Hellblade II’s Dom Matthews: “Kids Growing Up Can Be Games Developers”

Seven years ago, Hellblade: Senua’s Saga dominated the 2018 Bafta Games Awards by winning five gongs, including one for Melina Juergens’ raw performance as the game’s lead character. Its sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, has every chance of being just as successful as it goes into tonight’s 21st annual Bafta ceremony leading the way with 11 nominations.

The game continues the story of Senua, a warrior in 9th century Iceland who suffers from a condition called psychosis which causes her to hallucinate and hear voices. She embarks on a violent journey across the country seeking revenge.

I spoke with Dom Matthews, the studio head at the game’s developer, Ninja Theory, about being nominated for so many awards and why the game struck a chord with players.

How does it feel to be nominated for 11 Baftas?

It’s really special. To get one nomination makes me proud, but to get as many as we have is incredible. The Bafta awards are the awards. When we won a few with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice it was one of the best moments of my life. The reason I think it’s so special is because Bafta puts video games on a different platform. It’s a vehicle through which games transcend beyond the games industry for a period and become more mainstream, so people really take notice.

I think a category like British game shows the amazing work that’s happening in this country. I want the next generation of kids growing up to say: “this stuff is happening in my backyard, maybe I can be a games developer” because they absolutely can be.

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Is there a category that stands out you’d want to win?

I’d love to win any of them, but I think games beyond entertainment is particularly special to me. Hellblade is a story about a character that experiences psychosis and we’ve got a really amazing partnership with Paul Fletcher at the University of Cambridge who is a professor of neuroscience, as well as links with a local recovery college there. They’ve really helped tell Senua’s story in a truthful way through her experiences of psychosis. I’d love to win that for them.

Hellblade II is an unconventional game, so what does the acknowledgment from Bafta and the positive critical reception to it say about the types of games people want to play at the moment?

With Bafta, there’s always a diverse range of games that are nominated. I don’t think we can just say ‘the games industry’ anymore as it’s become too broad. We’re talking about [titles] that are completely different experiences.

I think it’s great that we’re in an industry with lots of different types of experiences and games like there are in films, literature and theatre. People now have easy access to games through digital distribution and pricing models, so I think the diversity is something to be celebrated. I love the fact that games of all types can be loved by different audiences. The nominations for Hellblade II say that we had an ambition to make a game that would find its place in people’s hearts and I think it did.

What is it about Hellblade II that struck a chord with players?

A big part of what we care about as a studio is focusing on taking people on an impactful journey. I love hearing people say they’ve built a relationship with Senua or that they’ve connected with her story. Someone once told me that they feel like she’s the only one that understands them. She feels like a real person that is really going through a journey.