12-28-2018, 03:02 PM
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
<div><div class="media_block"><img src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/hellblade_crop-hero-hero-hero.jpg" class="media_thumbnail"></div>
<p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/c4z7qm8fsxm2#activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong><em>Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice</em></strong></a> is the journey of a broken Celtic warrior on a vision quest to save the soul of her dead lover from Viking Hell. <em>Hellblade</em> was developed and published independently by a small team with a limited budget. As such, our developers had to adopt a more creative approach to problem-solving and making <em>Hellblade</em> how the way we envisioned it.</p>
<ol>
<li>The award-winning actor who plays Senua in <em>Hellblade</em> wasn’t originally an actor at all. She was Ninja Theory’s Video Editor who was used as a stand-in for technical tests. In her first ever acting role, Melina Juergens went on to win a BAFTA for Best Performance!</li>
<li>Senua’s guide in <em>Hellblade</em> is an old scholar called Druth. The skull he wears on his head was a real animal skull found by Creative Director Tameem Antoniades when walking his dog.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107693" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/DruthSkull.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="348" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107693" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/DruthSkull.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="348" /></p>
<ol start="3">
<li>When Senua hears a chorus of voices in the Sea of Corpses area, these are actually the voices of the entire Ninja Theory team – recorded during a company meeting.</li>
</ol>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="4">
<li>A couple of team members created a <em>Hellblade</em> kart racing mode. It never made it into the game (for obvious reasons) and the only remaining trace of it is this .gif:</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107690" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Hellkart.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="331" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107690" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Hellkart.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="331" /></p>
<ol start="5">
<li>To make Senua’s costume look battle worn, one of our artists let his dog rough up our material samples before they were scanned and turned into in-game textures.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107692" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Dog.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="349" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107692" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Dog.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="349" /></p>
<ol start="6">
<li>Melina Juergens played the role of Senua, but her combat was performed in mo-cap by Chloe Bruce, Daisy Ridley’s stunt double from “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.”</li>
</ol>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="7">
<li>Ninja Theory has a development team of around 100 people, but <em>Hellblade</em> was created by a small team of just 20 people.</li>
<li>With a small budget, Ninja Theory couldn’t afford to go and shoot performance capture for <em>Hellblade</em>’s cinematic scenes. Instead, they converted their boardroom into a makeshift performance capture space using a variety of materials including wardrobe poles.</li>
</ol>
<div class="video-wrapper"> <img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-n7RTnRZ_QQ/maxresdefault.jpg" class="lazyload start-image" alt="Video for10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice" /><img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-n7RTnRZ_QQ/maxresdefault.jpg" class="start-image" alt="Video for10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice" /> </div>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="9">
<li>After the release of <em>Hellblade</em>, the team created an Accolades Trailer. Rather than including impressive quotes from press reviews in the trailer like most games do, the <em>Hellblade</em> trailer was created from fan screenshots and touching messages received from fans.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107694" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/FacePaint.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="347" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107694" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/FacePaint.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="347" /></p>
<ol start="10">
<li>Senua’s blue war paint was actually a cheap supermarket face pack applied to Melina before being scanned and transformed onto a digital character.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you for reading, and remember that <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/c4z7qm8fsxm2#activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong><em>Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice</em></strong></a> is available now on Xbox One and with Xbox Game Pass. For more development stories, news, and updates you can follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/NinjaTheory">Twitter @NinjaTheory</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/officialninjatheory/">Instagram @OfficialNinjaTheory</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ninjatheory/">Facebook @NinjaTheory</a>.</p>
</div>
<div><div class="media_block"><img src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/hellblade_crop-hero-hero-hero.jpg" class="media_thumbnail"></div>
<p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/c4z7qm8fsxm2#activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong><em>Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice</em></strong></a> is the journey of a broken Celtic warrior on a vision quest to save the soul of her dead lover from Viking Hell. <em>Hellblade</em> was developed and published independently by a small team with a limited budget. As such, our developers had to adopt a more creative approach to problem-solving and making <em>Hellblade</em> how the way we envisioned it.</p>
<ol>
<li>The award-winning actor who plays Senua in <em>Hellblade</em> wasn’t originally an actor at all. She was Ninja Theory’s Video Editor who was used as a stand-in for technical tests. In her first ever acting role, Melina Juergens went on to win a BAFTA for Best Performance!</li>
<li>Senua’s guide in <em>Hellblade</em> is an old scholar called Druth. The skull he wears on his head was a real animal skull found by Creative Director Tameem Antoniades when walking his dog.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107693" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/DruthSkull.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="348" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107693" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/DruthSkull.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="348" /></p>
<ol start="3">
<li>When Senua hears a chorus of voices in the Sea of Corpses area, these are actually the voices of the entire Ninja Theory team – recorded during a company meeting.</li>
</ol>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="4">
<li>A couple of team members created a <em>Hellblade</em> kart racing mode. It never made it into the game (for obvious reasons) and the only remaining trace of it is this .gif:</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107690" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Hellkart.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="331" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107690" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Hellkart.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="331" /></p>
<ol start="5">
<li>To make Senua’s costume look battle worn, one of our artists let his dog rough up our material samples before they were scanned and turned into in-game textures.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107692" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Dog.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="349" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107692" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/Dog.gif" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="349" /></p>
<ol start="6">
<li>Melina Juergens played the role of Senua, but her combat was performed in mo-cap by Chloe Bruce, Daisy Ridley’s stunt double from “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.”</li>
</ol>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="7">
<li>Ninja Theory has a development team of around 100 people, but <em>Hellblade</em> was created by a small team of just 20 people.</li>
<li>With a small budget, Ninja Theory couldn’t afford to go and shoot performance capture for <em>Hellblade</em>’s cinematic scenes. Instead, they converted their boardroom into a makeshift performance capture space using a variety of materials including wardrobe poles.</li>
</ol>
<div class="video-wrapper"> <img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-n7RTnRZ_QQ/maxresdefault.jpg" class="lazyload start-image" alt="Video for10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice" /><img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-n7RTnRZ_QQ/maxresdefault.jpg" class="start-image" alt="Video for10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice" /> </div>
<p><!--video-wrapper--></p>
<ol start="9">
<li>After the release of <em>Hellblade</em>, the team created an Accolades Trailer. Rather than including impressive quotes from press reviews in the trailer like most games do, the <em>Hellblade</em> trailer was created from fan screenshots and touching messages received from fans.</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone wp-image-107694" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/FacePaint.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="347" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-107694" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/FacePaint.png" alt="Hellblade 10 Things Image" width="620" height="347" /></p>
<ol start="10">
<li>Senua’s blue war paint was actually a cheap supermarket face pack applied to Melina before being scanned and transformed onto a digital character.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you for reading, and remember that <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/c4z7qm8fsxm2#activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong><em>Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice</em></strong></a> is available now on Xbox One and with Xbox Game Pass. For more development stories, news, and updates you can follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/NinjaTheory">Twitter @NinjaTheory</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/officialninjatheory/">Instagram @OfficialNinjaTheory</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ninjatheory/">Facebook @NinjaTheory</a>.</p>
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