Developer Ninja Theory showed up and showed out during The Game Awards, dropping a new trailer for the atmospheric and brutal action-adventure game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and I’ve got chills running down my spine after watching that dark, gripping video.
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Hellblade II—the sequel to 2017’s absolutely fantastic action-adventure romp Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice—takes our Pict warrior Senua to Iceland. The latest trailer, unveiled at 2023’s The Game Awards, gives us a glimpse at the combat and cinematics. It’s bone-chilling, with ominous dialogue and sound that’s as eerie as it is impressive.
Based on the above trailer, this sequel looks a little less oppressive than its processor, but still just as disquieting. We see some fights between Senua and a couple of warriors, with the pulled-in camera and close-quarters combat giving a real sense of danger and urgency to fighting that reminds me of my visceral reaction when playing the original Hellblade. There are a few, small exploration portions, as Senua slinks through creepily claustrophobic passageways and trudges up gorgeously rendered mountainous terrains. And then you’ve got what could possibly be the cinematic cutscenes that are fretful and menacing, with our heroine monologuing about her will to fight, screaming in agony in one moment and gritting her teeth for battle in the next. Hellblade II looks intense as hell, and my body is ready. Is yours?
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After revealing the game at The Games Awards in 2019, Ninja Theory then served a dramatic and unnerving gameplay trailer at The Game Awards in 2021 that showed some of the characters, fights, and locations we’ll experience, before announcing the 2024 release window at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2023. This new trailer doesn’t specify a release date, simply reiterating that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II will land on Game Pass, PC via Steam, and Xbox Series X/S next year.
