Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is Getting Full VR Support

Ninja Theory announced today that its award-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is getting full VR support. The studio’s Commercial Director, Dominic Matthews, explained in an all-new developer diary the VR edition is not just an add-on or DLC- it’s the full Hellblade game with a “standard VR experience.” There will also be a few experimental game modes and customizable options for comfort.

The developer diary goes into more detail about the challenges of creating a VR version of Hellblade, discussing common elements of VR titles, like first person and teleportation movements that simply wouldn’t have been possible for a game like Hellblade, which uses a close third-person angle. After several prototypes, Ninja Theory settled on using Senua herself as a frame of reference in VR, so players won’t feel too queasy- something that is all-too common in VR. Head steering was also used to control her turning, in a unique way that still gives players a 360 degree view.

The developer diary is definitely worth a watch, as Ninja Theory not only explains the challenge of getting its game to run at 90 fps, but also revealing how its philosophy and approach to game development has changed since the release of Hellblade last year. It will be interesting to see what the studio puts out next, especially since it was just acquired by Microsoft to produce Xbox exclusives.

The VR edition of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will be available on July 31st for HTC Vive. It’s 100% free, if you own or purchase the game on Steam.