Ah yes, I don’t count games like God of War as RPG’s (They are not).
It’s definitely not, just some RPGness, I guess.
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so getting back to this, it’s a good question.
So what would I want to be added or changed?
Well I think it’s a majority understanding that the game’s combat although worked in context of the first game’s deliberately narrow scope, it can be made deeper and more fun. The sequel seems to wanna go big, both literally and figuratively and that provides the combat ample room to grow and expand both in its variety and depth. Of course I don’t want this to become Dark Souls. But I do hope we get to see more weapons, that are distinct in both their use and their lore. The first game tackled some of this, but the story’s scope allowed for only one or two of them to take such importance. I want Hellblade to expand its weapons sandbox, but still in an action-adventure sense, not an RPG one with stats and modifiers and shit. Skill tree is fine, it’s just a staple at this point and would be rather benign. But like Jedi Fallen Order, each of the upgrades you get can be given at very critical points in the campaign itself rather than you opening some chest or hidden away in some cave.
I don’t personally want the game to have magic use, although I would be open to some soft magic systems if they’re implemented well. Cuz I think that’s one way it can stay unique in its approach compared to some of the games it will inevitably be compared to like God of War which has all kinds of magical shit you can do alongside the main weapons. Instead of being able to throw stuff and call back, go visceral, go deep and diverse in sheer swordplay. Don’t however sacrifice a fun system for a more realistic one in the pursuit of that groundedness, cuz at the end of the day, this is still a videogame and needs to be more fun to play than fun to look at.
Next up are the puzzles. Again, one of the more popular contentious areas of the game. It’s not the very presence of puzzles that needs to go, but the overbearing nature of a few type of puzzles that needs to be changed or added to to make it more varied and fun over the course of the game instead of loathing it every time you come across another puzzle knowing exactly what you gotta do but you don’t want to. Also because the parallax puzzles can be very finicky to get right, and there can be instances where you’re just spending time feathering the stick to align pixel perfect.
Keep the horror elements, they are some of the most well made sections of the game. However, it’s a very fine line between romanticizing psychosis as an entertaining sensory experience for those of us playing a game, but it’s a whole another thing to provide a peek into those realities as something that can appear very much real and horrifying to its victims, and NT gotta be responsible in representing it, and on that front and I think Ninja Theory’s partnership and involvement of actual real mental health professionals in informing that representation will continue to be commendable. I just wanna see what they explore this time around.
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I remember reading about anger and revenge themes. Which on a story basis, I don’t like the theme of revenge that much because you can predict the “cycle never ends” stuff already, but at least it could give the most room for narratively motivated, visceral and bloody combat, which let’s be honest is what we want lol
What are rest of the 90 people working on ?
Elder Scrolls 6
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fuck that . put those people on grounded . /s
Is this for the campaign? And isn’t it episodic? Or is this just for the multi-player mode? Personally, I obviously have no interest in the MP mode and only care about the campaign but I would prefer a delay to 2022 and get the game fully intact at launch because im not going to play it until it’s complete anyway.
lol yeah. I mean the first game already did deal with themes of revenge and redemption. IMO the visceral nature in the sequel should come from Senua’s growth and control of her abilities as opposed to being pushed into those pockets of immense power and ability like you see in the first game and losing it as you soon as you get out of those pockets due to how fucking draining the episodes are. It’s definitely gonna be harder to justify a more visceral combat when she’s more in control, but I would love to see if NT can balance that some way narratively cuz as you said, it’s just easier to find more motivation narratively if she’s driven by the same old revenge and anger.
I would want a Senua that’s grown and dealing with her issues better this time around, and has found ways to be less horrified by the visions (which is a tall unfair ask in reality as sheer mental power is not enough to get around these things). Maybe because of the period it’s set in, they can involve certain ways to bring in ritualistic practices (some of that is already in the game and the sequel’s trailer) that appear primeval but are great centers for “cure” or alleviation of said mental terrors. In a way, referring to Ayahuasca type objects in the world, but exploring that responsibly is gonna be another challenge. The show Undone on Amazon Prime explored this well (where Rosa Salazar plays a schizophrenic in search of answers, it’s really beautiful btw go watch it if you already haven’t, it explores mental health, how it affects relationships, near-death experiences, psychedelics and shamanistic rituals, etc).
Regarding Hellblade 2 expectations, I’ll just link to this post I made a couple days ago.
Long story short: NT has put the vast majority of its talent on HB2, and by all indications, this project has been rescoped to be a bona fide AAA production that I reckon will compete with the likes of God of War: Ragnarok, and quite effortlessly surpass it in many respects such as graphics, production, animation and performance.
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So…
Is it safe to say Xbox is back?
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I don’t have insight into Ninja Theory’s development teams. I only stated the fact that studio head himself said the team is around twice the size of Hellblade 1.
at 3:10
Yep, campaign. But episodic? I sure hope you’re wrong about that. It looks to be CoDish, that isn’t going to work episodic based I think.
They are back and better than ever … ok not better than ever . They still lack Japanese games but yea , They are back .
In due time. In terms of delivery, they’re back and better than ever.
Jason Ronald mentioned Lost Odyssey as something he would love for Xbox to go back and do something with that franchise, if only that was possible. 
Project Mara is directed by Stephen Stanyon.
I think that’s supposed to be a very small team, between 10-15 total working on it in-house.
Perhaps they’ve gotten a little more ambitious and added even more devs to the project, but I can’t imagine it taking up anything close to 90.
It should be noted, Ninja Theory made some significant changes in March of this year - including promotions for Rahni Tucker to Game Director on Hellblade 2 and Studio Design Director - Tameem’s old job, who is now Chief of Creative if I remember correctly.
Reshuffles and restructures could’ve changed the numbers on HB2 and Project Mara. I wouldn’t be surprised if NT had a third or even a fourth project in early stages of development, but nothing that would account for 90 devs. I believe HB2 easily has more than double the number of devs that worked on the first game.
Yup , saw that video . He said his fav franchise is Final fantasy 
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He should tell Phil “listen here you Phil, bring FF and more JRPGs back to Xbox or I’ll the leak the entire Xbox security system online”
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