Hellblade dev talks the ultra-realistic environments of "mental terror" experience Project: Mara Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Hellblade dev talks the ultra-realistic environments of "mental terror" experience Project: Mara As part of latest video instalment. News by Matt Wales Reporter Updated on 19 Jan 2021 18 comments We've not heard much about Ninja Theory's "mental terror" experience Project: Mara since its unveiling early last year, but now the Hellblade and Enslaved studio has offered a fresh glimpse, focussing on Mara's meticulously rendered environments, as part of its latest developer video. Previously, Ninja Theory described Project: Mara as an "experimental title that explores new ways of storytelling" built around a "real-world and grounded representation of mental terror". Using "real lived experience accounts and in-depth research", its aim is to recreate the "horrors of the mind as accurately and realistically as possible." Now, in its new developer video, Ninja Theory's creative director Tameem Antoniades has detailed some of the processes the studio is adopting in order to capture that sense of realism for Project: Mara, and to deliver an experience that "doesn't feel like a game and doesn't feel like a movie [but is] something altogether different". Watch on YouTube The Dreadnought Diaries Episode 3 - Capturing Reality. Antoniades says the studio is "attempting to do lots of things that [it's] never attempted before", most notably in its efforts to "capture reality obsessively". More specifically, the art team is focussed on recreating Project: Mara's environments - based on an actual real-world apartment - as perfectly as possible, capturing its materials, scanning its geometry, and creating procedural tools to construct Ninja Theory's "most ambitious and realistic game setting ever". This work, according to Antoniades, marks a shift for the developer in the way it creates art. "Artists are not there to just create an object," he says, "they're there to create systems that can create that object and infinite variations of that object." It's an approach that is "laying the foundation for all of our projects across the studio and all of our future projects". There's plenty of footage comparing Project: Mara's digital apartment with its real-world counterpart in the studio's latest video, should you be interested in seeing the end results. Project: Mara, which still remains something of an enigma beyond its initial teaser trailer and today's update, is just one of several projects known to be in development at the Microsoft-owned Ninja Theory. Others include The Insight Project (described as an "ambitious combination of technology, game design, and clinical neuroscience brought together with the aim of generating strategies to alleviate mental distress") and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade Ups and downs. 7 Lady Dimitrescu will be a tad smaller in Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries DLC Level the playing field. 1 Overwatch 2 suffers another DDoS attack and character roster bugs Mei Mei. 13 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store