Hellbalde – Let’s open the gates of Hell!

PREVIEW – Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Nariko and I could go on. Nothing proves it more that we love it when there is a female protagonist in our video games. We can also say this about Seuna whose story we will look a bit closer as her story will be quite an advancement compared to the other games.

 

I do not think I need to introduce the Ninja Theory team to anyone. They are the guys who made Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and the latest Devil May Cry reboot. Poor old „new” Dante got a lot of criticism, but in my opinion, the game was okay.Anyway, let us get back to our current speciment. As we know three things about Hellblade and its development which are: strong characterization, spectacular visuals, and ninja style melee combat. These three elements will be the topic of our preview also today.

Kíváncsian várom a végeredményt. Nektek az eddigiek alapján mi a véleményetek róla?

The broken warrior

Seuna is a broken, but a strong warrior. She does not use magic or alchemy. She is only good at one thing, and one thing only sword fighting. Her look is also not the usual, and she’s not the pretty int he ways that Lara Craft is. She is full of scars, war paint, tattoos, and her clothing is torn, plus her hair is a mess. However, her gaze is clear, so much that it seems that there is a thin line between her sanity and madness.

There are certain inner voices that are constantly pushing the idea that because her mother was insane, she is no different. She was an unbreakable soldier, who only looked forward, and was feared. However, she is nothing more than a wreck who is an opposite of her old self. Why? Because the old village she fought for so much has been massacred. No one was left, and she is now entirely alone. So she heads for Helheim, which according to the Scandinavian mythology it is hell’s deepest bowels. Why is she heading there? Does she want to continue living? These questions will only be answered once the game is played.

Kíváncsian várom a végeredményt. Nektek az eddigiek alapján mi a véleményetek róla?

Uncertainty surrounds her

We do not have to expect big leaps regarding graphics, but the style and design are shaping up to be something great. The entire ambiance is marked by darkness. A lot of real life locations were based on the game’s levels. These are based on mostly on Scandinavian mythology or any other Viking mythos. These will be varied and big enough for the main plot line to wander around. Forests, caves, mountains, and shrines. There will be an interesting location called Hand Canyon where blood red hands will attack us from the rocks. It will be so dense as if it was the natural plant life.

Kíváncsian várom a végeredményt. Nektek az eddigiek alapján mi a véleményetek róla?

There’s no problem, though, as her blade is sharp

The movement and combat system are where the game will either succeed or fail. I am a bit worried about what they have planned for it. Of course, I hope that the final version will be great. The entire thing needs to be imagined like a TPS. The action will be seen behind our ballerina’s back. This will allow us to be more tactical and enjoy the combat closer.

In such cases, the combat style is rather limited, and you cannot button mash your way out of situations against the hordes of enemies attacking us. A few months ago they wanted to change this, but there has been no mention of any potential modifications to the combat system as of yet. Let us hope for the best. The developers do not show us new regarding enemies, but they fit into the environment of Hellblade.  Not everything has been revealed, but those flaming monsters, witches, plus demon dogs are probably in the game.

Kíváncsian várom a végeredményt. Nektek az eddigiek alapján mi a véleményetek róla?

How long do we have to wait?

The game was announced on the 2014 Gamescom, and since then we have gotten twenty development diaries. They are not too quick about releasing the game. Which is not a problem since they do not want to release a half-assed game, and there are thirteen employees working on the game eight hours a day. According to them, they want to fill the space between indie and AAA titles. That is why Hellblade is considered as an independent AAA title.

If this works out, they’ll stay on this line

There was a Q&A where the developers were bombarded by questions from the fans. During this session, there was a few interesting information shared with the community.

There will be no weapons that can be picked up. We will only have a blade available. We have no clue whether we will be able to modify the weapon, or add runes. As our protagonist will not have a companion she will face everything alone. Maybe this way they want to focus on character development and total loneliness. Based on the design of the combat, and the game it will probably avoid the platformer sections, so no big jumping puzzles. No QTE-s and we can forget about the long combos as this game is more about dueling. So our player will have to best our enemy with skill. Although there will be special move sets in the game, tactics are more important. There is no release date currently for the game.

I cannot wait for the final result. What is your opinion about the game? Will the combat system be good?

-Parzifal-

It could be good:

+ Seuna’s character
+ Scandinavian mythology
+ Great environments

Questionable:

– Combat system
– Length of game could be short
– Difficulty could be too easy


Publisher: Ninja Theory

Developer: Ninja Theory

Genre:  Hack and slash

Publication: TBA

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Parzifal is an avid gamer who plays all kinds of games, but his favorites are classic RPGs. He has played games since the early 90''s.

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