It’s been a long time coming, but we finally caught a glimpse of full-on gameplay for the eagerly-awaited Hellblade. Until now, we’d only seen gameplay through basic design animation tests during Ninja Theory’s dev diaries.
The story for Hellblade has taken a new turn. Senua’s trip into hell is actually a manifestation of her mental illness after the trauma of a Viking invasion. Sounds a bit Silent Hill to us. Psychosis is now a central theme of the game and the studio has been working with Psychiatrist and Professor of Health and Neuroscience at Cambridge University, Paul Fletcher, to develop these themes. Fletcher said: “True understanding of mental health is not simply about books, lectures or verbal descriptions but from deeper engagement on all levels. Working with Ninja Theory has shown me the potential that gaming has for sharing in a character’s experiences and engendering empathy in ways that go well beyond those offered by simple academic descriptions. Maybe this approach will contribute powerful new ways of challenging stigma.” Continue reading Hellblade E3 trailer finally shows some gameplay →
As fans of Heavenly Sword and dev team Ninja Theory, we can’t wait to get our hands on Hellblade. The studio is aiming for a AAA action title, but made by a smaller team with a tiny budget. It’s an ambitious project, and they have been very open with their approach since announcing the game and have shown us multiple dev diaries from incredibly early stages of the game.
Today’s diary shows how the team have been creating multiple small ‘vertical slice’ demo for playtesters and the press. With a refreshing display of honesty, they freely admit that the first few were not great and left playtesters frustrated. With the latest build set to be shown to members of the press before E3, they have their fingers crossed that they have improved.
There’s no set release date for Hellblade, and with such a small team, we’d be surprised if it happened this year. As with any game though, we’d rather wait until the game is ready than play a malnourished product. Enjoy the video below and be sure to head to their site to see past entries in the series. Continue reading Hellblade dev diary shows development challenges →
Hellblade was announced to be in development this week during Sony’s Gamescom presser. All we had to go on was a brief trailer (see bottom of article) with no signs of gameplay. But the short reveal was enough to get gamers thinking that the new Ninja Theory game was the long-awaited Heavenly Sword sequel. Join us for a deeper look at what we know so far and we’ll examine the connections between the two games.
Continue reading Hellblade (Preview) – The Heavenly Sword Connection Examined →
This adaptation of an old Chinese novel has been written by Alex ’28 Days Later’ Garland and Tameen Antoniades. Set 150 years into the future, many wars have taken place and the human race is almost nothing than a memory to the wastelands. People are outnumbered by the mechs; leftover robots from a forgotten war, still running the same programmes of kill anyone that they come across.
You play as the brutish Monkey who is forced to escort the slender young woman Trip back to her home after they escape from a slaver ship. He’s forced because she slipped a slave headband on him that forces him to obey her and comes with the other downside of killing him if her heart stops beating. Continue reading Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3 Review) →
Early PS3 owners will already know that developers Ninja Theory can make stunning looking games. Their last effort, Heavenly Sword, was a bit unlucky as it was released too early on in the PS3’s lifecycle to become a significant sucess. Despite the much healthier numbers of PS3s out there now, Ninja Theory have decided to play it safe with a multi-platform release. And who could blame them with a game this good looking?
Before we lucky handful of fans get three delicious hours with a complete build of the game (ahead of the world’s press, by the way), Namco Bandai’s Lee Kirton gives us a bit of background about the game. Continue reading Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Hands-on Preview) →
Gaming reviews, previews and features by Brendan Griffiths
The No Sleep Gamer 