Hellblade PS4 PlayStation 4 1

It feels like we've been writing about Hellblade for a lot longer than two years, as the title's been re-tooled a couple of times since it was first announced. Still, developer Ninja Theory's been steadily making progress with the intriguing project, and it's announced on the PlayStation Blog today that it's finally hit alpha. This means that, for the first time since its inception, the title can be played from start to finish.

This obviously doesn't mean that the project's complete – the studio still has plenty of work left to do before we all experience Senua's Sacrifice on the PlayStation 4 later this year. But it's completed all of the title's mocap, recorded all of the dialogue, and has programmed all of the gameplay mechanics – it's just a case of implementing them and refining them at this point.

"We have a lot of work ahead and the team is putting all of our care into Hellblade to make it as special as it can be," wrote Dominic Matthews on the PlayStation Blog. "We're getting super excited about sharing Hellblade with you later this year and we look forward to bringing you further updates on the road to release."

[source blog.us.playstation.com]