Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, developer Ninja Theory’s sequel to 2017’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, is officially less than a month from release. The upcoming title boasts incredibly lifelike graphics, a new Icelandic setting, a matured Senua, and most importantly, a hard-hitting story.
The studio has previously spoken about dialing up the immersion for the sequel, with the story being a key part of the process. However, the January 2024 Xbox Developer_Direct revealed that it’ll have an 8-hour runtime and cost $50. After 7 years in development, many expected a longer story, but Ninja Theory head Dom Matthews stands by the studio’s decision.
Ninja Theory Fans Want Smaller Games
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was a short single-player experience that left a big impression on players. In an interview with IGN, Matthews explained why Hellblade 2 is of a similar length as its predecessor:
I think what we always set out to do is to tell a story and for the game length to be appropriate for the story that we want to tell. So it’s not really a case of setting out to make shorter experiences. I think it is… There is a story that we want to tell here with a beginning, middle and end and what is the right shape and size of experience to tell that story? So that’s kind of where we start.
Matthews says that Ninja Theory’s target audience prefers these tighter experiences, and that digital distribution “has opened the industry up to games of all shapes and sizes.” A lot of people like games with well-contained, meaningful stories that don’t require hundreds of hours to be sunk into them, and Matthews admits to being “one of those people.“
Every Second Of Hellblade 2 Will Be “Meaningful”
Matthews also highlights that they want to respect the players’ time, and a shorter, punchier story was the best way to go about it:
I think there’s a lot of pressure on people’s time these days and I think our fans, from what we hear from them, they enjoy a shorter game where our intention is that every step of that journey is meaningful… There’s an audience of people that want games that are focused.
Hellblade 2 has been in the works for years, and there’s inevitably a subset of gamers who wanted a longer runtime to make the wait worthwhile. Thankfully, Ninja Theory realized this, and priced the game at $50 to reflect its smaller size, surprising many who were expecting a full-fat $70 price tag.
The fact that Hellblade 2 will only be available digitally is another sign Ninja Theory wants to make the game as accessible as possible, even offering it for free to Game Pass subscribers on launch day. This approach makes gauging success through traditional sales figures less straightforward, but it opens the door to a wider audience.
By choosing to focus on a more potent, concentrated story, Hellblade 2 forgoes the current trend of making 100-hour games full of bloat. We’ve needed more AAA titles that respect the players’ time, and Ninja Theory has stepped up to the challenge with one of the highest-quality experiences possible.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 releases on 21 May 2024 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
