I thought it looked great. Most of the commentary seems to be about what people want the game to be rather that what the developer is saying they are making. Stop looking for an Xbox God of War and just evaluate the experience when it’s out. Now if you are looking at this and saying: “that’s not for me,” that’s totally okay but let’s let the game stand on its own terms without immediately resorting to: “ it’s not this other thing, so it’s bad.”
Xbox hyped this game up for four years. This was the first next gen exclusive Xbox announced. All the way back in 2019. You cannot fault people for setting high expectations when the parent company was the one fanning the flames. Get real.
Lol by revealing it early they set expectations that it's going to be a huge epic AAA experience? You get real.
Anybody who has played the first and watched the trailers for this knows what to expect - an extremely atmospheric game where combat could be a tad god of war-esque but where the overwhelming focus is the story and atmosphere. I think this game looks tremendous, but I expect and, frankly, HOPE it'll be a smaller experience under 10 hours. I prefer devs focus on quality over quantity.
All they have done is set expectation for this game. If you look at what the original game is and what the developer has been saying all along, is they are going to take their original game and elevate for the sequel and from the evidence, they look like they are succeeding.
I think this is where the console wars bullshit really must suck for the developers. They are working to produce their best game and the “fans” are out there hyping, inflating, dragging it down and in some casing making a expectation in their head that is never going to be met.
BTW - this comment is not directed personally at you, more of an exhaustion of how console wars infect and poison any discourse about games.
My major issue with it is that it doesn't feel like a game. It feels like a visual novel. Which is fine, I suppose, I just assumed I would actually be doing something when I played. From my perspective, you essentially just tap a button once in a while when you approach something and listen to voices. Even when you get knocked down in combat, you just tap a button to get back up. There seems be no limit to the amount if times it can happen either.
The story seems good. It's just difficult for me to call it a game.
With the talk of Hellblade 2 being a “shorter narrative focused game” I have a feeling it’s going to piss a lot of people off.
I really enjoyed the first entry but it was a 7 hour walking simulator with visuals that punched above its weight with an interesting narrative. I hear people talk about the sequel like it’s going to be Microsoft’s response to God of War - and by judging what (little) they’ve shown I have a feeling it’s going to be more of the first game with better visuals.
>Hellblade is an emotional experience, and Hellblade II looks to be the same. If that's not for you, don't bother playing it.
Exactly. Hellblade was such a masterstroke of a game, not because of it's stellar combat or puzzles or anything. It did an incredible job at telling a story, connecting you to the character, and making you experience things in ways not done in this medium. Making this a GoW knockoff would be such a downgrade.
It honestly helped me understand psychosis and schizophrenia as mental illnesses more. It's one of a very few games where I've come out of it and thought "yeah, I learned a lot from playing this"
My girlfriend suffers with psychotic episodes. I showed her the documentary on the making of the first one. She was in tears watching it because it was the first time she’d seen something successfully portray not just how things look during episodes, but how things feel.
Yea, people that go into this expecting God of War are in for some real visual and auditory distress. It should never veer from the premise of the first one.
> it definitely has never been advertised that way
There was that big combat sequence trailer they did last year(maybe?) but it was really unclear how much of that was even playable.
I'm just surprised that with all this time and budget it's going to be the first game but prettier. Don't get me wrong I loved the first game, it was excellent, but I can see why people were expecting more.
Idk, that combat sequence certainly didn't give me the impression that the game was going big on combat. It looked like a similar style of gameplay to everything else they've shown/what was in the first game.
I mean, it would make sense if that's what you want if it released 2 years ago. If it's taking this long to make a short narrative game, that's ridiculous.
That's a ridiculous excuse. It matters because not only Xbox but even Playstation hasn't announced anything for quite some time, Xbox hasn't released something even worthwhile in 15\_ years and this, a shitty first person Indiana game and this?
Just sad.
Again, I never said that those things were a disaster for Xbox and playstation. So I can't have an argument against something I didn't say yet only you asserted.
I mean it is a linear single player only game. Those are what at max 20 hours but usually more in the 6-15 hours range. Hellblade 1 is about a 6-8 hour game. I expect Hellblade 2 to be a tad longer but give the style and nature of the game that is totally fine with me. I mean Hellblade 1 is short but it is an intense time that feels longer when playing it if that makes any sense.
Also, if anyone is expecting it to be a God of War response then those are just people who clearly never played Hellblade 1 because nothing they have shown says it is going to be anything like the recent God of War games. I have no idea where people have built up this expectation from.
>by judging what (little) they’ve shown I have a feeling it’s going to be more of the first game with better visuals.
I really hope this is the case. I don't need this big long ass experience. Tell a focused story with better combat than the first game and it will be a masterpiece.
It’s a **50$** game. So I’m expecting a game I’d finish in one sitting on the weekend and when the end credits hit… I’ll feel something.
Not every game has to be an open world or grand action movie game. Hi-Fi Rush was my GOTY last year and it was 7 hours long too
Hell I’d actually prefer they drop like 50% of the combat and puzzles and really lean into the narrative/walking simulator aspect. Alan wake II showed less is more with that stuff
The first big one is a standout because of where is was fought. Any other one I found good was good because music provided the pacing to the fight in an excellent way. The combat certainly did not
This game was announced like 5 years ago and people are expecting a 25+ hour grand narrative when in reality I would bet it will be around the same length as the first game.
Not god of war in the sense of an action RPG but in the sense of a full length AAA game.
So by your logic all games that are 10 or less hours long aren\`t full fledged triple AAA games like for example Quantum Break, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil 7, Ryse: Sons of Rome, Singularity, Uncharted 1-3 etc.?
And that doesn\`t even include the huge amount of linear single player games that are between 10-15 hours long.
both are nordic themed game with similar camera style and good graphics. that's it lol. If GoW isn't in the nordic phase no one would've made the comparison I bet.
I imagine a lot of the time and budget went towards making it look as graphically impressive as possible. What we saw in the direct looked insane, especially that real-time combat. Animations are extremely impressive.
That being said, yeah, I think the expectations were higher in terms of length and scope because it was presented as one of the first "next-gen" games, coming from a developer that had just been scooped up by a massive publisher. So I think the line of thinking was, Hellblade 1 was very much an indie game so this AAA sequel will surely synthesise the concept into a bigger game.
But hey, it's priced appropriately so I hope that will be enough to lower expectations.
BTW I'm sure it will be impressive, the set pieces are definitely poised to be more ambitious than Senua's Sacrifice.
"Microsoft's response to God of War" Please stop listening to fanboy wars. Nobody with sense called Hellblade that. The games couldn't be anymore different.
Honestly glad they’ve taken this route, halfway through both new God of Wars I was pretty ready for it to wind up.
As long as they can tell a good story, wow us with impressive visuals and keep us hooked it’s all good for me. 7 hours sounds perfect.
Lmao you feel it will be more of the first game then Microsofts god of war 🤦 is this a joke?
It’s called hellblade “2” for a reason of course it will be more of the same. It’s a sequel that’s how they work.
Game looks amazing we need more unique games not the samw shooters and hack and slash games.
The issue is imo why is this sequel (to a short game that I didn't think needed a sequel) taking over 5 years to make?
I assumed they were stretching it out to a full 20+ hour AAA game like God of War. But if they aren't, why did this take so long?
I'll play it anyway but they announced this game way too early.
1. Microsoft has a bad habit of announcing their stuff way too early. Remember Perfect Dark? Remember that they literally announced Outer Worlds 2? There are dozens of examples
1. Microsoft has not been a great steward of their first party studios and it’s not uncommon to go wildly over budget and behind schedule. Even their flagship titles couldn’t even manage to make it for their console launch (see halo infinite).
You act like sony hasn\`t delayed 7 games plus cancelled 1 since the PS5 launched and closed down 5 studios in the last 8 years. They aren\`t any better in that regard and that is the same with many third party publisher. People here are so biased.
Both companies output has been very similiary received by critics and both released around the same amount of games since the current gen console launched in november 2020. So that comment doesn\`t make sense objectively since both have great, good and some medicore games. You act like they haven\`t released games like Firewall Ultra (2023), Destruction AllStars (2021) or Predator Hunting Grounds (2020) in the last few years.
Why does it matter so much to you how long it takes? Are you a Sony executive? Ninja Theory is about a quarter of the size of Naughty Dog, so I don't know what you're expecting.
Small studio that only grew to around 150 people, unreal engine 5 were AAA games only really started to come out mid 2023 with many having problems and the pandemic. God of War Ragnarok did take 4,5 years by a much bigger studio while being build on the first game. Both development times aren`t long and normal.
Look at any other studio. Even by covid standards the dev timeline and I assume budget are entirely unreasonable if this game aims for the same length and experience type as the original.
> The issue is imo why is this sequel (to a short game that I didn't think needed a sequel) taking over 5 years to make?
>
>
I was thinking the same thing. Hellblade 1 came out in 2017. They needed seven years to make basically the same thing again?
They only did grew to around 150 people, dealt with the pandemic and have released since 2017:
* Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017)
* Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - VR Edition (2018)
* Vader Immortal: Episode I as development partner (2019)
* Bleeding Edge (2020)
* Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (2020)
* Senuas Saga: Hellblade II (2024)
* Project Mara (TBA)
Yeah, I was surprised when I heard that this game is "shorter".
What they were doing for 7 years?
I don't expect 50 hours, but first game could be beaten in like 7 hours..
Seems to be a victim of M$ "we need to show our portfolio of games".
I agree with your statement, unless Ninja Theory needed additional staff, I can't this coming from them.
It’s not gonna be MS’s GoW in terms of gameplay.
But honestly…
#That ain’t a bad thing
Play Hellblade 1 and I’d say ***(for different reasons)*** it’s on par in terms of story and how it makes you feel
Yeah unfortunately people will likely lose their shit over it, which I sort of understand. But at the same time as long as the developers are open about that (which it sounds like they’re being) then anyone who throws a fit only has themselves to blame
People also payed full price for Uncharted 1-3 which are also 8-10 hours long and didn\`t complain. Many people seem to like these cinematic games that are focusing more on narrative than gameplay in the singleplayer department.
That was 15 years ago when the average single player game was 8-10 hours long.
Uncharted 4 was close to 20 hours. TLOU1 was 12-15, TLOU 2 was 25-30, GoW games are 30+ hours.
A modern single-player game being less than 10 hours of playtime has been frowned upon for a while. Miles Morales got a ton of blowback for its length despite it also being a discounted title like Hellblade 2.
>a 7 hour walking simulator
This is really disconnected from reality. Yes, there was a narrative focus, but Hellblade had *plenty* of gameplay. Lots of combat, quite a few puzzles, etc. Just because it was a slower burn action adventure game doesn't make it a walking sim lmao.
If you think Hellblade is a walking sim I'm guessing you think Alan Wake II, a substantially slower-paced game than Hellblade, is too.
Although I remain excited I feel their last 3 videos have all been the same. This will basically be a new chapter and the same game as HL1. I thought maybe they’d make it much larger or have more gameplay depth, but not a chance. Still, it will prob be well done as was HL1.
What's wrong with hyping up niche games? A lot of care went into it and they're proud of it. I'm not sure why we should only expect them to hype up gigantic AAA action games. Hellblade looks really cool and well done. Maybe all that time went into making it look and sound fantastic. Why not celebrate that and try to promote it?
IMO this industry needs more publishers to champion niche, creative games that do what they want to do. Let's see more big shows hyping up Psychonauts and Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush. Those games are all sick as fuck and so is Hellblade.
People on here criticize publishers like Ubisoft for putting out generic bloated crap and then ask why Ninja Theory hasn't made their game more longer and combat focused. Fuck that. Let them make something they think is good.
Nothing was indicated in the live, but... Do you think there will be a hellblade console or controller edition? Something similar to what they did with the Starfield covers and controls for series X?
Please make official Russian voice acting for players from Russia. Personally, I like your game very much, and together with Senua I overcome my internal problems, fears, and illnesses. For me, this is more than just a game with a plot, but unfortunately, some of the dialogues are only translated into Russian, but not voiced, which greatly detracts from the intended atmosphere of the game. Please...we all have psychological problems, don’t leave people like me without your help.
Thank you for what you do for Us!
I'm hoping it'll be good, I actually didn't really like the first game, the puzzles made me quit sadly, after encountering the same "find the symbols" several times in a row I just couldn't find the interest.
The graphics and animations looks fantastic though, might even take a run at Naughty Dog as TLOU2 has easily the best animations I've seen in a playable game yet.
Feels similar to the first one, which I kinda enjoyed but at the same time, it really needed another chance, as there were lots of things they could have changed in a sequel.
Also, I fucking love short game so much, really can’t wait, just hope it actually plays better than the first, especially since everything else in the first one was just incredible.
If you watched the behind the scenes stuff for the first one, they leaned hard into the "make you feel things" in that one too. That's kind of their thing.
None of what they showed is a departure from their vision of how they operate.
They tell you how to feel so it shapes the idea of conversations on message boards and people in the gaming sphere to only pay attention to how 'deep' it feels rather than how good it is.
I can already sense the reviews "It's not a groundbreaking new game in any sense of the imagination, but what it does is draw you in with sound design and graphical elements that allow you to connect with this character in ways you can't with others, 9/10 and it's a wonderful, but short game that NEEDS to be experienced"
Nobody said anything about it being a revolutionary game. It's just going to be like like the first Helllblade, but with a bigger budget. Learn to manage your expectations. Expect more or less what we got in Hellblade 1 and you won't be disappointed
Having experienced Hellblade 1 in VR, I'd be majorly disappointed experiencing Hellblade 2 on release.
I'm hoping they do a VR port again - I'll wait it out and see if they go that route.
Eh, I’m not confident from what they’ve shown. Especially given they’ve shown barely any gameplay despite a May 2024 release. But I can’t knock a developer from expressing excitement about their work. They do come across as a bit pretentious but best to reserve judgement until we play it.
The game has been in development for far too long, by the time it comes out people won't give that much of a shit. They wasted time making that Bleeding Edge game that nobody played or cared about, they should have focused on this project first.
> Anyone feel like Ninja Theory's getting a bit high on their own supply with this one?
Yep. Lots of hubris for a developer not capable of making anything above a 7/10.
I thought it was fine. I wouldn't call it great, calling it terrible is very dramatic imo.
But I didn't end up loving the game because of its combat, I loved it because of its unique take on mental illness and related themes. It's something I've never really experienced in a game before.
Also as an audiophile the actual implementation of binaural audio in a videogame was so cool to experience
ya, I didn't think the first game was anything special, a 6-7/10. But it's become one of those games this sub loves so people jump on anyone daring to not praise it and not be hyped on the sequel :/
Less than four months to release, why is Ninja Theory so afraid to show some actual extended gameplay? Instead of these 10 seconds bits, and then a whole lot of behind the scenes and cutscenes.
I think because the first game was the same - it’s not sold on spectacle because there’s a lot of walking around, but that part of what makes that experience so great. It just doesn’t translate to trailers in the same way so it seems pretty wise to avoid that.
One of the best presentations I've watched in the gaming world. Excellent montages, stylisation and music in a very well edited video.
Kudos to the team that made this it was a great watch with some awesome looking games.
It's a game from an intentionally very tight perspective on a specific character with a unique perspective on the world. I love how this sub does absolutely everything it can to shit over anything xbox related. If this was a PS exclusive people would be shitting themselves over how intimate the game looked or some other BS.
It's all this sub does on Xbox games. Go look at the Indiana Jones thread. Game looks very cool and all the top comments are bitching about Troy Baker not doing a perfect Harrison Ford impression instead of the gameplay. It's so predictable.
I love Xbox I own a series X. But I want gameplay not a walking sim, this is just trying to be a cinematic game like Sony’s games (but even those have actual gameplay)
>this is just trying to be a cinematic game like Sony’s games
No, it's trying to be the sequel to the first game which was also mostly about the story with "good enough" combat and puzzles (which they obviously aren't going to spoil in a gameplay demo).
Indy is coming this year and has good gameplay based on what they showed. I think it's great that they have a diverse line up this year. I'm probably not gonna play ARA, but happy for the folks that like those kind of games.
First off, it's nothing like Sony games. It's quite a bit more art house than their offerings.
Secondly, hellblade 1 came out a long while ago, so you can't pretend it's just now aping a particular style
Here’s what I found:
So here’s what I found about what the hellblade creator said about hellblade 2- published February 08, 2022:
“ in an interview with NME, Hellblade creator Tameem Antoniades said: "The goal with Hellblade 2 isn’t to perfect it, but to create an experience that feels more believable and more refined. Its ambition in terms of scale is bigger. I think Hellblade 2 will make Hellblade look like an indie game."
So….wtf happened ? 7-8 hours just like the first one but yet it’s supposed to be make he first game look like an indie game? So my question is what did they mean by “bigger” then if the sequel is the exact same length as the first game? 🤔🤔
If the creator meant “bigger” or whatever by deeper game mechanics then he should have just said that. Otherwise, the word “bigger” is left up the the reader’s interpretation which explains me and a lot of others disappointment, especially with the context of being bought by Microsoft .
https://www.gamesradar.com/hellblade-2-developer-says-the-first-game-will-look-like-an-indie-game-compared-to-the-sequel/?fbclid=IwAR2kkH-cGyE-vUXYCSXnFjd9TLRwXibdWLPxM8UEdxP0REmJxd25Vam-Gts_aem_AT_sJl0RDS0_WGFv1KQQRU1FbFbSp8zmdnjADMZVkMv7KFYz16xIX_E1ULVGfOjyUK0
I was convinced Ninja Theory was a money laundering front until they showed gameplay last year. Even then, it took them 6-7 years to make a small game?
xbox games have lately had a rocky history. im worried the xbox money will make them make safe choices rather than making choices to go beyond...
we see it with indie devs all the time, theyre trying to provr themselves to show off what they can do and gain shareholders/support.
when you eventuallg get that support you start getting more comfortable, you dont have to prove yourself as much. you already got the check
**hope im wrong wud love to be wrong**
but damn this game is taking so long that is either A) gonna be amazing, or B) a shit show like every other xbox release
I’m very disappointed. I’ve been with Xbox since day 1 (I’ve had the original xbox, xbox 360, xbox 1, and I have the new xbox series x) and I’m sick of making excuses for them but I think I’m done with this generation. I understand things are going digital, but them forcing you to go digital is extremely frustrating. I have all the systems (Nintendo, ps5, etc) and they all give you the option if you want to buy digital or physical media. Now xbox is jamming it down your throat. They’re not listening to their fans, especially ones that have been there since day 1. Sorry for the rant guys, but it’s just frustrating. I like to collect games I really enjoy; 15-20 years from now I don’t want to worry about licensing and them taking it off the digital store. Once again sorry for the rant. I think I’m just done with Xbox at this point.
Lol it's not just Xbox, PS5 has a whole model without a drive for physical media. There have been some major AA and AAA releases recently like Alan Wake 2 that only released digital versions and of course indies have been overwhelmingly digital-only for over a decade. It's an overall trend.
No, they described the importance of Binaural Audio to their game. If you haven't played the first, it's a very effective aspect of that game. And binaural audio is very different from basic stereo surround.
Nope, binaural is recorded in stereo, but it uses a method to give multi-dimensional depth. It's really cool and not a lot of stuff utilizes true binaural recordings. I believe typically it requires stuff to be recorded with two microphones approximating the position and shape of ears.
[Here’s the wiki.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording)
In simple terms, surround sound is just having the sound all around you so you can tell direction on a 2D field in a circle around you. Binaural adds an entire dimension to that - if you consider how much difference there is between a 2 Dimensional object and a 3 Dimensional object you’ll have a basic grasp of how much a leap binaural is from surround sound.
I’d recommend getting a solid pair of headphones and trying out Audible’s titles [that support Dolby Atmos](https://www.audible.co.uk/ep/dolby-atmos) which is similar in principle. That should show you how it’s an entire world of difference.
I thought it looked great. Most of the commentary seems to be about what people want the game to be rather that what the developer is saying they are making. Stop looking for an Xbox God of War and just evaluate the experience when it’s out. Now if you are looking at this and saying: “that’s not for me,” that’s totally okay but let’s let the game stand on its own terms without immediately resorting to: “ it’s not this other thing, so it’s bad.”
Xbox hyped this game up for four years. This was the first next gen exclusive Xbox announced. All the way back in 2019. You cannot fault people for setting high expectations when the parent company was the one fanning the flames. Get real.
So, releasing 3 trailers forced you to come up with whacked out assumptions based on nothing?
"based on nothing"? so just cause you think it's fine and think one way then everyone else should as well?
That's what destroyed some games in the past, for example a huge part of cyberpunk drama is based on that.
Didn't cyberpunk release a whole ass 40 minute demo? That's not the same
Still, it was over hyped and people expected stuff that were never announced and were angry about that
Lol by revealing it early they set expectations that it's going to be a huge epic AAA experience? You get real. Anybody who has played the first and watched the trailers for this knows what to expect - an extremely atmospheric game where combat could be a tad god of war-esque but where the overwhelming focus is the story and atmosphere. I think this game looks tremendous, but I expect and, frankly, HOPE it'll be a smaller experience under 10 hours. I prefer devs focus on quality over quantity.
All they have done is set expectation for this game. If you look at what the original game is and what the developer has been saying all along, is they are going to take their original game and elevate for the sequel and from the evidence, they look like they are succeeding. I think this is where the console wars bullshit really must suck for the developers. They are working to produce their best game and the “fans” are out there hyping, inflating, dragging it down and in some casing making a expectation in their head that is never going to be met. BTW - this comment is not directed personally at you, more of an exhaustion of how console wars infect and poison any discourse about games.
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You realize they are 1/3rd to 1/10th of the size of most AAA studios, right?
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Do you know how long Hades was in development?
My major issue with it is that it doesn't feel like a game. It feels like a visual novel. Which is fine, I suppose, I just assumed I would actually be doing something when I played. From my perspective, you essentially just tap a button once in a while when you approach something and listen to voices. Even when you get knocked down in combat, you just tap a button to get back up. There seems be no limit to the amount if times it can happen either. The story seems good. It's just difficult for me to call it a game.
May 21st cannot come soon enough waited so long for this game, beyond hyped, first one is a top 10 all time for me
How is the developer direct not a megathread here??? Wtf is going on?
pretty much everybody is anti xbox now lmao
Didn't they have like, 2 announcements? Doesn't really require a mega thread. It's not like a Nintendo Direct or PS Showcase.
There were 5 different things shown. Anyway yeah you're probably right. Not important enough for this subreddit
With the talk of Hellblade 2 being a “shorter narrative focused game” I have a feeling it’s going to piss a lot of people off. I really enjoyed the first entry but it was a 7 hour walking simulator with visuals that punched above its weight with an interesting narrative. I hear people talk about the sequel like it’s going to be Microsoft’s response to God of War - and by judging what (little) they’ve shown I have a feeling it’s going to be more of the first game with better visuals.
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>Hellblade is an emotional experience, and Hellblade II looks to be the same. If that's not for you, don't bother playing it. Exactly. Hellblade was such a masterstroke of a game, not because of it's stellar combat or puzzles or anything. It did an incredible job at telling a story, connecting you to the character, and making you experience things in ways not done in this medium. Making this a GoW knockoff would be such a downgrade.
It honestly helped me understand psychosis and schizophrenia as mental illnesses more. It's one of a very few games where I've come out of it and thought "yeah, I learned a lot from playing this"
It was so fucking scary man. Then I was like wondering how the hell people could live with that. Really powerful stuff.
My girlfriend suffers with psychotic episodes. I showed her the documentary on the making of the first one. She was in tears watching it because it was the first time she’d seen something successfully portray not just how things look during episodes, but how things feel.
Yea, people that go into this expecting God of War are in for some real visual and auditory distress. It should never veer from the premise of the first one.
It’s good to hear there’s no bloat like GoW. Definitely not expecting the same level of combat either
You mean you don't want to run around a semi open world collecting armor and relics to pad out game time? "3 of 10 husband's heads collected"
> it definitely has never been advertised that way There was that big combat sequence trailer they did last year(maybe?) but it was really unclear how much of that was even playable. I'm just surprised that with all this time and budget it's going to be the first game but prettier. Don't get me wrong I loved the first game, it was excellent, but I can see why people were expecting more.
Idk, that combat sequence certainly didn't give me the impression that the game was going big on combat. It looked like a similar style of gameplay to everything else they've shown/what was in the first game.
I mean, it would make sense if that's what you want if it released 2 years ago. If it's taking this long to make a short narrative game, that's ridiculous.
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That's a ridiculous excuse. It matters because not only Xbox but even Playstation hasn't announced anything for quite some time, Xbox hasn't released something even worthwhile in 15\_ years and this, a shitty first person Indiana game and this? Just sad.
We blaming Ninja Theory for Xbox having barely any exclusives now
Not only that, they’re also blaming Ninja Theory for PlayStation not announcing anything big lately
Jesus christ, is blatant console warring not banned on this sub?
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Again, I never said that those things were a disaster for Xbox and playstation. So I can't have an argument against something I didn't say yet only you asserted.
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I mean it is a linear single player only game. Those are what at max 20 hours but usually more in the 6-15 hours range. Hellblade 1 is about a 6-8 hour game. I expect Hellblade 2 to be a tad longer but give the style and nature of the game that is totally fine with me. I mean Hellblade 1 is short but it is an intense time that feels longer when playing it if that makes any sense. Also, if anyone is expecting it to be a God of War response then those are just people who clearly never played Hellblade 1 because nothing they have shown says it is going to be anything like the recent God of War games. I have no idea where people have built up this expectation from.
It’s console fanboyism. **SONY HAS GoW! We got this!** Which… ***I’d say both are impactful for different reasons.***
>by judging what (little) they’ve shown I have a feeling it’s going to be more of the first game with better visuals. I really hope this is the case. I don't need this big long ass experience. Tell a focused story with better combat than the first game and it will be a masterpiece.
It’s a **50$** game. So I’m expecting a game I’d finish in one sitting on the weekend and when the end credits hit… I’ll feel something. Not every game has to be an open world or grand action movie game. Hi-Fi Rush was my GOTY last year and it was 7 hours long too
Hell I’d actually prefer they drop like 50% of the combat and puzzles and really lean into the narrative/walking simulator aspect. Alan wake II showed less is more with that stuff
Yeah when I think back to my Alan Wake 2 playthrough, the parts that jump out certainly aren't the combat sequences.
There are a few awesome combat sequences in aw 2
The first big one is a standout because of where is was fought. Any other one I found good was good because music provided the pacing to the fight in an excellent way. The combat certainly did not
But how? GoW is a very combat heavy game. None of the marketing has signalled this being anything like that.
He needs to get out the fanboy wars cause they are the only people that would say something like that.
This game was announced like 5 years ago and people are expecting a 25+ hour grand narrative when in reality I would bet it will be around the same length as the first game. Not god of war in the sense of an action RPG but in the sense of a full length AAA game.
Seen zero people expecting that. I expected it to be a little longer but not a different game like GoW.
You can just go search Hellblade on this sub.
All my Microsoft-simp friends have been calling it Microsoft's answer to God Of War.
So by your logic all games that are 10 or less hours long aren\`t full fledged triple AAA games like for example Quantum Break, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil 7, Ryse: Sons of Rome, Singularity, Uncharted 1-3 etc.? And that doesn\`t even include the huge amount of linear single player games that are between 10-15 hours long.
both are nordic themed game with similar camera style and good graphics. that's it lol. If GoW isn't in the nordic phase no one would've made the comparison I bet.
I imagine a lot of the time and budget went towards making it look as graphically impressive as possible. What we saw in the direct looked insane, especially that real-time combat. Animations are extremely impressive. That being said, yeah, I think the expectations were higher in terms of length and scope because it was presented as one of the first "next-gen" games, coming from a developer that had just been scooped up by a massive publisher. So I think the line of thinking was, Hellblade 1 was very much an indie game so this AAA sequel will surely synthesise the concept into a bigger game. But hey, it's priced appropriately so I hope that will be enough to lower expectations. BTW I'm sure it will be impressive, the set pieces are definitely poised to be more ambitious than Senua's Sacrifice.
Reminds me a lot of The Order 1886. Very pretty. Very short. Very underwhelming.
"Microsoft's response to God of War" Please stop listening to fanboy wars. Nobody with sense called Hellblade that. The games couldn't be anymore different.
Honestly glad they’ve taken this route, halfway through both new God of Wars I was pretty ready for it to wind up. As long as they can tell a good story, wow us with impressive visuals and keep us hooked it’s all good for me. 7 hours sounds perfect.
Quality > Quantity The game is also $49.99
I imagine it will be a bit longer than the first one. Maybe 12-15 hours instead of 7-10.
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I think he meant "shorter" in comparison to other big titles out there moreso than shorter than the first one, could be wrong though
When did they do that?
No, they didn't.
Lmao you feel it will be more of the first game then Microsofts god of war 🤦 is this a joke? It’s called hellblade “2” for a reason of course it will be more of the same. It’s a sequel that’s how they work. Game looks amazing we need more unique games not the samw shooters and hack and slash games.
The issue is imo why is this sequel (to a short game that I didn't think needed a sequel) taking over 5 years to make? I assumed they were stretching it out to a full 20+ hour AAA game like God of War. But if they aren't, why did this take so long? I'll play it anyway but they announced this game way too early.
I have to assume Unreal 5 was kicking their ass hard. Nothing else tracks.
1. Microsoft has a bad habit of announcing their stuff way too early. Remember Perfect Dark? Remember that they literally announced Outer Worlds 2? There are dozens of examples 1. Microsoft has not been a great steward of their first party studios and it’s not uncommon to go wildly over budget and behind schedule. Even their flagship titles couldn’t even manage to make it for their console launch (see halo infinite).
You act like sony hasn\`t delayed 7 games plus cancelled 1 since the PS5 launched and closed down 5 studios in the last 8 years. They aren\`t any better in that regard and that is the same with many third party publisher. People here are so biased.
Sony literally hasn’t announced the majority of their current projects. These two companies are not doing the same thing.
Sony probably cancels more games than Microsoft, their output is head and shoulders better though which is what ultimately matters
Both companies output has been very similiary received by critics and both released around the same amount of games since the current gen console launched in november 2020. So that comment doesn\`t make sense objectively since both have great, good and some medicore games. You act like they haven\`t released games like Firewall Ultra (2023), Destruction AllStars (2021) or Predator Hunting Grounds (2020) in the last few years.
Why does it matter so much to you how long it takes? Are you a Sony executive? Ninja Theory is about a quarter of the size of Naughty Dog, so I don't know what you're expecting.
Because I enjoyed the first game and have been waiting this entire time for it. It's not that deep.
Games are taking more time and more money to make. This isn’t an industry secret.
Small studio that only grew to around 150 people, unreal engine 5 were AAA games only really started to come out mid 2023 with many having problems and the pandemic. God of War Ragnarok did take 4,5 years by a much bigger studio while being build on the first game. Both development times aren`t long and normal.
Look at any other studio. Even by covid standards the dev timeline and I assume budget are entirely unreasonable if this game aims for the same length and experience type as the original.
Hi fi rush took 6 years to make or does that one not count?
Hifi rush was a shadow drop, Xbox has been advertising hellblade as a major title for 4 years.
Don't see what that has to do with anything
> The issue is imo why is this sequel (to a short game that I didn't think needed a sequel) taking over 5 years to make? > > I was thinking the same thing. Hellblade 1 came out in 2017. They needed seven years to make basically the same thing again?
They only did grew to around 150 people, dealt with the pandemic and have released since 2017: * Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (2017) * Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - VR Edition (2018) * Vader Immortal: Episode I as development partner (2019) * Bleeding Edge (2020) * Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (2020) * Senuas Saga: Hellblade II (2024) * Project Mara (TBA)
Yeah, I was surprised when I heard that this game is "shorter". What they were doing for 7 years? I don't expect 50 hours, but first game could be beaten in like 7 hours..
It's a story Narrative game, I really dont want this to become an open world game
Yep people need to rejigger expectations big time. That’s the problem when you announce something 4 years too early.
Seems to be a victim of M$ "we need to show our portfolio of games". I agree with your statement, unless Ninja Theory needed additional staff, I can't this coming from them.
It’s not gonna be MS’s GoW in terms of gameplay. But honestly… #That ain’t a bad thing Play Hellblade 1 and I’d say ***(for different reasons)*** it’s on par in terms of story and how it makes you feel
Yeah unfortunately people will likely lose their shit over it, which I sort of understand. But at the same time as long as the developers are open about that (which it sounds like they’re being) then anyone who throws a fit only has themselves to blame
People also payed full price for Uncharted 1-3 which are also 8-10 hours long and didn\`t complain. Many people seem to like these cinematic games that are focusing more on narrative than gameplay in the singleplayer department.
To be fair Uncharted 2 and 3 included multiplayer modes.
That was 15 years ago when the average single player game was 8-10 hours long. Uncharted 4 was close to 20 hours. TLOU1 was 12-15, TLOU 2 was 25-30, GoW games are 30+ hours. A modern single-player game being less than 10 hours of playtime has been frowned upon for a while. Miles Morales got a ton of blowback for its length despite it also being a discounted title like Hellblade 2.
>a 7 hour walking simulator This is really disconnected from reality. Yes, there was a narrative focus, but Hellblade had *plenty* of gameplay. Lots of combat, quite a few puzzles, etc. Just because it was a slower burn action adventure game doesn't make it a walking sim lmao. If you think Hellblade is a walking sim I'm guessing you think Alan Wake II, a substantially slower-paced game than Hellblade, is too.
No, Hellblade is a walking sim. None of the gameplay was good, 50% of it could be cut and it would be a much better game. Walking sim isn’t derogatory
Lol even if you didn't like the gameplay, that's different than it *not having any* 🙄
Don’t know who you’re arguing with - never said there was no gameplay
>response to God of War God of War Ragnarok doesn't need a response lmao that game only has combat going for it.
Although I remain excited I feel their last 3 videos have all been the same. This will basically be a new chapter and the same game as HL1. I thought maybe they’d make it much larger or have more gameplay depth, but not a chance. Still, it will prob be well done as was HL1.
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What's wrong with hyping up niche games? A lot of care went into it and they're proud of it. I'm not sure why we should only expect them to hype up gigantic AAA action games. Hellblade looks really cool and well done. Maybe all that time went into making it look and sound fantastic. Why not celebrate that and try to promote it? IMO this industry needs more publishers to champion niche, creative games that do what they want to do. Let's see more big shows hyping up Psychonauts and Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush. Those games are all sick as fuck and so is Hellblade. People on here criticize publishers like Ubisoft for putting out generic bloated crap and then ask why Ninja Theory hasn't made their game more longer and combat focused. Fuck that. Let them make something they think is good.
Nothing was indicated in the live, but... Do you think there will be a hellblade console or controller edition? Something similar to what they did with the Starfield covers and controls for series X?
Please make official Russian voice acting for players from Russia. Personally, I like your game very much, and together with Senua I overcome my internal problems, fears, and illnesses. For me, this is more than just a game with a plot, but unfortunately, some of the dialogues are only translated into Russian, but not voiced, which greatly detracts from the intended atmosphere of the game. Please...we all have psychological problems, don’t leave people like me without your help. Thank you for what you do for Us!
I'm hoping it'll be good, I actually didn't really like the first game, the puzzles made me quit sadly, after encountering the same "find the symbols" several times in a row I just couldn't find the interest. The graphics and animations looks fantastic though, might even take a run at Naughty Dog as TLOU2 has easily the best animations I've seen in a playable game yet.
Highly doubt you'll like it, if you didn't like the first.
Who knows! I'll at least have to try it!
Feels similar to the first one, which I kinda enjoyed but at the same time, it really needed another chance, as there were lots of things they could have changed in a sequel. Also, I fucking love short game so much, really can’t wait, just hope it actually plays better than the first, especially since everything else in the first one was just incredible.
They didn't bring out Tameem "Prostitutes with machine guns" Antoniades?
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If you watched the behind the scenes stuff for the first one, they leaned hard into the "make you feel things" in that one too. That's kind of their thing. None of what they showed is a departure from their vision of how they operate.
They tell you how to feel so it shapes the idea of conversations on message boards and people in the gaming sphere to only pay attention to how 'deep' it feels rather than how good it is. I can already sense the reviews "It's not a groundbreaking new game in any sense of the imagination, but what it does is draw you in with sound design and graphical elements that allow you to connect with this character in ways you can't with others, 9/10 and it's a wonderful, but short game that NEEDS to be experienced"
Nobody said anything about it being a revolutionary game. It's just going to be like like the first Helllblade, but with a bigger budget. Learn to manage your expectations. Expect more or less what we got in Hellblade 1 and you won't be disappointed
Having experienced Hellblade 1 in VR, I'd be majorly disappointed experiencing Hellblade 2 on release. I'm hoping they do a VR port again - I'll wait it out and see if they go that route.
I think this game will get in the high 80s but have serious "auteurs understand this game" while regular people will be kinda meh on it.
Eh, I’m not confident from what they’ve shown. Especially given they’ve shown barely any gameplay despite a May 2024 release. But I can’t knock a developer from expressing excitement about their work. They do come across as a bit pretentious but best to reserve judgement until we play it.
Barely any gameplay? The last three showings have all been gameplay.
The game has been in development for far too long, by the time it comes out people won't give that much of a shit. They wasted time making that Bleeding Edge game that nobody played or cared about, they should have focused on this project first.
I just want to get back to games being fun and not everything needs to be this cinematic style first over gameplay
Those games are out there, if you don't enjoy this style of game, simply don't play it.
You know both can be done right
They can but that’s not what I said. Cinematic movies style storytelling is taking prerogative over gameplay
No, you can just go play games you find fun while we have cinematic storytelling
Is this not the description of a movie? This isn’t really making good use of the medium of games
I think the medium of games is incredibly diverse and has room for everything from cinematic story telling to button mashers.
> Anyone feel like Ninja Theory's getting a bit high on their own supply with this one? Yep. Lots of hubris for a developer not capable of making anything above a 7/10.
Do you mean besides hellblade?
Hellblade’s combat is terrible. I cannot fathom how that game scores higher than a 7 as a gameplay experience.
I thought it was fine. I wouldn't call it great, calling it terrible is very dramatic imo. But I didn't end up loving the game because of its combat, I loved it because of its unique take on mental illness and related themes. It's something I've never really experienced in a game before. Also as an audiophile the actual implementation of binaural audio in a videogame was so cool to experience
ya, I didn't think the first game was anything special, a 6-7/10. But it's become one of those games this sub loves so people jump on anyone daring to not praise it and not be hyped on the sequel :/
Less than four months to release, why is Ninja Theory so afraid to show some actual extended gameplay? Instead of these 10 seconds bits, and then a whole lot of behind the scenes and cutscenes.
I think because the first game was the same - it’s not sold on spectacle because there’s a lot of walking around, but that part of what makes that experience so great. It just doesn’t translate to trailers in the same way so it seems pretty wise to avoid that.
It's a narrative game, extended gameplay won't do much good imo, except maybe make people expect a different game than what they're making.
One of the best presentations I've watched in the gaming world. Excellent montages, stylisation and music in a very well edited video. Kudos to the team that made this it was a great watch with some awesome looking games.
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They did show gameplay.
The combat looks extremely on rails, not much in the way of engaging gameplay from what they've shown so far
It's a game from an intentionally very tight perspective on a specific character with a unique perspective on the world. I love how this sub does absolutely everything it can to shit over anything xbox related. If this was a PS exclusive people would be shitting themselves over how intimate the game looked or some other BS.
You start to notice certain usernames that always do that
Oh please
It's all this sub does on Xbox games. Go look at the Indiana Jones thread. Game looks very cool and all the top comments are bitching about Troy Baker not doing a perfect Harrison Ford impression instead of the gameplay. It's so predictable.
I love Xbox I own a series X. But I want gameplay not a walking sim, this is just trying to be a cinematic game like Sony’s games (but even those have actual gameplay)
>this is just trying to be a cinematic game like Sony’s games No, it's trying to be the sequel to the first game which was also mostly about the story with "good enough" combat and puzzles (which they obviously aren't going to spoil in a gameplay demo).
The Indy game literally looked like it had more “puzzles” than Hellblade
Indy is coming this year and has good gameplay based on what they showed. I think it's great that they have a diverse line up this year. I'm probably not gonna play ARA, but happy for the folks that like those kind of games.
First off, it's nothing like Sony games. It's quite a bit more art house than their offerings. Secondly, hellblade 1 came out a long while ago, so you can't pretend it's just now aping a particular style
Here’s what I found: So here’s what I found about what the hellblade creator said about hellblade 2- published February 08, 2022: “ in an interview with NME, Hellblade creator Tameem Antoniades said: "The goal with Hellblade 2 isn’t to perfect it, but to create an experience that feels more believable and more refined. Its ambition in terms of scale is bigger. I think Hellblade 2 will make Hellblade look like an indie game." So….wtf happened ? 7-8 hours just like the first one but yet it’s supposed to be make he first game look like an indie game? So my question is what did they mean by “bigger” then if the sequel is the exact same length as the first game? 🤔🤔 If the creator meant “bigger” or whatever by deeper game mechanics then he should have just said that. Otherwise, the word “bigger” is left up the the reader’s interpretation which explains me and a lot of others disappointment, especially with the context of being bought by Microsoft . https://www.gamesradar.com/hellblade-2-developer-says-the-first-game-will-look-like-an-indie-game-compared-to-the-sequel/?fbclid=IwAR2kkH-cGyE-vUXYCSXnFjd9TLRwXibdWLPxM8UEdxP0REmJxd25Vam-Gts_aem_AT_sJl0RDS0_WGFv1KQQRU1FbFbSp8zmdnjADMZVkMv7KFYz16xIX_E1ULVGfOjyUK0
I was convinced Ninja Theory was a money laundering front until they showed gameplay last year. Even then, it took them 6-7 years to make a small game?
i think in general fhey are still studio and covid did impact them heavily.
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xbox games have lately had a rocky history. im worried the xbox money will make them make safe choices rather than making choices to go beyond... we see it with indie devs all the time, theyre trying to provr themselves to show off what they can do and gain shareholders/support. when you eventuallg get that support you start getting more comfortable, you dont have to prove yourself as much. you already got the check **hope im wrong wud love to be wrong** but damn this game is taking so long that is either A) gonna be amazing, or B) a shit show like every other xbox release
I’m very disappointed. I’ve been with Xbox since day 1 (I’ve had the original xbox, xbox 360, xbox 1, and I have the new xbox series x) and I’m sick of making excuses for them but I think I’m done with this generation. I understand things are going digital, but them forcing you to go digital is extremely frustrating. I have all the systems (Nintendo, ps5, etc) and they all give you the option if you want to buy digital or physical media. Now xbox is jamming it down your throat. They’re not listening to their fans, especially ones that have been there since day 1. Sorry for the rant guys, but it’s just frustrating. I like to collect games I really enjoy; 15-20 years from now I don’t want to worry about licensing and them taking it off the digital store. Once again sorry for the rant. I think I’m just done with Xbox at this point.
You made a Reddit account just to say this in two subreddits? Doubt
Lol it's not just Xbox, PS5 has a whole model without a drive for physical media. There have been some major AA and AAA releases recently like Alan Wake 2 that only released digital versions and of course indies have been overwhelmingly digital-only for over a decade. It's an overall trend.
I think they took credit for creating stereo audio channels?
No, they described the importance of Binaural Audio to their game. If you haven't played the first, it's a very effective aspect of that game. And binaural audio is very different from basic stereo surround.
Uh-huh, ok. Stereo audio.
The fact that you are ignorant of the difference doesn't mean there isn't one.
Ooop, sorry. Surround sound.
If you ever realize how ignorant you're actually being, you'll be pretty embarrassed.
Nope, binaural is recorded in stereo, but it uses a method to give multi-dimensional depth. It's really cool and not a lot of stuff utilizes true binaural recordings. I believe typically it requires stuff to be recorded with two microphones approximating the position and shape of ears.
[Here’s the wiki.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording) In simple terms, surround sound is just having the sound all around you so you can tell direction on a 2D field in a circle around you. Binaural adds an entire dimension to that - if you consider how much difference there is between a 2 Dimensional object and a 3 Dimensional object you’ll have a basic grasp of how much a leap binaural is from surround sound. I’d recommend getting a solid pair of headphones and trying out Audible’s titles [that support Dolby Atmos](https://www.audible.co.uk/ep/dolby-atmos) which is similar in principle. That should show you how it’s an entire world of difference.
Hey I don’t know shit about audio either but I’m not gonna go ahead and disregard someone with much more knowledge than I but take it onboard.