With less than two weeks to go till launch, those who are eager to dive back into the world of Hellblade with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 don’t have to wait long. The sequel’s marketing has ramped up lately, and from what we can glean so far, it’s set to melt eyeballs and immerse players like never before.
According to a developer diary Ninja Theory released in 2023, the game’s performance capture advancements are massive compared to the first Hellblade game, all in the interest of delivering a true-to-life performance for players.
Hellblade 2‘s Production Quality Is Sky High
All the trailers for the game so far show the atmospheric world of Iceland that players will explore as protagonist Senua, while the dev diary offers a behind-the-scenes look at the elaborate methods used to bring Senua’s story to life.
The development team has significantly ramped up their performance capture operations. Gone are the days of a simple boardroom setup. Hellblade 2 utilizes a far bigger, full-fledged motion capture stage equipped with a multitude of cameras.
This expanded setup allows for capturing actors’ movements with an incredible degree of precision, which the studio claims is down to the millimeter, translating into far more nuanced and realistic character animations within the game.
The developer diary also shows the occasional complexities of capturing scenes with multiple characters. For instance, a scene depicting characters on a moving boat is brought to life not just through performance capture, but also through clever engineering where the team constructed a specialized platform that simulates the rocking motion of a boat on waves.
Ninja Theory Uses Bleeding Edge MetaHuman Facial Scans
Motion capture is just one part of the equation when it comes to animation. To make in-game characters even more believable, Ninja Theory collaborated with Epic Games to properly leverage the power of Unreal Engine 5 and MetaHuman technology.
This allows them to create stunningly realistic digital characters, with a particular focus on Senua’s facial expressions. One particular scene used in the 2023 Xbox Showcase is used as an example, where Senua is in a cave along with the resonant voices of the Furies, and her confidence is apparently eroded at this point in the game.
Accurately conveying her facial animations down to a tee for this moment signified how much more immersive a game can be if it gets those right. “We have an opportunity to connect with the player one on one,” remarked Lara Derham, principal production artist at Ninja Theory.
Few developers put as much care and effort as Ninja Theory have into Hellblade 2. The studio has been toiling away on the sequel for about 7 years, and it’s finally ready to unleash it. Players may just not be ready for the absolute immersion that comes along.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is set to release on 21 May 2024, across Xbox Series X/S and PC. Game Pass subscribers can play the game on day one at no additional cost.
