Why Hellblade 2 is more than just a video game

Walk into any video game developer a week before the latest big release and there will be questions hanging in the air.

Will people like it? What will be the assessment results?

But when BBC Newsbeat visited Ninja Theory’s studio a week before the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, another question arose.

These team games weren’t ported to the same numbers as Call of Duty, EA FC or Hogwarts Legacy, but they were popular with many. It was important for the fans.

So what does this mean for Ninja Theory, a developer that essentially falls into this category?

At least for now, studio boss Dom Matthews told Newsbeat they have something else in mind.

“We’re very focused on Hellblade 2,” he said.

“We’re very proud of the game we’ve created and we’re looking forward to spending this day together, enjoying the game and enjoying what we’ve created.”

It is a long awaited day.

The studio’s previous game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, was released in 2017 and was developed by a team of about 20 people.

One of them was Melina Jurgens, the company’s video editor, who eventually took over the lead role of Senua after the original actress dropped out.

“My work has always been behind the scenes,” he told Newsbeat.

“So I was afraid to perform in front of people and be in front of the lens.”

Although it was Melina’s first time acting, she won a BAFTA Game Award for her performance – one of five Ninja Theory wins for Hellblade 1.

He was widely praised for his handling of Señor’s psychosis – a condition that causes people to hear voices, see things others don’t, and form unique perspectives on the world.

It’s something Melina herself experienced in her early twenties, which she describes as “a time of pure terror.”

“I’ve heard whispers, I’ve seen dead people and things like that,” she says.

“So it was a very scary time.”

Melina says filming Senua was an opportunity to “use my experiences to put things into practice.”

“And it felt almost therapeutic.”

According to Cambridge University neuroscience professor Paul Fletcher, who worked on both games, psychosis in the media has an incomplete record.

While there are some good examples, he says, “there are also many cases where psychosis is almost used as shorthand for someone who is acting very crazy, potentially dangerous and violent.”

“And I think that should always be questioned.”

Professor Fletcher says he was persuaded to work with Ninja Theory because of their determination to avoid distortion.

He says he also realized “how important the video game experience is in captivating people and giving them experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Both Hellblade games feature hallucination sequences and rely heavily on sound to recreate life with psychosis.

The Ninja Theory team worked with Professor Fletcher and a group of experienced patients to ensure the imaging was as accurate as possible.

The first game was a single mission, but Hellblade 2 introduces new characters and deals with Senua’s psychosis.

Studio head Dom said the aim was to show that mental health is often a “journey”.

“It’s not static,” he says, adding that the first game was about Senua “going through psychosis and realizing it for the first time.”

This time, he says, he has “some level of understanding and some level of acceptance of these experiences.”

“They are not less powerful, but there is a different balance of power. It was really interesting to explore.”

Hellblade 2 is also a step forward technologically. Since 2017, the team has moved into a new, tailor-made studio with its own motion capture stage and recording studio.

The first game also used motion capture, but was recorded in the boardroom of Ninja Theory’s old office.

To underscore this point, Dom says the team spent two days recording the fight footage for the first game. The second lasted 69 days.

They also spent time creating digitally scanned realistic costumes and props to enhance Hellblade 2’s immersion.

At this time, the performance capture process involved a much larger team, including stunt coordinators and other specialists.

For Melina, stepping back into a role with a larger team was initially daunting.

“There were a lot of eyes on me,” she says.

Some scenes, such as the swimming scene at the beginning of the game, were physically demanding.

Melina remembers hanging from the ceiling most of the day.

“You have to tighten all the muscles in your body and stay in a stable position,” she says.

Both Dom and Melina say the hard work of spreading awareness about psychosis is worth it.

In addition to BAFTAs on the studio’s shelves and award certificates on the walls, Ninja Theory collects awards from fans impressed by its games.

“There were some really great quotes,” says Melina.

“One man said his brother was always ashamed of him because he suffered from psychosis.

“After playing the game, he said he finally understood her and apologized to her.

“It warms the heart to hear such words.”

There are hundreds of such stories on forums and social media sites about Hellblade 1.

Dom believes there’s now a greater focus across the gaming industry on “finding the lived experience into games and using it to tell people stories,” but he says he’s not sure if Ninja Theory can take all the credit for that. .

However, Professor Fletcher believes Hellblade had an effect.

He now uses the game as an educational tool and believes it has helped raise awareness of psychosis.

Although he feels he hasn’t made much of an impact trying to fight the stigma on himself, he says the respectful and thoughtful discussion in response to the first game left him “very surprised and excited”.