The previously exclusive Hellblade for PlayStation 4 is in fact coming to our scrappy PCs, reveals Ninja Theory’s Tameem Antoniades. It’s easier to work with than consoles, he says.
Playtesting is especially easier to handle on the PC, with the likes of Steam’s Early Access, where as consoles remain ”years behind” those kind of services. Antoniades is aiming for 4K and mod support.
”I think PC offers us a level of freedom that we haven’t had before,” creative chief Tameem Antoniades told PC Gamer. ”We’re looking at everything we do on this project and figuring out better ways of doing things compared to how the traditional AAA console model works. And consoles are following suit with PC, but I think they’re years behind what things like Steam are doing.”
”If we want to do an open beta right now, it’s a little bit trickier to do that than on PC. Playtesting is a huge thing for us. Usability testing, getting people hands-on to try things out, get feedback, then roll that back in and improve the game… it’s always been essential for us to do that. Not every publisher has let us, because of the secrecy that goes into consoles and publisher-based businesses. As an independent we have the freedom to do that.”
“I think we want to get to the point where we can invite players and fans to add to the game, and do things that are unexpected, and suggest ideas or add-ons that can make the game richer.”
Hellblade is the studio’s new single-player action hack and slash title powered by the Unreal Engine 4. It was revealed at Gamescom to be exclusively launching on PlayStation 4, meaning it seems to only be a timed exclusive at best before arriving on PC sometime this year.
