ve gone tremendous life like, however we’ve additionally gone no HUD, no digital camera cuts.” Nevertheless, Attwell expresses belief in Hellblade’s older viewers: “It’s individuals who need one thing completely different, need one thing immersive, and need one thing that’s shorter however extra concerned and enriching. So there’s a stage of understanding that we’re anticipating from them as nicely.”
That belief seems well-founded as I find every rune with minimal fuss, and the grisly tableau on the bridge transforms into the haunting picture of Dillion on the website of Senua’s trauma: suspended, blood-eagled, in an internet of rope as sunshine blazes behind him. On this liminal mindscape, Senua is as soon as once more plagued by the guttural facsimile of her father’s voice, till the Furies ship a devastating realization: she can not run from her torment; she’s compelled to hold it along with her wherever she goes. It’s a poignant but devastating scene, and whereas the surreal picture of disembodied fingers slowly closing over Senua’s face is arresting, there’s no query that Juergens’ efficiency stays the driving drive. Even right here, within the depths of her trauma, there’s a glimmer of the love Senua has for Dillion, and it’s at this level that I attempted very onerous to not cry at a preview occasion.
As an alternative of consuming Senua, the darkness falls away into an idyllic illustration of her childhood dwelling, crystallized in her reminiscence in verdant inexperienced and banked by flowers. Inside, Senua retrieves the iron mirror she makes use of to gradual time and stun enemies. I brace myself for a redux of the dissociative episode in Senua’s Sacrifice, the place Senua gazes into the identical mirror and speaks with the distorted voice of her father as she teeters on the precipice of suicide. This time, anchored on this reminiscence of her mom, we simply see Senua’s reflection. Professor Paul Fletcher, who returns as Ninja Principle’s psychological well being advisor for Hellblade 2, remembers conversations with individuals who have lived expertise of psychosis on the character of restoration. “It’s not concerning the voices all of a sudden disappearing or the previous being blotted out,” Professor Fletcher explains. “It’s far more about reaching a brand new that means and goal for the long run.”
That goal turns into clear once I step again out of Senua’s mindscape, cross the bridge, and bump into the Northmen slaughtering the ultimate remnants of the settlement’s inhabitants. Among the many chaos, Senua spies a person tied to a put up, struggling to flee, and she or he resolves to rescue him. As I transfer by means of the Northman’s camp, throat-singing wends its means by means of that acquainted Hellblade soundscape because the Furies beg me to show again. The firelight casts lengthy shadows of villagers being butchered, leaving Senua’s creativeness to run wild and remodel the Northmen into legendary draugr. “What we’re depicting is the world that Senua sees, and we’re not likely within the goal actuality behind that as a result of it virtually doesn’t matter,” Derham asserts. “[Senua] is Pictish however the Norse imposed their very own type of mythology on her and it’s turn out to be a supply of horror to her.”
Basically, the Northmen are human – flesh, not fantasy – however their animal bone masks conceal that humanity for the participant as a lot as Senua herself. It’s clear that Ninja Principle understands that portray yet one more portrait of Senua’s psychosis for Hellblade 2 can be reductive and has as an alternative positioned it to focus on the inherent subjectivity of actuality past pathology. Professor Fletcher describes this as an “unshared actuality,” and whereas this doesn’t come at the price of Senua as a illustration for these with lived experiences, the collision of cultures as a problem to our understanding of the world is a common expertise that spans all of human historical past.
Because the Northmen descend upon Senua, I’m as intimidated as I’m curious how Ninja Principle expects me to beat this problem. It’s truthful to say that fight is the weakest side of Senua’s Sacrifice, so it’s no shock that Ninja Principle has gone to nice lengths to revise it for the sequel. Nevertheless, not like Senua’s Sacrifice, Hellblade 2’s fight consists solely of one-on-one battles the place enemies come to Senua slightly than the opposite means round. It might be simple for this to really feel like an infinite procession of enemies, however cautious staging positions every skirmish as its personal set piece slightly than conventional third-person fight.
Fight director Benoit Macon cites Sport of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards as a serious supply of inspiration – particularly, the close-quarters conflict of our bodies and metal after the 2 armies meet. As Senua, I dance beneath a draugr’s blade earlier than reducing him down the place he stands with brutal effectivity, however there’s no time to have a good time; as an alternative, a draugr’s hand shoots into body and yanks Senua again by the shoulder to provoke a brand new skirmish. My makes an attempt to dam and parry are additionally interrupted by freed prisoners taking the possibility to throw themselves into the fray alongside Senua – although they inevitably come to a swift and grotesque finish within the course of.
The rhythm of fight is a dance that rapidly descends into the visceral motion of Senua hacking wildly at her foes. It’s a strenuous exercise for these digital our bodies, a weight made doable because of Ninja Principle’s gentle and ethereal mocap stage, with ceilings excessive sufficient to swing each swords and folks. I’m afforded a glimpse of two Fortunate 13 Motion stunt coordinators going face to face on this area: one representing Senua, one other a Northman. Their lightning-quick tempo implies that no take is ever the identical, although the seize administrators are conscious of physique language, vocalization, and even breathwork. Hellblade 2’s cameraman dances round every efficiency with a handheld digital digital camera, nearly managing to maintain up as ‘Senua’ is lifted into the air and tossed onto a close-by crash mat. I’m advised there have been over 60 of those eight-hour mocap periods all through manufacturing; it’s a far cry from the 2 days spent within the repurposed boardroom filled with IKEA wardrobes for the event of Senua’s Sacrifice.
Given the wealth of cinematic expertise on the studio’s disposal, I ask Matthews why it stays necessary that Senua continues to be, in the end, a videogame. “In movie and literature, you’re a spectator, you’re watching another person’s expertise,” Matthews says. “We’re inviting gamers to step into the sneakers of Senua and expertise the world as she does. It simply wouldn’t be doable in linear media.” I liken it to the distinction between sympathy and empathy, and Matthews agrees. “I believe it’s an edge that video games have: that capacity to inhabit that world with that character in a means that movie can’t permit you to do.” That immediacy turns into palpable because the tide of this bloody battle begins to show in my favor. “Sure! Sure!” the Furies clamor, and there’s a shift away from the helplessness of Senua’s Sacrifice to the power and fury that belies a hero in an Icelandic Saga.
All advised, my hands-on time with Senua’s Saga may solely have lasted 45 minutes at most, however the sensory expertise lingered all through the remainder of the day. That is undoubtedly because of Ninja Principle’s unwavering dedication to realism throughout all parts of recreation growth. “I believe that realism for realism’s sake is type of pointless,” Matthews maintains. “Realism for the sake of immersing individuals and having the ability to take them on a journey is what we’re striving to do.” There’s no higher illustration of that immersion than the second I go away Freyslaug behind, sit again in my chair, and set free the breath I’d been holding for three-quarters of an hour.
All through all my conversations at Ninja Principle HQ, it’s clear that each artistic determination for Hellblade 2 – from costume to fight to environmental design – is filtered by means of a single query: “Is it in service to the narrative?” Except for just a few breadcrumbs scattered by means of dialogue and those self same conversations, the size of that narrative continues to be unknown, although this hands-on preview has left me with a transparent understanding of simply how far Ninja Principle is keen to go to comprehend it. As Senua says in these closing moments of Senua’s Sacrifice, this may now be our story to witness – in only a few extra weeks.