Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was announced at The Game Awards 2019 and is one of the first confirmed Xbox Series X exclusives.

If "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" is anything to go by, the new title will put you in control of the Celtic warrior Senua and (hopefully) guide her through an immersive, ambitious, and emotionally harrowing quest. The "Hellblade" series has thoughtfully examined mental illness through the lens of historical action games, and "Hellblade 2" looks to continue that trend.

Despite "Hellblade 2" being (presumably) an Xbox Series X launch title, we have not yet received much information about it; at the Xbox Series X game showcase on July 23, Microsoft confirmed that the game is set in Iceland, but not much other information was available.

Since then, we haven't gotten much information about "Hellblade 2," but we did get our hands on an Xbox Series X and an Xbox Series S. For an idea of what kind of system "Hellblade 2" will run on when it is released (hopefully in the near future), check out our unboxing video.

As mentioned above, "Senua's Saga Hellblade 2" has a cinematic release trailer that was unveiled at The Game Awards 2019. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out below:

The trailer is mostly a mood piece, focusing on Senua herself undergoing some sort of intense ritual. Images of sea, mountains, fire, ships, and runes are interspersed throughout. Not much is said about Senua other than that she will be the star of another game and that it will be released on the Xbox Series X. (Since Microsoft has promised to release all first-party titles cross-platform for at least a few years, this means that it will be released on Xbox One and PC (which also means that they will be released on PC).

Being one of the first game titles in the Xbox Series X, one might expect "Hellblade 2" to be a launch title. And that may or may not be right. At this point, we have no idea. The trailer doesn't reveal a release date, and Microsoft has yet to highlight the game in any other way.

Nevertheless, let's put some facts together and speculate: Hellblade 2 is one of the first announced titles for the Xbox Series X, and if not a launch title, it is at least within the launch window. A launch window is generally defined as a release within three months of the target console.

Assuming the Xbox Series X launches in late November, the launch window would last until late March. That would mean that the launch date for "Hellblade 2" would be between November 2020 and March 2021. The first "Hellblade" was released in the summer of 2017, so it is reasonable to expect the sequel either this year or next.

Since the Hellblade 2 trailer was all pre-rendered cut-scene footage, it is hard to say what the gameplay will look like. In theory, it will be similar to the previous game, which had an exploration part and a combat part. In the exploration part, Senua interacts with environmental objects and solves puzzles. In the combat part, Senua performs a series of simple combos to take on human and supernatural enemies. Neither was incredibly complex, but the balance between the two worked well and helped move the story along reasonably well.

At a Microsoft event in July, it was revealed that "Hellblade 2" will be set in Iceland. Since the previous game was set in the fictional realm of Hellheim, it will be interesting to see how the game unfolds with a physical location instead. Unfortunately, specific details about the gameplay and level design are unknown.