Games are becoming closer to reality with every new AAA launch. Every time a big publisher announces a new title, fans can be sure of one thing: they will get a massive visual spectacle. The same is the case with the upcoming action-adventure puzzle game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. This title is looking miles better than its predecessor and on par with anything publishers like PlayStation launched previously.
Besides visuals, though, there are other aspects of a video game that can elevate the player’s experience. With the story at the center of these titles, sound becomes an important aspect. Music, voice acting, and sound design. Going by its previous installment, Hellblade 2 would surely do it as well as one can imagine. Its VFX director reveals how important these things are for the game.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 VFX director explains the importance of audio in a game!
Sound has started taking center stage in video games. This space was previously reserved for visuals a few years ago. It’s so prominent that 3D audio became one of the prime features of Sony’s PlayStation 5.
When one holds a dualsense controller, the sound from its little speaker and the haptics combine to give some effective response to the players. This is an incredible way of designing a video game to be much more immersive.
Games like Demon Souls, Returnal, and Ratchet and Clank prove this point pretty effortlessly. Before that, though, years before that, back in 2017, one game showcased how much sound can change a game. That game was Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
This award-winning game tells the story of a Celtic woman who travels to Viking hell to bring back her dead lover. The twist is that her journey is quite haunting; she travels through a dark path riddled with mysterious problems.
To make things worse, she suffers from psychosis. She hears voices; they talk to her; they mock her. The best part is that if players are using headphones or playing the game using a surround system, they can hear them in their own heads.
This is what fans are excited about; she would go on a more dangerous journey. How would her disease affect her then? What audio tricks do the developers have in store for their fans this time around? It seems they are taking the audio of this game pretty seriously, as this game’s VFX director, Mark Slater Tunstill, explains.
“Audio plays a massive role. We often say that the Furies are kind of our HUD in a way.”
For those unaware, furies are the voices in Senua’s head. They talk to her, they guide her, and they even assist her in combat as well as solving puzzles. As players keep listening to them, they learn more about the world they see.
If furies are seen in such high regard, it makes sense that they have made the audio design of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 their main priority. After all, they have to find a way to improve on what they did in the first game.
Besides that, there’s much more to Hellblade 2
While some might end up concluding that furies and a dark world to explore are all that this game has to offer, there’s much more. Developers have now given Furies some assistance. Previously, they used to guide the player, giving them hints and such. Now they get some help from Senua’s pareidolia. Now players would be able to see faces in rocks; this would again serve as a way to guide players.
It looks like Hellblade 2 is going to be a brilliant experience for all the gamers who decide to give it a go. It is looking good, and going by what the VFX director suggested, it would sound as good too.
