Why Hellblade 2 is more than a video game

Visit any video game developer a week before their latest release and there will be questions hanging in the air.

Will people like it? What will happen to the view points?

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

The games of these teams did not change copies like Call of Duty, EA FC or Hogwarts Legacy, but they were loved by many. They were important to the fans.

So what does this mean for Ninja Theory, a developer very much in this category?

For now, at least, studio boss Dom Matthews told Newsbeat he has something else in mind.

“We are very focused on the release of Hellblade 2,” he says.

“We’re proud of the game we’ve created, and we’re looking forward to spending the day together and letting fans get their hands on the game and enjoy what we’ve come up with.”

It’s a long time coming.

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

One of them was the company’s video editor, Melina Juergens, who took on the lead role of Senua after the original actress left.

“My job has always been to be behind the scenes,” he tells Newsbeat.

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

Although it was Melina’s first acting job, she won a Bafta gaming award for her performance – one of the five Ninja Theory she took home for Hellblade 1.

He won great praise for the way he handled Senua’s psychosis—a condition that can cause people to hear voices, see things others don’t, and have unique beliefs about the world.

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

“I could hear whispers and see dead people and things like that,” he says.

“So it was a very scary time.”

Melina says that portraying Senua was a chance to “use my experiences to do something useful”.

“And it almost felt therapeutic.”

According to Professor Paul Fletcher, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge who worked on both games, the media has a patchy experience with psychosis.

While there are some good examples, he says, “there are also many cases where psychosis is used as shorthand for someone who is behaving in a very crazy, possibly dangerous, violent way.

“And I think that should always be challenged.”

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

He says he also realized “how valuable video game experiences can be in engaging people and giving them experiences they might not otherwise have.”

Both Hellblade games include hallucinatory sequences and rely heavily on audio to recreate what it’s like to live 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 more of a solo quest, but Hellblade 2 introduces new characters and explores the impact of Senua’s interactions with them on her psychosis.

Studio head Dom says the aim is to reflect that mental health is often a “journey”.

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

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

“They’re not less powerful, but there’s a different balance of power there. So that’s been really interesting to explore.”

Hellblade 2 is also a step up technologically. From 2017, the team moved into a new purpose-built studio with its own motion capture stage and audio studios.

The first game also used motion capture, but it was recorded in the boardroom at the old Ninja Theory office.

To emphasize the point, Dom says that the team spent two days recording the fight scenes for the first game. For the second, it was 69 days.

They also spent time taking and sometimes even making real-life costumes and props to be digitally scanned to enhance Hellblade 2’s immersion.

And this time, a bigger crew, including stunt coordinators and other professionals, worked on the production of the play.

It was difficult for Melina to return to the role with a bigger team at first.

“It was more on me,” he says.

Some scenes, such as the swimming sequence early in the game, were physically demanding.

Melina remembers hanging from the ceiling for the better part of a day.

“You really have to tense every muscle in your body and you’re in a constant plank position,” he says.

Both Dom and Melina say it’s worth the effort to spread awareness about psychosis.

As well as presenting Bafta trophies on studio shelves and certificates on walls, Ninja Theory is also garnering praise from fans who have been impressed by its games.

“There were so many great quotes,” says Melina.

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

“And after playing the game, he finally said he could understand her and apologized to her.

“So it’s heartening to hear things like that.”

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

Dom thinks there’s now a greater focus in the wider games industry on “living experience as a tool to find a way into games and tell people’s stories”, but he says he’s not sure Ninja Theory can take all the credit for that. .

Professor Fletcher said he thought Hellblade had an effect.

He now uses the game as a teaching tool and believes it is helping to spread awareness of psychosis.

Although he feels he’s never had much impact challenging stigmas on his own, he was “extraordinarily surprised and excited” by the explosion of respectful, thoughtful discussion in response to the first game.