Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

Hellblade 2 is a bit of a strange animal in the sense that it's a very cinematic-heavy game, almost to the point where I would hesitate to call it a fully-fledged video game and instead would argue that it borders closer on interactive cutscene for the majority of its run time. This isn't necessarily a flaw, as the original Hellblade was very cinematic in its presentation as well, but I feel that in case of Hellblade 2, a few decent gameplay mechanics were sacrificed or simplified to amp up the visual experience. As a result, 2 feels looks and sounds amazing but noticeably minimizes player participation compared to its predecessor.

Combat suffers the most in this regard. In the original, the player is often confronted with multiple enemies and is forced to manage space and positioning to keep from getting surrounded and overwhelmed. 2 completely does away with this mechanic, allowing for only one enemy combatant at a time and throws the player through mini in-game cutscenes that stitch together individual fights. Again, this isn't necessarily flawed, but fans of the original will likely feel that a great deal of their agency in combat has been completed eliminated. Not only that, but attack types have also been reduced from three to two different options, further limiting variety in gameplay. As a result, the fights in 2 come off as far more staged and far less engaging.

Thankfully, world exploration remains fantastic in 2, and in many ways feels improved. Optical illusions and clever puzzles litter the gorgeous environments, and more hidden collectibles are scattered throughout the areas. The vast majority of the game spends its time utilizing these mechanics, and it does so very much to its benefit. The music and sound design also contribute immensely to the look and feel of the world, and paired with headphones, make for incredibly realistic and palpable environments.

Ultimately, what Hellblade 2 chooses to build upon, it improves, but it is painfully evident that delivering the cinematic experience of the game took priority over combat mechanics. Fans of the first will probably be satisfied with the sequel, but it sadly feels like a watered-down follow-up rather than a strong successor. Still, I'd recommend a play through.

After I woke up today I sat down and finished the game in one sitting. Gave myself a few hours to think about it and let this review brew. Lets start with the obvious good stuff.

The audio team absolutely carried the project on their back. The music and the sound is superb, immersive and spectacular at every point. My sincerest congratulations to everyone involved.

The graphics are top notch, they're obviously trying to showcase what Unreal 5 is capable of and they're delivering on that front.

The camera work is also great, and the story is decent, altough nowhere near as captivating as the first entry, and it gets sluggish at times. Especially considering how much the gameplay breaks the already slower pacing. And this is where the problems begin.

For a 5-6 hour game, feeling tired of the gameplay at hour 2 is a terrible sign. You repeat the same 3 things over and over again throughout the game, forced into a super slow running and climbing animation. I don't know why they decided this would be the best direction. Maybe we're forced to slow down to show us how amazing Unreal 5 can look but... a rock is just a rock the 1st and the 600th time as well.

I would've been so much more satisfied if it was just an audiovisual experience. Sit in your couch, put on a headset and enjoy the show.

But having to hold down the left stick for 5 hours to move forward in the slowest possible animation, drizzled in with the same puzzle again and again is just frustrating. (And again, you can only solve them super slow because you move at the pace of a snail.)

Overall, the atmosphere is great. Every aspect of that is utilizing every latest technology, and it shows how much care was put into this project. But you don't HAVE to make a game out of it...

Or well... maybe you do if you're owned by Xbox...

If you didn't like the first one, you won't like that one. It's an experience more than anything.

Senua is now one of my favorite characters ever.

The storytelling is incredible. The audio is exceptional. BEST GRAPHICS TO DATE OMG! The combat is even simpler in principle to the 1st one but it's really brutal as they intended and I liked it but would've been better if there was little less of them (I know it's weird to say). The puzzles are alright, in the first they didn't bother me but this time they made my eyes roll abit by the end.

I can't wait to the sequel for my favorite walking sim.

This is an amazing game! There are several aspects to talk about. In addition, to the wonderful narrative and graphics, this game has something more. All the games have a sound design job that continues the great work made in the first franchise game (that's also wonderful). The technology used in the sound makes this game unique. Who likes to complete the game and acquire all the trophies, the game doesn't put boring barriers to this, all collectibles add a new layer of impressiveness to the gameplay. There are so many incentives to replay the game more than two times at the minimum. This is proof that big games don't need have thousands of hours to make your money worth. A great game must have a good narrative and well-developed characters. The performance of the game on PC is very good, despite ssd being required, I played using an HD in the performance was very well.

So I just finished the game, have a playtime of 8.4 hours and 72% of trophies, meaning I missed some things/ran past them. The walking was a big part of it which could've been shortened but the fights were so great that it made up for it. The graphics made it feel so real that I was constantly shocked and could not believe my eyes and that I am actually in control of the scene. Cutscenes were dope, voice acting on point, gestures and character animation in general so extremely well done. It was absolutely worth it and I will DEFINITELY go right back into it again and play through the whole story a second time! Just do yourself a favor and play this one with some decent headphones and volume up, makes it all so much better!