Hellblade 2 is finally out in the wild, and most fans seem to be enjoying it. Our own review says it’s a game that Xbox has really needed and has given the brand a boost. But where do they go from here and can they build on it? Let’s discuss.

First of all, when I say momentum let’s be clear what I’m talking about. I don’t think it’s gonna be some massive seller or push much hardware or game pass subscriptions. But what it is is a fantastic game from a publisher who of late has had too many swings and misses and not enough hits. Hellblade 2 might not be a home run but it’s a double and puts a runner on base. It’s now time for Xbox to string a couple more hits together and cash in some runs.

Xbox’s main problem of late has been it’s constant stops and starts of momentum. They put out a great Forza Horizon 5 and build momentum and follow it up with Halo Infinite in 2021. While a decent showing, Infinite was not up to Halo standards and momentum slows, only to come to a grinding halt with a painfully slow 2022.

2023 comes along and it starts so so well with Hi-Fi Rush only to see Minecraft Legends and Redfall kill any momentum they had. At least they had Starfield and Forza Motorsport to fall back on later in the year we all thought. And while both of those games were good, they were expected to be market leaders of their respective genres and simply wern’t.

Regardless though they were good enough from a game perspective that one could at least argue they gained a bit of momentum. Plus the ABK deal finally went through. And then they had their February Xbox showcase where everything looked great. Xbox finally had a bit of a prolonged buzz around it in 2024. Then it again came to a screeching halt.

First came the layoffs. Then came the announcement of sending games to PlayStation. Then came the studio closures. Suddenly there was an immense pressure on Xbox and Ninja Theory to make sure Hellblade 2 was good news instead of bad news. I think it’s accomplished that, but now is the time more than ever that Xbox needs a string of wins and to just focus on great games. Which brings us to the future.

The Xbox showcase is in just a couple of weeks on June 9th and that’s as good a place as any to showcase games and build some momentum. There will of course be some doubts surrounding that show because of the things going on with the business side of things, but hopefully the games speak for themselves.

What exactly we see is anybody’s guess but they have a plethora of options. From a Gears 6 reveal to State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark, Fable and many others. Not to mention the current 2024 slate of Flight Sim, Avowed and Indiana Jones as well as the inevitable Call Of Duty. That’s a lot of potentially great games they can roll out in the near future and build a lot of this momentum. But they all need to hit.

A lot of what separates Xbox from both Nintendo and PlayStation is making consistent hits. Hopefully with Hellblade 2, they’ve finally taken a step in the right direction.