Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 release confirmed for May, but its digital only

After years of teasing, the real Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 release date is here for Xbox Series consoles and PC. Continuing the dramatic adventure of Senua, Ninja Theory’s action game will release on May 21, 2024.

First revealed alongside the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 has been hyped as one of the best looking games ever. Powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 and Nanite technology, the game sure does look unreal.

Shown alongside new Avowed gameplay and Indiana Jones and The Great Circle gameplay at Xbox’s January 2024 Developer Direct, the upcoming Hellblade sequel is a stunning new adventure for Xbox gamers. Detailing a physiological new story of Senua taking on the Drauger threat while battling her continuing psychosis, this sequel aims to one-up everything the original did so well.

“In the game, Senua travels to 10th century Iceland on the trail of the Vikings that are enslaving her people,” developer Ninja Theory said. “In the story, we’re trying to be as faithful to history as we can… up to a point.”

Alongside cutting edge visuals, Hellblade 2 also makes huge advancements in audio presentation. Just like the original, the voices in Senua’s head exist in a 3D space. However, this time around, the music, sound effects and more are all designed to take advantage of directional audio.

Unfortunately, as reported by VGC, Hellblade 2 will only have a digital release, but the game will be cheaper than most AAA releases. As a smaller title, Xbox will only be charging $49.99 for the game, as well as offering it via Xbox Game Pass.

This isn’t the first time Xbox has released games exclusively on digital. For example, the recently released Hi-Fi Rush, the Gfinity Game of the Year for Xbox, was only released digitally. Hopefully, Xbox can put out a Game Pass Collection release with numerous digital only games on disc in the future, similar to its XBLA library.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 releases on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC on May 21, 2024. The game will be playable via Xbox Game Pass as well as on Xbox Cloud Gaming for Ultimate subscribers.