With all the rumors surrounding a secret fourth title to be revealed during the Xbox Developer_Direct, some (like me) assumed that we would see Ninja Theory’s Project: Mara. After all, it matches the description of “smaller, scale original game” from a first-party studio that VGC recently reported on. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as Windows Central’s Jez Corden alleges that Project: Mara is not in the works.
During the Xbox Two Podcast with Rand al Thor 19, Corden alleges that the title, announced in 2020, was “just a concept; it’s not a game they are currently working on. It might be something they work on eventually, but Project: Mara is not a game that is currently being worked on at Ninja Theory.”
What is on the cards? Hellblade 3, apparently, and it’s reportedly going to be “a bit more interactive than Hellblade 1 and 2. They want to make it more of a game, and broaden its appeal,” said Corden. This may very well be the studio’s next project that was allegedly greenlit in May 2024 following the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
Project: Mara was described as an “experimental” horror title that “explores new ways of storytelling.” Featuring Melina Juergens, who plays Senua in the Hellblade series, it would have offered a “real-world and grounded representation of mental terror.”
While there’s no official confirmation on Project: Mara’s status, Ninja Theory hasn’t exactly inundated the world with details since its reveal. The last major update was in January 2021, when a developer diary confirmed that the story would unfold in a single apartment.
The speculation around that secret fourth game thus continues, but fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. The Xbox Developer_Direct ’26 airs on January 22nd at 10 AM PST, and features the likes of Fable, Forza Horizon 6 and Beast of Reincarnation.
