Yeah I also have these questions. I think I would understand it better if they had another game with similar scope and production to Hellblade 2 but isn’t announced yet, but if the Hellblade team was like barely half the studio and the only other thing in work is Mara which is an experimental thing rather than a full game from what I understand, I wonder what would the rest of the studio be doing all this time then. I really hope they have something that’s deep in development with a similar goal to Hellblade, short, smaller and focused scope with incredible production and that can release in 2-3 years.
Apologies for multiple quotes but I think that if you watch this GDC talk by the chief Ninjas then it will pretty much answer most of your questions and if not it will give you a much better understanding of how and why they made the first game which you can extrapolate into the production of the second.
It’s an hour so I won’t summarize it all here but one example is where they discuss the use of digital only distribution, essential in the first project as it was made with an indie budget to allow higher margins and wider reach to ensure profitability but still equally valid for the sequel as a smaller title from Xbox first party with a narrower appeal than a AAA blockbuster like Gears where lower costs for the project will be needed to ensure that same profitability and sustainability. Just because Xbox studios as a whole have a massive amount of funding that doesn’t mean they don’t need to budget each title so that it makes money. Personally I’d rather see Hellblade 3 made as 2 was profitable than not because we had to keep the physical only minority happy and I suspect we will see this becoming more and more common with smaller titles.
Another good source of info is the developer diaries for the original where there is lots of info on how and why many design choices were made during development (including combat style and, while not referenced directly, why the matching puzzles are there/work as they do). Worth a watch.
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Debating whether I should take the 22nd off or not. So pumped to finally play this!
Also excited to hear its around the same length of Sacrifice. A shorter game being released alongside all these large titles is a relief imo.
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Agree. I’m 18 hours into Alan Wake 2 and apparently I have another 4-5 hours to go but I’m too exhausted to finish it right now. Some games are too damn long these days.
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I started playing Resident Evil 2 Remake for the first time today, and I couldn’t help but think… Ninja Theory’s next game should be their original take on RE. It is almost a perfect genre, the 3rd person, cinematic single player, puzzles and horror aspect. Plus the melee would look intense, the shooting mechanics with the help of maybe The Coalition could be great. That would be a more marketable game with an established genre fanbase.
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A lot of these cinematic games are far, far longer than they need to be and they end up just feeling bloated, boring and have some of the worst pacing in modern gaming, give me a focused 6-8 hour experience without any of that BS
Also started RE2 today and yea, a RE like game from NT sounds sick
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Honestly… I think this has a shot at game of the year for what I seen.
The combat looks absolutely amazing and the story looks better laid out and easy to follow.
Obviously it is absolutely gorgeous.
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Its finally here.
What are your initial impressions?
I will be joining in about an hour.
Wrong logo at the start for that
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