Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword, the debut of British studio Ninja Theory, told the story of the warrior Nariko, the last heir to a legendary sword capable of granting its bearer superhuman strength in exchange for shortening their life, who defends her people against the tyrannical King Bohan. The game combined fast, acrobatic combat action with cinematic storytelling and a striking motion-capture performance from actress Anna Torv in the lead role. The villain King Bohan, portrayed by Andy Serkis, later famous as a motion-capture actor from Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes, gave the narrative unexpected acting depth and showed the growing importance of performance-capture technology in PS3 exclusive production.

The combat system was built on fluid switching between three fighting styles, fast, powerful, and ranged, with the player transitioning between them by holding shoulder buttons in the middle of combos. Each style had a different reach, tempo, and way of blocking, so fighting against overwhelming numbers required constant reassessment of the situation rather than mashing a single button. Sections involving guiding fired projectiles added variety, where the player tilted the controller to steer an arrow's flight toward a distant target. Ninja Theory built the production on a grand cinematic presentation with elaborate facial expressions and theatrical acting, which was fairly unusual for an action game of this scale at the time of release.

Critics praised the artistic direction and the charisma of the lead heroine, even though the gameplay itself was seen as somewhat shorter and less deep than genre benchmarks like Devil May Cry or God of War. Heavenly Sword nonetheless became a significant exclusive title of the early PS3 era and helped establish Ninja Theory as a studio capable of strong visual and narrative design, which was later confirmed by successes like Enslaved and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Today the game is remembered mainly as a first serious attempt to tell a story on Sony's new console through acting.