New Hellblade 2 developer diary showcases performance capture

Ninja Theory has released a new Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 developer diary.

Viewable below, it showcases the studio’s performance capture work for the upcoming Xbox Series X/S and PC sequel.

“With Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II we want to suspend your disbelief and immerse you in Senua’s world and story,” reads the description for the video.

“In this development diary we show you how we’re working to achieve this through our use of performance capture, and take you behind the scenes of our trailer from the Xbox Games Showcase.”

The latest Hellblade 2 trailer, which showed protagonist Senua exploring a cave, also confirmed a 2024 release widow for the game.

Ninja Theory and studio owner Microsoft announced Hellblade 2 at The Game Awards in December 2019.

“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,” Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades said in a behind the scenes video released in June 2021.

“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.”