Ninja Theory have announced a new psychological horror game, Project MARA, and mental health research project “The Insight Project”.

The announcement came via their new “Dreadnaught Diaries” video development diary series. The video explains how Ninja Theory was heavily influenced by their work on Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, focusing on smaller development teams, and games focused on mental health across the whole studio.

Project: MARA will be “a real-world and grounded representation of mental terror.” While the game is only based on one character and one area, the game will be based on real experiences by people and in-depth research in “the horrors of the mind” that is “a showcase of what could become a new storytelling medium.”

No release date or platforms were revealed for Project MARA.

With Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and Bleeding Edge also in production, Ninja Theory also re-iterated their work on “The Insight Project”, originally announced in October 2019. Artists, scientists, and mental health experts are set to work together with game design and cutting-edge technology to help better understand and solve mental suffering.

Technology such as virtual avatars, data analytics, human-computer interfaces, and more could help research in that field, Ninja Theory Co-Founder Tameem Antoniades proposes. Much like how games teach you how to complete them, the project hopes to teach people how to overcome anxieties and fears. The research will also be publicly available.

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