Project Mara
Something is also moving on the Project front: Mara, despite not knowing anything about it for some time, with Microsoft having recently registered the trademark in its own name at the office in charge in Europe, which suggests some progress in the project.For those who do not remember, Project: Mara is the code name with which one of the three major projects currently underway at Ninja Theory is identified, which should be a psychological horror with a somewhat experimental cut but of which little is seen so far. The registration of the trademark does not bring with it particular information, even if there is the possibility that the title can be used for the final product, or in any case a part of it.
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Project: Mara should be an experimental horror that aims to recreate on screen the horrors coming from a disturbed mind, within settings recreated in an extremely realistic way. Announced back in January 2020, the "game" was then shown a year later, in January 2021, through a sort of demo within a series of video diaries by the development team.
It is possible that the great work carried out by Ninja Theory on psychology and the rendering of altered states of mind, which we saw in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, led to the idea of Project: Mara, which we now await to know more details. However, it is reasonable to expect this project to be completed only after Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.
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Project Mara: Everything we know about Ninja Theory's experimental horror game
Project Mara remains one of the most mysterious upcoming Xbox Series X games in development at Xbox Game Studios. Ninja Theory is working on Project Mara around development of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, taking the time it needs to craft a next generation psychological horror experience.
From all of the Project Mara news we've had so far, it sounds as if it's going to be world's apart from Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, DMC: Devil May Cry, and Heavenly Sword. If anything, it's fast becoming one of our most anticipated upcoming horror games of 2023 and beyond. Below you'll find the first teaser trailer, development updates, and everything else we know about Project Mara so far.
What is Project Mara?
Project Mara is an in-development experimental game from Ninja Theory with a focus on recreating the terror of mental health issues and it will be 'based on real lived experience accounts and in-depth research.'
After the success of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, the studio revealed a research and development effort known as The Insight Project (opens in new tab), which is a collaboration between Ninja Theory and a series of experts, psychiatrists, and professors. The project aims to create 'self-contained, individualized, and absorbing game experiences' to help people control things like fear and anxiety.
Ninja Theory says that it wants to 'deliver a mainstream solution to help treat mental suffering and encourage mental well being.' An ambitious endeavour to say the least, and whilst it hasn't been confirmed, it’s fair to say Project Mara is something of an offshoot of this research push.
The focus appears to be recreating 'the horrors of the mind as accurately and realistically as possible' to usher in some kind of new approach to storytelling in games. Let's just hope it's respectful of mental health issues and those suffering from them whilst trying to shine a necessary spotlight on something stigmatized. Gamifying something like anxiety or fear is ambitious, but also cause for concern – it has to be done with an as of yet unseen level of tact.
Project Mara release date – When can we expect it?
The game was revealed in January of this year following the reveal of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 at The Game Awards 2019. Given that Hellblade 2 is yet to receive a release date, it's safe to say that Project Mara's launch window is even more out of the way. Considering that the studio was acquired by Xbox Game Studios in 2018, We can readily assume that the game will come to Microsoft's flagship platforms whenever it’s ready, which means Xbox Series X and PC for the time being.
Project Mara teaser trailer - Watch it nowUpon its reveal, the game received a terrifying teaser trailer which appears to feature award-winning Hellblade actor Melina Juergens in the titular role as Mara. The teaser shows off some impeccably rendered slices of what looks like a research facility, soundtracked by heavy breathing and close-ups of documents detailing a study of Mara’s brain function and mental health progress. The trailer tagline is “I can't tell what’s real anymore” and at the end of the trailer, we can see Mara turn to face some sort of antagonistic force in the darkness.
It’s very hard to grasp what the premise of the game is from this disorienting trailer, but it seems to follow a mental health patient struggling with her illness. The game presents the facility in a somewhat antagonistic way but it’s yet to be revealed whether this is the reality of the situation or not.
Project Mara development diaryAlongside the teaser trailer, Ninja Theory released a development diary for players to follow the progress of their upcoming projects. They’re focusing on small-scope development similar to their approach with Hellblade, which was made by a small team of 20 developers. This is what they’re calling the Dreadnought approach, where the company is splitting into a set of small teams to work on their upcoming titles, each even combined not totalling the scale of a typical AAA development project. This is so that they can take more creative risks and drill into their ideas.
Co-founder Tameem Antoniades talks a little bit about The Insight Project, which seeks to use the environmental control of game design and adapt it into a push towards mental wellbeing for players by allowing users to engage with and overcome their fears. There are a couple of short scenes where we see clips from projects tied to this, including a person in a rowboat with a heart monitor, somebody running on a treadmill whilst being tracked and a VR project where the player interacts with an avatar. Ninja Theory want to explore the “new control interfaces and the psychology of play,” which has much to do with the forthcoming Project Mara.
Antoniades notes that the game has only one character (Mara, probably) and one location (what looks to be a mental health facility) and if successful, the team plan to expand upon this new medium for storytelling in games.
Project Mara remains one of the most anticipated new games of 2022 and beyond from Xbox Game Studios, and we hope to learn more information on it soon.