When Ninja Theory began to create Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, the development team worked hard to create a new story and unique main character that we've never seen before.
However, the developer also wanted to create a gaming experience different from everything else out there, by using new technology and techniques to keep gamers immersed in Hellblade's story and settings.
It looks like Ninja Theory achieved its goal: a new video displaying a scene from the game not only provides new insight into Senua as a character, but also shows off some of the methods that Ninja Theory used in creating a new immersive gaming experience.
Senua is a Celtic warrior traveling into the heartland of the Vikings. However, her journey grows darker as she must deal with her own personal demons and the psychotic manifestations created by her own mind that threaten her sanity and safety at every turn.
"It is important for us to portray the physical, emotional, and mental trials of her quest in both the character model and the representation of her reality," wrote Ninja Theory on the PlayStation blog. "An example of this is the voices that Senua hears in the scene. These voices have been recorded binaurally, which means that if you listen to them with headphones on they will sound as if they are in the 3D space around you."
The developer didn't stop there, though. It created new technology to create a more realistic character design.
"But there's more to this scene than meets the eye," wrote Ninja Theory. "We are showcasing a world-first: a new technology that allows our actress to perform the scene live and in real-time directly within the game world. As far as we know, no one has done this with a character of such fidelity before."
Ninja Theory will self-publish Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice as an independent title, but judging from the trailer, it has all the finesse of a AAA game, while still pushing the envelope of video game development technology.
There is no official release date yet for Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it should arrive in 2016 on the PC and PlayStation 4.
