All Articles: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
New Retail Releases: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Just Cause 4, PUBG PS4, More
The Nintendo Switch’s first year was jam-packed with dozens of new games, but Nintendo may have saved the biggest for the last few weeks of its second. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be available on store shelves this week, and it’ll include every character from the previous four games, as well as newcomers Incineroar, Simon Belmont, the Inklings, and Ridley.
The Smash Bros. series is known for its over-the-top action, as is Square Enix’s Just Cause franchise, which will also receive a new entry this week. Just Cause 4 (PS4 and Xbox One) will take the fearless Rico Rodriguez to the fictional country of Solis, a land of “conflict, oppression, and extreme weather conditions.” Just Cause 4 will also be available to download for the PC. Speaking of high-flying adventurers, you’ll also find the PS4 debut of PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on store shelves this week. The battle royale shooter comes complete with all three maps currently available for the PC and Xbox One, as well as a few PS4-exclusive cosmetic items.
However, this week’s biggest new release will require a trip down to GameStop, and that’s because Bandai Namco is re-releasing Katamari Damacy for the Switch (with a visual upgrade) as Katamari Damacy Reroll.
Elsewhere on the New Releases shelf, you’ll find a pair of PS4 rhythm games from Atlus (Persona 3: Dancing In Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing In Starlight), a retail re-release for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (PS4 and Xbox One), and the Switch debut of Sega’s massive Sega Genesis Classics compilation.
Finally this week, Sony will break into the microconsole business with the PlayStation Classic. Containing two replica PlayStation controllers and 20 games (including Final Fantasy VII, Twisted Metal, Grand Theft Auto, and more), the microconsole is HDMI-ready and priced at $100.
A complete look at the rest of this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Hellblade, Owlboy, Ys Origin, more added to Xbox Store
Several critically-acclaimed games have a new home on the Xbox One thanks to today’s Xbox Games Store update.
Ninja Theory will bring Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, their “Indie AAA” action game, to the Xbox One today. It’ll share space on the digital storefront with D-Pad Studio’s side-scrolling adventure, Owlboy, and Nihon Falcom’s RPG prequel, Ys Origin.
Also available to download today is Iron Galaxy’s ogre-hunting game, Extinction, and Freejam’s multiplayer robot battler, Robocraft Infinity.
You can learn more about these games, and the rest of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store, after the break. (more…)
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will be released for the Xbox One on April 11
Ninja Theory has announced that Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will be released for the Xbox One on April 11. The developer also shared a bit about the game’s enhanced graphics options on the Xbox Wire blog:
Xbox fans have waited patiently for us to bring Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice to their console’s library and we can’t wait to see what you think. Hellblade supports HDR and the game is enhanced for Xbox One X, with players having the choice of three enhanced modes to select from: Enhanced Visuals mode offers extra FX and visual quality throughout the experience, High Framerate mode runs the game at 60fps, and High-Resolution mode runs the game with dynamic resolutions up to 4K.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is now available to pre-order through the Xbox Games Store.
UK-developed Hellblade leads the way at 2018 BAFTA Games Awards with 9 nominations
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was developed in the United Kingdom at Ninja Theory, and this hometown advantage helped it lead the way with nine nominations at the 2018 BAFTA Games Awards.
With so many nominations, it’s no surprise that Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is up for “Best Game,” and it’ll be competing against Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey, and Giant Sparrow’s What Remains of Edith Finch.
The BAFTA Games Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 12, and hosting duties will once again be handled by comedian Dara O’Briain. If you weren’t able to score a ticket to the big show, you’ll still be able to livestream the entire ceremony through BAFTA.org and several other streaming platforms.
The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Horizon, PUBG, Nier: Automata, Zelda: BOTW, Super Mario Odyssey will compete for “Game of the Year” at 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards
The nominees for the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards have been announced, and for once, there doesn’t appear to be a clear-cut favorite in any of the categories.
Six games are currently leading the pack after receiving a total of six nominations apiece. Horizon: Zero Dawn, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Nier: Automata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild all pulled off the double hat trick, and each game also secured a nomination for “Video Game of the Year.” Cuphead and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice were shut out of the “Video Game of the Year” category, but both games also managed to earn six total nominations.
Rounding out the “Video Game of the Year” field is Super Mario Odyssey, which earned five total nominations.
As in years past, fans are invited to vote for their favorites at IGN.com. The winners in each category will ultimately be decided by a 50/50 vote between the public and the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board.
The 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards will be held on Saturday, March 17, and the full list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
PS Store This Week: Hellblade, Telltale’s Batman The Enemy Within, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, more
Big-budget retail releases may have dried up for the Summer, but there’s a ton of new titles to download this week on the PlayStation Store…
First up is Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, an “Indie AAA” from Ninja Theory. The team behind DMC: Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword is back with a new third-action game for the PS4 about “a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness.” The developer worked alongside neuroscientists to accurately portray the mental state of the protagonist and added a unique bit of quasi-permadeath to Hellblade’s save system.
Also available to download this week is the first episode of Telltale’s Batman: The Enemy Within. The Riddler is terrorizing Gotham City in the PS4 sequel, and Batman also has to deal with an appearance by Amanda Waller and the emergence of The Joker. And speaking of return appearances, Cliff Bleszinski returns to game development with LawBreakers, a new hero shooter for the PS4.
Finally this week, a trio of side-scrolling shooters will make the PlayStation Store a retro-tastic place to shop. Capcom has compiled Mega Man 7, 8, 9, and 10 on the PS4 in the Mega Man Legacy Collection 2. Vertex Pop will also release their colorful space shooter, Graceful Explosion Machine, on the PS4. And the bizarre Sine Mora EX has been remastered for the PS4 by THQ Nordic.
You can learn more about all of these titles (and a few others) after the break. (more…)
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will be released on August 8
Ninja Theory has announced that Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, their “Independent AAA” action-adventure game, will be released for the PC and PS4 on August 8.
In a brand new post on the PlayStation Blog, Ninja Theory’s “Product Development Ninja,” Dominic Matthews, revealed exactly what the team is trying to accomplish by creating an “Independent AAA” game:
In Hellblade, we are aiming to revive the lost space between indie and AAA gaming. Where creatively diverse experiences made with AAA values can thrive once again.
We’ve taken a small team of around 20 people and created a focused and rich experience that looks and feels as good as any blockbuster title. Hellblade is about half the length of a regular AAA game and priced at about half the cost. A price that we think is fair to both you and us.
Our hope is that if we make our Independent AAA work with Hellblade, other developers will follow, leading to a more creative and diverse gaming world for developers and players alike.
Matthews also reiterated Hellblade’s plot, which focuses on the trauma and psycosis experienced by a Celtic warrior named Senua:
For those new to Hellblade, the game is the story of Senua, a traumatized Celtic warrior journeying into the Viking underworld of Hel. We have created the game in collaboration with neuroscientists as well as people who live with psychosis. We hope Hellblade is an experience like no other.
You can get a short taste of Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in the new trailer embedded above.
Sony shines a spotlight on what’s coming to PS4 in 2017 including Detroit: Become Human
PlayStation Europe definitely kicked the year off right after they unveiled a new video highlighting the many exclusives coming to the PS4 in 2017.
In addition to games such as Gran Turismo Sport, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and the PaRappa The Rapper remaster, the sizzle reel also includes a glimpse of Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human, which had previously been tagged with a “TBA” release date.
Here’s the full list of games featured in the video:
Coming to PS4 in 2017
- Detroit: Become Human
- Drawn To Death
- Dreams
- Farpoint
- Gran Turismo Sport
- Gravity Rush 2 (January 20)
- Hellblade
- Horizon: Zero Dawn (February 28)
- Knack 2
- Matterfall
- MLB The Show 17 (March 28)
- New Hot Shots Golf
- Nex Machina
- Nier: Automata (March 7)
- Nioh (February 7)
- Persona 5 (April 4)
- PaRappa The Rapper
- Pyre
- Starblood Arena
- Uncharted 4: The Lost Legacy
- Wipeout: Omega Collection
- World of Warriors
- Yakuza 0 (January 24)
The first big event of the 2017 “Video Game Calendar” will be PAX South, which will be held in San Antonio beginning on January 27. We’ll surely hear more about at least a few of these games then.