Project: MARA is the latest project from Hellblade developer Ninja Theory, although it’s been quite a few years since we last heard anything new about this experimental horror experience. Designed to combine cutting-edge visuals with a tempered approach to exploring mental health, Project Mara has been envisioned as a new way to explore storytelling in video games. Naturally, with four years passing without update there’s so much we want to know about this upcoming Xbox Series X game. As you can learn in our Hellblade 2 review, Ninja Theory has made incredible strides in recent years, so we’re really keen to learn more. While we wait, keep on reading to find all the latest Project Mara news and gameplay details. 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, 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 speculation Project: MARA was revealed in January of 2020, but there’s still no confirmed release date. Considering that developer Ninja Theory was acquired into the Xbox Game Studios lineup in 2018, and that the team only just got Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga out the door in early 2024, it’s likely we’ll be waiting a while for this Xbox exclusive. Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter