During the January 2024 Xbox Developer Direct, Ninja Theory announced that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will launch on May 21 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. It will also arrive on Xbox Game Pass at launch.
The developer showed a brand new release date trailer showcasing the game’s impressively realistic graphics and gruesome gameplay. Senua wants to get revenge on the Vikings who have enslaved her people and goes to Iceland to face the threat at the source. As she has psychosis, she’ll hear voices throughout her journey, finding patterns and clues around her.
There are also new combat encounters where she fights off grotesque enemies as they try to grab her. Ninja Theory said they want the player to feel how Senua isn’t a superhero and how she’s struggling to survive and barely getting by.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 was initially revealed in The Game Awards 2019 so it’s been a long four years since. While its predecessor, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, was a multiplatform console release as it was also on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the sequel will be exclusive to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft acquired Ninja Theory in 2018 to bolster Xbox’s lineup of first-party game studios. Other games Ninja Theory has worked on while under the Microsoft banner so far include 2020’s Bleeding Edge and the upcoming Project Mara. The former was a multiplayer combat game released for PC and Xbox One. The latter was teased in 2020 and billed as an experimental game exploring mental horror.
Before Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, we also got a new look at Avowed.