Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II follows closely in the original’s footsteps, delivering an experience (albeit a stunning one) more than a game.
Cambridge-based game developer Ninja Theory has produced praiseworthy yet commercially unsuccessful games for most of its history, ever since the days of Kung Fu Chaos, a 3D fighting party game made exclusively for the original Xbox console.
The same was true for Heavenly Sword, an action/adventure developed for Sony as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a multiplatform release published by Bandai Namco, and DmC: Devil May Cry, which was also controversial among fans for the changes it made to the beloved CAPCOM series.
Ironically, Ninja Theory found its big break when it opted to self-publish a game for the first time. I’m talking, of course, about Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which the studio devised as a so-called ‚independent triple-A‘ game. The game only took three months to break even, and its stellar reviews attracted Microsoft to the UK studio at a time when they were looking to increase the size of Xbox Game Studios. For its part, Ninja Theory clearly understood that despite the success of Hellblade, financial trouble was just a failed project away. They, like other independent studios in a similar position (Obsidian, inXile, Double Fine Productions), chose the (alleged) security of having such a big parent company.
Following the acquisition, Ninja Theory released the multiplayer online action game Bleeding Edge. However, it wasn’t received well, and development was shut down less than a year after launch.
By then, the studio had already unveiled Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, the sequel to its most acclaimed game, at The Game Awards 2019. Between the first game and this announcement, Sony Santa Monica released the massively successful God of War reboot, also heavily rooted in Norse mythology and very much narrative-driven. Many Xbox fans initially hoped Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II would borrow some things from God of War, especially when it comes to size and scope.
However, having played and finished Ninja Theory’s first-ever sequel, I can tell you that despite the long development, the studio made the interesting choice of keeping the same short length. The game will last between six to seven hours, largely depending on how quick you are with solving the environmental puzzles that are dispersed throughout Senua’s journey.
