Nearly two years after its initial release,Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrificeis making its way to Nintendo Switch, as announced duringtoday’s Nintendo Direct presentation. The action game from Ninja Theory received high marks for its story, particularly with how it depicted mental health and psychosis.
With a body of work that includesHeavenly Sword,DmC, andEnslaved, Hellblade represented a different, slower, and more mature direction for Ninja Theory. Gameplay and combat is a little more strategic than usual hack-and-slash fare, and the gameplay depends less on a HUD or any tutorials to introduce mechanics, rather using context-sensitive gameplay portions.
The story revolves around Senua, a Celtic warrior fighting her way through Helheim and goes through a spiritual to rescue the soul of her lover. Along the way, Senua deals with the effects of psychosis, which are reflected in the game itself through audio and other elements of the game—don’t take my word for it, but rather that of the neuroscientists who Ninja Theory consulted with while developing the game.
Going with that commitment to raising mental health awareness, Ninja Theorydonated tens of thousands of dollars to a mental health-focused charityafter the game’s launch on Xbox One—the donation came after the Xbox One version surpassed over 100,000 copies in sales. Not long after that donation, Ninja Theory went further with their efforts towards mental health awareness,establishing a scholarship for mental health tutors.
On the Xbox One,Hellbladeis currently available on the Xbox Game Pass. It is alsoavailable for physical retail on the Xbox and the PlayStation 4, with evena virtual reality version releasingseveral months ago. No word yet on whether or notHellbladewill just be a digital release or will come to brick and mortar stores as well—the closest we have to a release date is a vague spring 2019 date range.
Ninja Theory’s latest isn’t the only port of a game from other platforms announced during today’s Direct—Ubisoft will also bring aremastered version ofAssassin’s Creed IIIto the Switch. If you want to go even further back,Switch owners can also enjoyFinal Fantasy IXstarting today.
