“Nuance” is the term the development team uses when describing the philosophy behind the combat the player will be working with while playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. This reflects their desire to create a more focused game, which entails a war-painted woman dancing in and out of combat and expertly slicing up the far more physically strong Viking foes she encounters.
Senua, the game’s deadly heroine, dashes and dives just as much as she hacks and slashes with the game’s focus on using “speed and technical skill” to overcome combative ordeals. True to Ninja Theory’s form, the developer of titles such as Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword, players looking for the opportunity to gut n’ cut their way through a hellish underworld of horrific baddies will be coming to the right place with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. The developer’s nuance-centric approach leads to another asset of the combat in development: the importance of audio.
Players will need to keep their ears as sharp as their sword when in the middle of an all-out battle to the death with a crowd of these Viking abominations.
Fighting an enemy straight on? Worried about getting flanked? Well, keep your ears open and you should be able to hear a telltale battle cry of an oncoming, offscreen enemy ready to take you out. If you’re quick enough, you’ll be able to duck your way out of the swing and continue on with the fight unscathed. Being able to see the battle damage as you inflict it is part of Ninja Theory’s attempt to keep any and all HUD assets to a minimum and to present significant audio and visual aspects.
You can check out more of the game’s art, design, and progress at the official site.
