The Xbox Developer Direct showcase, which took place earlier on January 18, put several big upcoming releases into the spotlight.

While there was some incredible insight into each of the games given, one game stood out against the rest for fans. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 appears to have taken Hellblade to a whole new level, which is seeing fans already dubbing the title the next Game Of The Year.

Senua's Saga seems to be taking Hellblade to a whole new level

Dom Matthews, the studio head at Ninja Theory, said: "We have once again combined high fidelity and immersive presentation with a shorter, narrative-led experience that focuses on the things that we really care about and that we hope you care about, too."

While the game seems to be shorter than the previous Hellblade game, it does not seem to be lacking.  The team has worked closely with Professor Paul Fletcher from The University of Cambridge, as well as those with lived experience of psychosis, to help ensure that Senua’s perspective of the world is accurately portrayed.

Melina Juergens, who focuses on character performance, explained how they are taking production to the next level, stating that the game has benefited from a new motion capture space, a bigger stage team, a stunt crew, and a new cast. 

The team has created all-new combat for Senua's Saga and has reportedly worked hard to ensure that each fight feels different to the one before it.

Based on the Developer Direct, it is clear that the team has worked hard to make the game as realistic as possible, going on reference gathering trips to Iceland and binaural audio, which allows for every noise in the game to have the potential to be spatialised around the player.

That's not to say the game will be perfect, with players already concerned about the fact that the game is going to be digital only and that it's apparently shorter than Hellblade. Senua's first outing wasn't especially long to begin with.

Fans think that Hellblade 2 could be the next GOTY

Naturally, with the amount of effort that the developers have put into the game and shown off during the Developer Direct, it is no surprise that players are already singing the game's praises.

Several fans of the first game are already convinced that Senua's Saga could be Game of the Year. One Twitter user wrote: "From a quality aspect, I think Hellblade II could be one of the stronger GotY candidates Xbox has had in years if it meets expectations upon release."

"Hellblade 2 is definitely a GOTY contender I think. Already loved the first one," said another comment. "Hellblade will be a 2024 GOTY Nomination," wrote a third Twitter user.

Another concluded: "Hellblade 2 Senua's Saga showed that it will be a technical and narrative masterpiece, even if it lacks a little gameplay in the combat part, but this game promises a lot. GOTY Contender?"

While many people seem confident that the game could take the award, others are wary that the short length and digital-only release could just be the start of disappointments.

Senua's Saga is set to release in May 2024, so it is likely that we will have to wait until then to see just how likely the game is to secure a nomination.