Skip to main content

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 set to launch on May 21 for PC and Xbox

Hellblade 2
Microsoft

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.

Developer_Direct 2024 – Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

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.

Editors' Recommendations

George Yang
George Yang is a freelance games writer for Digital Trends. He has written for places such as IGN, GameSpot, The Washington…
Our most anticipated video games of 2024: Final Fantasy, Hellblade 2, and more
Cloud rides a Chocobo in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

After a ruthlessly crowded year for video games, you’d think I’d be ready to slow down and take a breather. Unfortunately for me, the video game industry rests for no one. 2024 is right around the corner, and it’s already filling up with new game releases -- some of which threaten to be 100-hour affairs that could keep players occupied for an entire year.

While 2023’s big releases were set in stone before the year even began, 2024’s release calendar is more of a mystery. We know what’s coming in the first few months and have a vague idea of some games that’ll drop through the year, but it’s not quite clear what the big breakout releases or holiday system sellers will be yet. Instead, we’re sitting on a pile of high-profile RPGs, niche projects, and eye-catching indies. Any of those games could be topping year-end lists 12 months from now.

Read more
The leaks are correct: Dragon’s Dogma 2 launches in March
A sphinx in Dragon's Dogma 2.

During a Dragon's Dogma 2 Showcase Tuesday afternoon, Capcom confirmed the worst-kept release date secret of recent weeks: Dragon's Dogma 2 launches on March 22, 2024. The livestream also revealed a lot more about the sequel, including the fact that it takes place in a parallel world to the original game.

We first noticed that this highly anticipated sequel to a cult classic RPG was launching in March 2024 earlier this month, when a PEGI game rating with the release date was spotted. While there was potential that this was just a clerical error as the listing was taken down, a release date around this time was again affirmed on Tuesday morning when that same date was listed on the game's Steam page. Capcom finally confirmed the release date itself at the end of the trailer that started the showcase, as Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno had promised on X on Monday.

Read more
Xbox’s 2023 games feel like the Series X launch lineup we never got
EMBARGO 10/4 12:01 AM PT: A camera angle up close to a Forza Motorsport race.

Even though we’re almost three years into the life span of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, it feels like this console generation is just starting for Microsoft.
It’s no secret that Xbox was slow to start up and then maintain consistency this console generation. For example, 2020 saw the company putting out a weak console launch lineup made up of ports and remasters. While 2021 had a flurry of great games, it was followed by a comparatively barren 2022. And 2023 hasn't been perfect either (due, in large part, to the flop that is Redfall), but outside of that, this year delivered the excellent Hi-Fi Rush, the grandly scaled Starfield, solid ports of two Age of Empires games and Quake II, a new Minecraft title, and a technical showpiece in Forza Motorsport.
Looking at that varied lineup, these games showcase both the potential of the Series X and the power of Xbox as a brand. Prospects for Xbox’s lineup are up heading into 2024 too, so it feels like we’re at the proper start of the Xbox Series X and S console generation ... even if it came a few years too late.
A new beginning 
Looking at the 2020 launch lineup for Xbox Series X/S, it wasn’t exactly emblematic of what the console could do. While there were some nice 4K and 60 frames per second (fps) upgrades for Xbox One games, the only new draws were a console port of Gears Tactics, the multiplayer-supporting Tetris Effect: Connected, a temporary next-gen exclusive version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and some smaller indies like The Falconeer and Bright Memory 1.0.

Most of those games were on or came to more platforms afterward and, in general, didn’t provide that strong of an argument for why players should stick around this console generation. But looking at many of the games Xbox has released this year, it finally feels like we have a bundle of good Xbox exclusives that show what the platform was always capable of.
In my review of Forza Motorsport, I note that the game feels like a launch title because it’s an impressive technical showpiece. It runs at 4K and 60 fps in performance mode, which is something not many games this generation have done. The closest comparable games are Astro’s Playroom and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PlayStation 5, which effectively demonstrated the power of Sony's console early on.
Forza Motorsport was also built as a platform that developer Turn 10 Studios can expand over time. It plans to periodically slot in new single and multiplayer content, including new cars and tracks. A game like that makes a lot of sense early on in a console’s life span in this live-service era. It’s what Microsoft tried to do with Halo Infinite, even if that didn’t pan out as expected due to a one-year delay, and with Killer Instinct on Xbox One.

Read more