Hellblade 2 dives deeper into the mental health journey of characters, players and psychosis patients.
Upcoming adventure game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 follows the story of Senua, a warrior impacted by psychosis in her day-to-day journey. In representing the effects of psychosis, and how it transforms perceptions of the real world, game developers worked to depict the condition as accurately and respectfully as possible.
On April 9th, Ninja Theory in partnership with Cambridge Neuroscience hosted a special live event highlighting the research that’s gone into developing the game.
This is a long video (1 hour presentation with 2 hours of follow up questions), but really emphasizes the power of blending media and mental health.
Key Takeaways:
(1) The game has been a very powerful tool for education and empathy building around psychosis and general mental health.
(2) No evidence has been found for this game or any type of play to lead to psychosis or psychotic episodes.
(3) Media has an incredible ability to address mental health through greater knowledge, agency and accomplishment.
