Hellblade is coming to PC

Ninja Theory’s Hellblade is coming to PC, PC Gamer can exclusively reveal. The third-person hack-and-slash game from the DmC and Enslaved studio was previously announced for PS4 at Gamescom, but it’ll also arrive on PC with possible mod support and more.

“I think PC offers us a level of freedom that we haven’t had before,” the studio’s creative chief Tameem Antoniades told me. “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.”

The aim is for Hellblade to be future-proof on PC—possibly supporting 4K resolution and maybe even mods, too. “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.”

The full story on Hellblade and my studio visit to Ninja Theory will be in PC Gamer UK 275, which subscribers will start receiving tomorrow and will be on-sale on January 15, as well as PC Gamer US 263, which subscribers will start receiving from January 20 and will be on-sale February 3.

Former PC Gamer EIC Samuel has been writing about games since he was 18. He's a generalist, because life is surely about playing as many games as possible before you're put in the cold ground.