GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Watch: Viking-Inspired PS4 Game Hellblade Shown Off In New Trailer

Ninja Theory publishes in-depth video that explains how it's building the game's sprawling, Viking-inspired world.

53 Comments
Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Curious about upcoming PlayStation 4 game Hellblade? It's the latest game fromHeavenly Sword and DMC: Devil May Cry developer Ninja Theory, and now we know more about it, thanks to a detailed developer diary video highlighting its Viking-inspired world.

The focus of the video is explaining the processes Ninja Theory is implementing to create a grand world on a small budget. The video reveals that a single environment artist (of a team of only 13 people in all) is responsible for bringing the world to life. He's doing this by reusing assets for different parts of the world. In all, Ninja Theory says about 95 percent of the assets it creates for Hellblade will show up somewhere else in the game.

Ninja Theory also writes in a PlayStation Blog post that Hellblade is still very early in development. What you see in the video only represents the tip of the iceberg for what the studio is aiming for with Hellblade, which--despite its small budget--is likely the studio's "most ambitious" game to date.

The studio added that for Hellblade, it announced the game so early in development because it wanted the game's entire development to be chronicled out in the open. "The standard approach is for games and their development to be hidden away, with details slowly drip fed to players very carefully and slowly over time. But we want to do the opposite," the studio said.

Hellblade was announced during Sony's Gamescom briefing in August. It will launch first on PS4, though releases for other platforms have not been ruled out. The game is not tied to Heavenly Sword in any way, Ninja Theory later clarified. For more on Hellblade, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 53 comments about this story