The story of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II returns us to 9th century Iceland, when our heroine continues on her journey of survival after accepting the loss of Dillion, the friend and lover who was able to see beyond her mental illness and encouraged to fight the darkness. In Hellblade Senua’s mission was internal, she blamed herself for Dillion’s death and the redemption she sought was personal. With Hellblade II the Viking continues to travel inside herself, but her objective looks more towards the outside world and others. “It’s not about her personal love or her circumstances, it’s about keeping other people from harm,” says Lara Derham, Hellblade II’s stage director and writer.
The Ninja Theory game has always had mental health as one of its great pillars and this has not changed. Players can expect a Senua that has evolved and added new ways of making decisions and processing emotions. This growth, which in other games is usually statistical and mechanical, is reflected in the Hellblade saga in the character of the protagonist, who now has a better understanding of herself. The voices in her head are still there, but like her they have evolved and react to Senua’s mental state. Everything is in line with the real clinical experiences of those who suffer from psychosis.
“What I find interesting is that now the voices comment on what other people are doing and that’s something we didn’t see in the first game,” Paul Fletcher, a professor who works as a mental health consultant in the Hellblade saga. “For Therefore, they can encourage you to distrust what another person says, which really captures the dual reality that people can face in the midst of psychosis. “We all have some kind of internal monologue when they talk to us, but it is totally secondary, does not discuss the meaning of the conversation nor is it audible. Despite her psychosis, Senua can now choose whether or not to respond at times and will even be able to be part of other people’s stories.
The Hellblade saga has sometimes been criticized for its combat system, so for the sequel Ninja Theory wanted to reinforce this aspect by betting even more on motion capture. In Hellblade II “almost all” movements have been performed by real actors and scanned to ensure a more realistic experience. The idea is that the combat is significant for the narrative, that there is a connection between the two. In no case is the game intended to become a hack and slash. Just the opposite, in Hellblade II each combat is intentional and all enemies have options to kill Senua.
This relationship between combat and narrative also carries over to other elements of the game, including exploration, puzzle solving, and conversations with other characters. Players of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II will find themselves with a game whose campaign lasts about 8 hours, which is just enough to develop its script from start to finish. “What we’re trying to do is tell a story and have the length of the game be appropriate for it,” says Dom Matthews, director of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
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