Ninja Theory has released a new development diary for Hellblade, its artistically rich action title coming to PlayStation 4.
“Creating the World,” the fourth video diary released, delves into Hellblade’s inspiration from Viking lore and mythology. In contrast to development on Heavenly Sword, the game world is being built before the script and other narrative fundamentals. In doing so, Ninja Theory hopes to build a game that, sans narrative and other gameplay systems, could inspire the player to explore for hours.
Apparently, Unreal Engine 4 is yielding high efficiency for Ninja Theory, as detail-rich environments can be built from a small number of reusable assets. You can see some of these environments over developer shoulders in the video diary, below.
Hellblade was first revealed at this year’s Gamescom with the teaser trailer below. Ninja Theory has so far taken an open communicative stance on the game’s development, frequently sharing philosophy and techniques with gamers.