Hellblade 2 is $50, digital-only, and about 8 hours long

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
(Image credit: Xbox)

Ninja Theory provided a healthy dollop of information about Hellblade 2 at today's Xbox Developer Direct, including confirmation that this will be a modestly priced, digital-only release that'll be similar in length to the original game.

"Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will be a game crafted from the heart - a game similar in length to the first Hellblade, with a focused narrative, and sold digital-only at a price of $49.99 USD," the devs explain in a post on the official Xbox blog. The HowLongToBeat database puts the original Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice at anywhere from seven to nine hours for a single playthrough, so it seems we can expect a similar runtime here.

The devs aim to recapture the "independent AAA" ethos of the original game, "where we worked with the creative spirit and freedom of independent development but strove for the types of high-end production values often only associated with AAA games. We also took advantage of the freedom that digital-only distribution offered us to create a game of the length that fit perfectly with our intended experience but could be sold at a lower price to reflect the shorter length of our story."

Originally self-published by Ninja Theory, Hellblade was first released for $30 back in 2017. Some time later, the studio partnered with 505 Games for a physical version, which is still readily available today. Hellblade 2 will similarly launch as a digital-only title, though I suspect a later physical option is a bit less likely in this instance.

You will, of course, also be able to play Hellblade 2 through Xbox Game Pass. However you want to get in, the game launches on May 21, 2024.

Hellblade 2's "brutal" combat should make you feel the hero's "struggle in every step of her journey."

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Onimusha 2 appearing in the Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2025
Iconic JRPG dev behind Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Remastered says the new Hell difficulty is so hard that even he hasn't beaten it yet
South of Midnight hero image for Big Preview showing Hazel looking at a Bottle of contained memories
South of Midnight is "10 to 12 hours" long because its story unfolds within a single day: "There's a kind of urgency to it"
Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring Nightreign launches this May, costs $40, and already has DLC cooking
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows will take upwards of 80 hours for completionists, creative director confirms, and Ubisoft is considering adding New Game+ post launch
Screenshot shows Ryu Hayabusa standing in front of blue lightning.
Over 10 years later, Ninja Gaiden 4 is in the works with help from Nier: Automata and Bayonetta studio Platinum Games – and a Ninja Gaiden 2 remaster is out now
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
Death Stranding 2 pre-orders are estimated to go live this month, and will reportedly include a $230 collector's edition that I pray doesn't come with another creepy baby statue
Latest in Action
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
Naoe looks over at a dense, lush, green forest in Assassin's Creed Shadows from a viewpoint
Getting Assassin's Creed Shadows on PS5 and Xbox Series X was all about adding "dynamism" to the open world, but the devs seem most proud about the trees
Naoe and Yasuke walk in the sunset in a screenshot from Assassin's Creed Shadows
Following Assassin's Creed Shadows controversy, Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director says "every big AAA game could be better," but players shouldn't be mad "just because some dude told you to"
Assassin's Creed Shadows Wanted Status
How to remove Wanted status in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Naoe kills a target with a black and white filter over the camera highlighting the red of blood spray in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with an On The Radar orange frame
Assassin's Creed Shadows "has a little bit of Tarantino flavor", but its real secret ingredient is intrigue: "It's almost like you're watching an episode of Shogun"
God of War
20 years later, God of War's original monster art has been revealed: behold this army of stick figures slapped on a whiteboard, no clue Kratos is coming for them
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"