We are only a day away from the release of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. The single-player action-adventure game from developer Ninja Theory and publisher Microsoft will be released on Tuesday, May 21, for the PC and the Xbox Series X|S consoles.
Today, Microsoft released the launch trailer for Hellblade II, as we see some brief glimpses of the game's main heroine, Senua, who once again has to fight both humans and monsters in a fantasy version of historical Iceland. The trailer also does a great job of showing off the Unreal Engine 5 graphical effects of the game.
Over the past several days, the official Microsoft Xbox Wire website has been posting a series of developers' diaries about Hellblade II. Among other things, the dev diaries cover how the combat in the game has been changed and improved compared to the original Hellblade title. It states:
You won’t be bashing and slashing through endless hordes in Hellblade II – every fight you’ll enter as Senua is calculated and intentional, every swing, punch and grapple is crafted to align you with her struggle, and her growth as she overcomes these hurdles. Every foe feels like the one that might finally finish you and Senua off, and walking away intact feels like a triumph every time.
Another developer diary entry reveals more information on how the game sounds with the use of binaural audio. Microsoft says:
For the uninitiated, binaural audio is a method of recording sound using two microphones, designed to create a 3D soundscape as you would hear it with your own ears. It’s not a new process – but its implementation across the Hellblade series is both unique and integral to its design.
This will be the first big Microsoft-published new game for Xbox and PC in 2024 and will be one of many first and third-party titles that the company will publish for the rest of the year.
4 Comments - Add comment