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[FelipeMGM]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fOwL0RiTF4

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

After the development of DMC, Ninja Theory began dreaming about a spiritual sequel to Heavenly Sword. Unfortunately, the barrier to entry for big-budget development is continually on the rise, and the studio began to wonder if it still wanted to compete in the cutthroat market of triple-A game development. Hellblade is Ninja Theory's response to the "Go big, or go home" mentality of traditional publishers. Over the past several years, the Hellblade team has remained lean and mean, constantly seeking shortcuts to traditional game-development problems in the hopes of delivering a game with a strong artistic vision that doesn't sacrifice on high production values.

 

[iavi]

In for this.

I've loved almost all of Ninja Theory's output save for heavenly sword.

 

[jmaine_ph]

Still hoping this game comes this year.

 

[Nestunt]

Still hoping this game comes this year.

Still hoping this game is good.

 

[whatever6352]

Loving that cover. Hopefully they announce a release date/window.

 

[Glix]

Still hoping this game is good.

I enjoyed Dexed for what it was. I'm hopeful.

 

[badcrumble]

It'll be interesting to see what they've learned from developing DmC. Without Hideaki Itsuno guiding their hand this time, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Inferno313]

Very, very intruiged by this game. Happy to see it resurface. Looking forward to this issue.

 

[TI82]

I always forget about this game, let's hope it is good !

 

[Zukkoyaki]

Ninja Theory is an extremely stellar developer. I'm ready for this game!

 

[Nirolak]

As a side note, did we ever figure out what the bulk of their staff actually does these days?

They don't seem to have a financial backer for this in particular, so I assume something is keeping them afloat.

 

[Pachimari]

I'm really looking forward to this game. It has really improved over the past months.

 

[HeisenbergWW62]

Nice cover. Pretty excited for the game

 

[jennetics]

Thought this was interesting. From Wikipedia:

Senuna was a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Britain, whose name was at first read incorrectly as Senua.

Had to look up the name because it just sounded like NT was being artsy with their naming for the sake of being artsy.

Also,

Over the past several years, the Hellblade team has remained lean and mean, constantly seeking shortcuts to traditional game-development problems in the hopes of delivering a game with a strong artistic vision that doesn't sacrifice on high production values.

I wonder what the heck that bit means.

 

[Kaako]

I'm glad NT exist and are making games like these. Hellblade looks fantastic tech wise and the real time capture performance they are doing will probably set the bar for the industry. Quite a unique and interesting premise for a game as well. Take those risks!

 

[kurahador]

Really hope this gamble pays off for them.

 

[NeoRaider]

Character doesn't even look like this in-game. This is edited to look even more like Senua's actress.
Hopefully we hear something about the release date.

 

[FelipeMGM]

As a side note, did we ever figure out what the bulk of their staff actually does these days?

They don't seem to have a financial backer for this in particular, so I assume something is keeping them afloat.

their last project after the Disney Infinity cancellation was a in house VR game called DEX, but I doubt that has been able to support them fully

 

[ashecitism]

I wonder what the heck that bit means.

Probably coming up with homebrew, cheaper solutions for cutting edge tech. For ex, performance capture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwEGJsLcCY

 

[NeoRaider]

Also:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[RoboPlato]

Very cool

Never expected this game to get a GI cover.

 

[strafer]

Consider me intrigued. I loved Heavenly Sword.

 

[Possumowner]

Also:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Damn nice cover

 

[Kaako]

Also:

http://i.imgur.com/V1dFvYg.jpg

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This cover is sex.

 

[Shredderi]

That's pretty good exposure for them no doubt.

 

[NeoRaider]

Damn nice cover

And better looking character.

 

[Phamit]

Isn't Hellblade an independent project by Ninja Theory?

I don't think there are a lot of indie project with a GI Cover, congrats NT

 

[Paganmoon]

Kai goes to hell to bring back Nariko. I don't care what the story is, but this is how I'll play the game.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

never heard of this till now.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Is Hellblade a tongue-in cheek to Heavenly Sword?

 

[5taquitos]

This had fallen off my radar, but I'm ready to be dazzled.

 

[Shredderi]

And better looking character.

 

[strafer]

More Norse is never wrong.

First God of War and now this.

 

[Endo Punk]

I wonder if this will finally break their curse of games that review well but under perform in sales. My only explanation why this happens with Nt despite having huge publisher's that backed them is that they do their own PR and most of the time it comes off obnoxious thus putting them in a bad light. It's always other devs are doing it wrong, here's how it's done; ND over animate, play Enslaved please. DMC is uncool, play our cool game please. Gamers always see through this.

 

[Mifec]

Kai goes to hell to bring back Nariko. I don't care what the story is, but this is how I'll play the game.

The story is that you're playing a mentally broken woman.

 

[Tambini]

Fingers crossed it's good

 

[Paganmoon]

The story is that you're playing a mentally broken woman.

I know, I've been following the development. (it'd still fit Kai perfectly though)

 

[Neonep]

I wonder if this will finally break their curse of games that review well but under perform in sales. My only explanation why this happens with Nt despite having huge publisher's that backed them is that they do their own PR and most of the time it comes off obnoxious thus putting them in a bad light. It's always other devs are doing it wrong, here's how it's done; ND over animate, play Enslaved please. DMC is uncool, play our cool game please. Gamers always see through this.

Did they really say that?

 

[Mcleon6494]

Thought this was interesting. From Wikipedia:

Had to look up the name because it just sounded like NT was being artsy with their naming for the sake of being artsy.

Also,


I wonder what the heck that bit means.

I think that bit means outsourcing and re-using assets

 

[Endo Punk]

Did they really say that?

Ugh I hate digging up old shit lol.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=N...w&espvd=1&gws_rd=cr&ei=OdHjWP-tAoGcgAaa-aPQCw

Of course after the backlash they started singing praises.


Really curious about this game, hope it does well for them.

 

[SprachBrooks]

The story is that you're playing a mentally broken woman.

Is that just plot wise, or does her mental health manifest itself in the game mechanics as well?

 

[BusterJol]

Kind of reminds me of a dusty ass Aloy.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

As a side note, did we ever figure out what the bulk of their staff actually does these days?

They don't seem to have a financial backer for this in particular, so I assume something is keeping them afloat.

Do they have a publisher?

 

[Gbraga]

Blue and orange. Chin down, eyes up.

They did it, they created a AAA title with an indie budget!

 

[xRaizen]

Is anyone else just extremely turned off by the visual style they chose for this game?

 

[Whompa02]

It's such a shame that seeing a game being worked on so hard is almost certainly going to bomb miserably.

Might even be a great game. I'm personally into it, but I just don't have much faith in it making any of its investment back.

Still, looks cool.

 

[Harlequin]

I wonder what the heck that bit means.

They've shown a lot of that in their various dev diaries on YouTube. For example, they've built their own improvised mo-cap studio inside their offices, worked with other companies to speed up the process from mo-cap data to finished cutscene, developed tools to help a small number of designers quickly build detailed levels, etc.

It's such a shame that seeing a game being worked on so hard is almost certainly going to bomb miserably.

Might even be a great game. I'm personally into it, but I just don't have much faith in it making any of its investment back.

Still, looks cool.

The great thing about their approach is that, with the budget being considerably lower than it would be for a AAA title, they probably don't need to sell all that many copies to break even.

 

[Kinyou]

Those artworks are beautiful. Only wonder what the price will be. Maybe also in between indie and AAA

 

[Stevey]

Hype rising

 

[Aikidoka]

Is that just plot wise, or does her mental health manifest itself in the game mechanics as well?

From what I recall of the dev diaries, the monsters aren't actually monsters and they were planning/wanting to do interesting things with perspective in an EchoChrome kind of way. They are sponsored by a mental health organization so they are at least serious about it.