A new Hellblade II trailer says Ninja Theory are making their lives ‘difficult’ to create something special

Ninja Theory has released a new behind-the-scenes trailer for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

The video is presented by ‘chief creative ninja’ Tameem Antoniades, who explains how the team has been working extra hard to make something special.

“What we’re doing right now is building a good chunky slice of the game before we then move into full production to build out the rest,” he says.

“Hellblade was very special for us and we didn’t want to do a straight sequel, we wanted to do something extra special, and so we’re making our lives as difficult as possible in that pursuit.

“The game is set in ninth century Iceland, so we’ve been sending our art and audio teams out there doing photography, photogrammetry and combining it with satellite data to recreate large swathes of the landscape.

“On the character front, we’re building real costumes, scanning them in. We’re collaborating with Epic Games to bring you next generation digital characters. On the combat front, we wanted to be extra real and brutal and so Melina, our main actress, has been training for two years, and all of our animators have undergone combat training.”

Microsoft and Ninja Theory announced Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II for Series X back in December 2019.

The game was unveiled alongside the new Xbox Series X console at the 2019 Game Awards, with a debut trailer described as “captured in-engine” and reflective of the power of Xbox Series X.

Senua’s Saga is the sequel to 2017’s acclaimed Senua’s Sacrifice, the game which won five Baftas: Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, British Game, Game Beyond Entertainment and Best Performer.