I remember Heavenly Sword being one of the better responses to the question 'Why did you spend $600 on a PS3?' back in the day. It wasn't $600 good, but it was nice, and I'd certainly play a sequel game.
If there ever is a sequel game, it isn't coming from the original devs, Ninja Theory. They're actually working on the equally lovely Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which we previewed not too long ago. And as much as I'm looking forward to that game, I'd also happily get down on some Heavenly Sword 2. Ninja Theory kills my dream, though.
Studio boss Tameem Antoniades told CVG that they actually made no money from the first game. That would kill anyone's motivation. But worse than that is that Sony owns the license and the game's tech. Antoniades tells CVG that they "probably" would have made a sequel if they could.
"I don't know if Sony made any money on Heavenly Sword but we didn't," he said. "But we couldn't do Heavenly Sword 2 as a multi-platform because it's owned by Sony, the tech we developed for that game is also owned by Sony."
Fudge. Oh well. Just call it something else and change the art a bit, eh?
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
1:40 PM on 06.21.2010 | 
Enslaved looks good though, so that lessens the pain of not getting a Heavenly Sword sequel.
Maybe Sony will resurrect it and give it to someone else (Santa Monica). I'd buy the sequel in a heartbeat. The original wasn't perfect, but it was still a good game.
But still I always like to see the original devs behind the product.
And if they miraculously didn't make any money, a sequel would given the current state of the PS3 market.
I'm not sold on Enslaved yet. I have faith these guys can make another great game but what I've seen so far doesn't have me excited about it.
@rsquad - that's the funny thing about the 360 and ps3. An average AAA game takes $15 to $30 million to develop so that means that you probably have to sell a million to hope to break even (on $30 mil). Few games sell that well. I wouldn't be surprised to find Heavenly Sword cost $45 million + to develop.
I liked the game for what it was. It felt good, flowed well, felt empowering, and even twing twang was cool once you got the feel for it. Plus you got to steer cannonballs into people's faces. lol
@rsquad - that's the funny thing about the 360 and ps3. An average AAA game takes $15 to $30 million to develop so that means that you probably have to sell a million to hope to break even (on $30 mil). Few games sell that well. I wouldn't be surprised to find Heavenly Sword cost $45 million + to develop.
I liked the game for what it was. It felt good, flowed well, felt empowering, and even twing twang was cool once you got the feel for it. Plus you got to steer cannonballs into people's faces. lol
Paradisiacal Spear perhaps.
theres your problem (ps3bots). At least now that the game is on 360 it can sell decently and get the dev team back on the top tier of studios. Using U3 engine can also help lessen so much time in development even if it does not look as pretty as the Heavenly Sword engine.
"I liked this game. I sold it after beating it, but it was good."
Did you finish the game though?
@Nesto Te
The problem with using the U3 engine is that PS3 owners will probably end up getting shafted by yet another subpar 360 port. Saying that I saw the E3 trailer for "Enslaved" & I kinda like the look of it. Will be keeping my eye on it.
As for a "Heavenly Sword 2". Hell yeah, I buy that. I loved the first one. It was a little too short, & had one or two frame rate issues, but considering it was an early PS3 game, & had thousands of enemies on screen at once & still looked good, I can't complain.
Also, PS3 has a lot more units out there now. An exclusive PS3 sequel could be profitable now.
unfortunately, not all studios can have the luxury of huge budget three to four year game development cycles, and i do not think Namco (their current publisher) will be willing to give them that.
Sometime i think gamers are way too hard on these studios. Just because a game has an 18month deadline, than the game is written off as subpar, inferior, and buying it used games.
I loved Heavemly sword as well but it just sounds like some people wanna rubb others in their faces how they arent getting a sequel to a underrated game cause now we get a multiplatform title...
Enslaved seems cool but wow so many hypocrites with hating on heavenly sword but now being happy they make a multiplatform game... At least dont rubb it in the faces of those who enjoyed their last game that they arent making a sequel.
Its sad really cause it was a great game also if they cant make money on the amount they sold then they had other issues then sales... Either way I look forward to Enslaved but still wish it was a Heavenly sword 2
Untalented saps.