A new report has suggested that Ninja Theory, the first-party Xbox developer, is working on a third title in its Hellblade series after releasing the last title in the series back in 2024. These rumors also suggest that this new entry will buck the more cinematic approach that the second game went for, instead focusing on more interaction and gameplay for players.
Hellblade follows the journey of a Celtic warrior, Senua, who battles against her personal demons, some made manifest in the world around her, as well as other tribes of people that populate her world. The game has particularly drawn praise for the photo-realistic graphics present through the use of Unreal Engine 5, as well as MetaHuman for performance capture featured within, but the second title in particular saw criticism for its shift in focus on more cinematic combat and exploration, a shift from the first title.
This third title in the series is reported to be directly addressing this criticism by focusing on being more of a ‘game’. This, according to Window Central editor Jez Corden, while speaking on the Xbox Two podcast. During this same interview, it was also stated that Ninja Theory was no longer developing Project Mara, which was an experimental title that Microsoft announced back in 2020.
Corden stated:
From what I understand, the next game [from Ninja Theory] is Hellblade 3. And it’s going to be a bit more interactive than Hellblade 1 and 2.
I don’t know what the exact nature of Hellblade 3 is going to be like. If it’s even going to be Hellblade 3, but it does sound like it’s going to be in the Hellblade universe, and it does sound like they want to make it more of a ‘game’, y’know, and broaden the appeal to some degree
Project Mara was announced in 2020 by Ninja Theory as part of several projects the studio was developing, with the other two being Bleeding Edge and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, both released by the studio. Another project, known as The Insight Project, was also announced, described as an R&D project at Ninja Theory that is “an ambitious combination of technology, game design and clinical neuroscience.”
Corden went on to say:
You guys shouldn’t expect Project Mara to be a thing. Project Mara was just a concept; it’s not a game, and it’s not a game they’re currently working on. It might be something they work on eventually, but Project Mara is not a game that’s currently being worked on at Ninja Theory.
Originally released on Xbox in 2024 for the Xbox Series and PC, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II released last year for the PlayStation 5 as one of the many first-party Xbox Game Studios titles to go multiplatform.
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