It would be an instant contender for understatement of the year to say that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II fans have had it rough lately. The sequel to 2017’s independent AAA masterpiece was announced at The Game Awards 2019 as the very first Xbox Series S|X exclusive (though it is also coming to Windows PC). The latest Microsoft consoles have been out for over two years, though, and we still don’t know much more about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II than we did back in 2019.
In 2020, Ninja Theory only talked a bit about the Icelandic setting and the journey of ‘hundreds of miles’ protagonist Senua would have to face. Fast forward another year, and in June 2021, we learned that the game wasn’t even in full production yet. Ninja Theory boss Tameem Antoniades said the studio wanted to make something extra special for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which meant doing extensive research and even getting actress Melina Juergens to train for two years so that combat would be more real and brutal.
Later that year, Ninja Theory showcased the first in-engine trailer at The Game Awards 2021. That was essentially our last look at the game, though fans did get a hype boost in March 2022 when Principal Game Designer Juan Fernández de Simón said that the sequel quality would be ‘through the roof’ when compared to similar games and considering the size of Ninja Theory.
It’s about time the studio shared more concrete details, though, and the Christmas tweet rekindled the hopes of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II fans by announcing the official return of developer diaries in 2023. This could be interpreted as a sign of a chance of the game releasing towards the latter end of the coming year, though it’s just speculation at this point.
Meanwhile, if you still haven’t played Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, you really should. It’s a memorable game, especially since it was made by a very small team before Ninja Theory was acquired by Microsoft. The game has since received several updates, including ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS, and AMD FSR support, and there’s also a Virtual Reality edition available for those who really want the ultimate immersion.
