Ninja Theory reveals Hellblade 3, except it’s named Senua because it’s evolved into something else – a full action-adventure game
“It’s a bold new step.”
We’re getting a third Hellblade game except it’s not called Hellblade 3 because it’s a different thing to what’s come before. Senua, as it’s simply known, is a full-fat action-adventure, with more exploration, more puzzles, and deeper combat.
Senua was revealed in a trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, demonstrating a game that at first glance looks similar to previous Hellblade adventures. But on closer inspection it introduces a range of features like sneaking, multiple-enemy combat, and more.
“This is an out-and-out action-adventure game,” said Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews in an interview on Xbox Wire. “It’s a bold new step for Senua, as a character, into the action-adventure space. Really, what that means is taking the heart and soul of what Hellblade has meant – in terms of intimate storytelling, high production values and being a journey that’s full of intent – but being additive to that in a way that gives players more agency and a lot more gameplay.”
Senua now has more choices in combat, for example. You’ve got a “far broader and deeper combat set”, which includes Focus Abilities of some kind, and you can use more weapons – axes, dual-wielded weapons, thrown weapons. Boss battles are another big thing. “We’re really going to town on cool boss fights,” Matthews said. You can also sneak up on enemies to take them down or use the environment to help you out. Basically ,it’s all about having more options.
The world is bigger as well, doubling in size compared to Hellblade 2, and more effort has gone into encouraging exploration and having us linger and look around. Plus, there are more vertical levels to the world, so we’ll be climbing, vaulting, and jumping more. Matthews believes players are going to find “much freer and snappier traversal, with increased movement speed”.
“To be clear though,” he added, “this isn’t an open-world game. It is a linear story told through a map built of interconnected locations.” And that story, by the way, takes place after the events of Hellblade 1 and 2 and is set in Purgatory. Or rather Senua’s vision of it – a vision of her childhood homeland. She reckons if she heals the wounds of her life, she can find the key to the afterlife. And don’t worry: you won’t have to have played the other Hellblade games to understand what’s going on.
Caption
Attribution
Senua is due out at some point next year, on PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series S/X, and Game Pass – it’s an Xbox Play Anywhere title. It’s a relatively quick turnaround after Hellblade 2’s release in 2024, which we called “triumphant” in our five-star Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 review, “But we want to ship games,” Matthews said. “Players want to play games, so we want to get on with it. We have the pipelines, we have the technology, we have the team and we had a very clear vision as to what we wanted to build, and that gets you a long way to just get on and execute it.”
We’re getting a third Hellblade game except it’s not called Hellblade 3 because it’s a different thing to what’s come before. Senua, as it’s simply known, is a full-fat action-adventure, with more exploration, more puzzles, and deeper combat.
Senua was revealed in a trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, demonstrating a game that at first glance looks similar to previous Hellblade adventures. But on closer inspection it introduces a range of features like sneaking, multiple-enemy combat, and more.
“This is an out-and-out action-adventure game,” said Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews in an interview on Xbox Wire. “It’s a bold new step for Senua, as a character, into the action-adventure space. Really, what that means is taking the heart and soul of what Hellblade has meant – in terms of intimate storytelling, high production values and being a journey that’s full of intent – but being additive to that in a way that gives players more agency and a lot more gameplay.”
Senua now has more choices in combat, for example. You’ve got a “far broader and deeper combat set”, which includes Focus Abilities of some kind, and you can use more weapons – axes, dual-wielded weapons, thrown weapons. Boss battles are another big thing. “We’re really going to town on cool boss fights,” Matthews said. You can also sneak up on enemies to take them down or use the environment to help you out. Basically ,it’s all about having more options.
The world is bigger as well, doubling in size compared to Hellblade 2, and more effort has gone into encouraging exploration and having us linger and look around. Plus, there are more vertical levels to the world, so we’ll be climbing, vaulting, and jumping more. Matthews believes players are going to find “much freer and snappier traversal, with increased movement speed”.
“To be clear though,” he added, “this isn’t an open-world game. It is a linear story told through a map built of interconnected locations.” And that story, by the way, takes place after the events of Hellblade 1 and 2 and is set in Purgatory. Or rather Senua’s vision of it – a vision of her childhood homeland. She reckons if she heals the wounds of her life, she can find the key to the afterlife. And don’t worry: you won’t have to have played the other Hellblade games to understand what’s going on.
Caption
Attribution
Senua is due out at some point next year, on PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series S/X, and Game Pass – it’s an Xbox Play Anywhere title. It’s a relatively quick turnaround after Hellblade 2’s release in 2024, which we called “triumphant” in our five-star Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 review, “But we want to ship games,” Matthews said. “Players want to play games, so we want to get on with it. We have the pipelines, we have the technology, we have the team and we had a very clear vision as to what we wanted to build, and that gets you a long way to just get on and execute it.”
2 comments