How did Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice come about? Ninja Theory's most influential proposition

History of Ninja Theory

It takes place at the time when Ninja Theory had decided on its next title, a medium-sized story, but full of emotions and a solid and firm message about mental problems, after its journey in the development of a reboot not so well received from Devil May Cry, titled DMCwould present a game that would focus the studio’s efforts on technical aspects such as the graphics of the renewed game. Unreal Engine 4new motion capture techniques, photogrammetry and binaural audio technology, all taking advantage of the power of a recent generation in the market that was beginning to gain momentum.

Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice Design

Although it was already successful in solo adventures, Hellblade represented one of the studio’s last hopes, even if DMC obtained an acceptable number of sales, the terrible reception reserved for this opus by the fans did not ensure that the studio receives support from other publishers, in addition to the arrival of titles like Fate and the exponential growth of Call of Duty Over the past decade, the investment preference of major publishers has focused on online games and they have started to adopt the games-as-a-service model.

A risky bet, Ninja Theory therefore decided to try to publish its next game alone. For a small studio, it was necessary to have a new impactful proposal. In addition to being attractive, the studio sought to provide added value that would allow In connection with social change, this would pave the way for the development of a new story for the study of which only 20 people would be responsible for making one reality.

World design, mythology, and character background

The 20-person team within Ninja Theory, led by Tameem Antoniadessought to give a magical touch to this new project, without trying to imitate other studies, we chose a story set in Nordic culture, an aspect that would be advised by specialists of this culture and history, notably the historian Elizabeth Ashman Rowewho, with various research projects within the University of Cambridge, has guided developers to work faithfully and respectfully of this culture.

In search of a social mission, he was chosen to deal with mental problems and the way they were faced in the 11th century, in a hostile world, where psychosis was considered a curse. Although the game takes place in a mystical world, the cultural and historical aspects sought to represent a mixed reality where real-life issues of the time were highlighted. There was advice from Paul Fletcher

member of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, who sought to ensure professional work in responsible communication on such a delicate subject as mental health care and the consequences of its lack of attention.

With a team ready to provide work of this depth, they started with the design of the game based on aspects faithful to Nordic culture, among which the protagonist of the game would be a key element, given that the game wanted to convey to the players how she suffers a person with problems psychosisthe main character had to be right to have a unique immersive experience.

Thus, after several sketches inspired by ancient Nordic stories and the appearance of Picts (warrior city which served as inspiration), the drawing of a young woman was defined Celtic

belonging to a family of warriors who would reject her from the lineage due to her mental issues, seeing them as divine punishment.

How players received Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

After a development process of more than 3 years, the game received praise and recognition from its launch, from players who already knew the game and those who found it by chance and on recommendation, leaving a half a million copies in its first 3 years. month, curious fact, this title was exclusive to the launch on consoles PlayStation 4 and PC, with a version of Xbox One arriving a year later.