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A series of Heavenly Sword animated episodes were released prior to the launch of the game itself, acting as a prequel to the events of the game. The series, which consists of five episodes, was produced by London production company Blinkink and animated by CHASE animation studios. The videos were made available both online and through the PlayStation Store. The first two videos were also included on the retail version of the game; the latter three videos were not ready in time to be included. The videos are based on where the heavenly sword is from, the clan protecting the sword, the origins of Bohan, divine birth, Nariko's training when she was a child and battles before the game.
The style of the animated series differs from the graphics of the game itself. The animated series relies on a simple and stylized 2D look, which allowed director Ben Hibon to "create a complete visual re-interpretation of the world and its inhabitants". The videos were produced using a combination of Adobe Photoshop, Flash and After Effects. Initial reference frames were created with Photoshop, which were then animated in Flash and exported as separate layers into After Effects. The layers were composed onto a 3D stage with multiple foreground, middle ground and background elements, which allowed the use of 3D cameras and lighting to give depth and movement to the video.
An animated movie is currently in production, written by Todd Farmer and directed by Gun Ho Jang. Nariko will also appear as a playable character in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
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