Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

8.5/10

Outside of its severely short length, clocking in at a little over 6 hours (even with going after all the collectibles) I really enjoyed this sequel. It didn't have the shock value the first game had as it is pretty just more of the same which is fine, but it managed to captivate all the same nevertheless. While the first game's story revolved around Senua fighting for the soul of her lost love, the sequel focuses more on Senua freeing slaves tied to her homeland that has her facing off against all kinds of Viking hellish creatures from giants to demons alike. Senua also gets a handful of unlikely companions along the way too which at first I wasn't sure how I felt about but by the time I reached the end of the game understood their presence more and felt like it was a good choice by the developer to include others for Senua to converse with outside of the lovely voices within her head. The only part I felt in the game's story that was a bit weird was the lost forest maze section in the final chapter of the game. I thought it was a bit estranged and really didn't feel like it had much meaning other than to be filler and perhaps solidify one of Senua's companions story arcs. The audio once again was incredible and is an absolute must to play and experience with headphones. I had a pair of Turtle Beach wireless headphones that did the job quite well. And I must say I was a bit concerned with the game running at a native 30fps on console but it was so well implemented and to my knowledge never broke that 30fps mark or stuttered at all on me and played smooth from start to finish. The thing I guess about a game like Hellblade is that because of its intentionally slow pace and nature it benefits more from lower framerate which is fine. The game's slow churn and burn is what the series is known for too and doesn't disappoint in allowing you to slow things down to take in the gorgeously breathtaking vistas and let's you soak in the incredible graphical fidelity of the Norse landscape in the ancient Norse lands. And the combat I enjoyed better this time around than the fire game as they slowed it down even more so than usual focusing on one on one fights opposed to multiple enemies at once. The sword play is very much gratuitously gratifying as it is brutal to pull off those counters and finishers. Every combat scenario ends differently too that paces itself well with the story. The puzzles this time around I felt were a bit too simplistic but I get it. This is a more heavily narrative driven tale but the puzzles in the first game were a bit more complex than the sequel here. Overall if you're a fan of the first game or just want a creepy atmospheric thrill ride that kind of fits in with an October spooky setting quite well give Senua's Saga a spin.

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.

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.

Lets be honest, IMDB isn't a game review site. Hellblade 2 isn't your usual game and it's doing it an injustice to treat it as such. Granted, it's not particularly long (still longer than a COD campaign) but it took me 3 evenings to play through, the equivalent of binge watching a mini series or watching a trilogy of films. And what an experience it is!

The story was phenomenal, the visuals awe inspiring, up there with big budget movies, not like a computer game. To think Melina Juergens wasn't even an actress before she appeared as Senua is unbelievable, she deserves awards. The subject matter is heavy, but it's so well done and respectfully handled.

Do yourself a favour and wear headphones when playing this, the audio quality is up there with the rest of the presentation. The transitions in the gameplay, especially in the fight sequences is so cinematic, I really hope other studios see this and we see more of it because it was so immersive. And I especially want to call out the middle part of the game, it was so terrifying and atmospheric.

I admit, my thumb started to hurt from pushing forward on the controller, I found hunting for the collectables immersion breaking and the puzzles were a bit boring. Because of this I would rate the gameplay 3/5. But I'm writing this on IMDb and I want this work of art and everyone that worked on it to get the recognition it deserves. Visuals 10/10, audio 10/10, acting 10/10, story 10/10 and presentation 10/10 - we need more entertainment media like this, telling an interactive story with this depth and care, and less shallow copy and paste games.

If you are undecided about this game go to Ninja Theory's youtube channel and watch the dev diaries.

They consulted actual psychiatrists and people struggling with psychosis to get the feel of the game and Senua's psychosis right. One of the consultants with psychosis literally said, ya this game captures what I go through. THIS GAME IS A TRIP.

Play with headphones in the dark, the audio design is where the feel of psychosis really shines.

The combat is really fun in this game and improved over the last.

The story is bigger snd better, new characters to learn about with interesting stories.

The voice acting absolutely rocks and so does the mo-cap.

Graphically this is the first game that has made me feel like we are in the next generation. It destroys games like horizon forbidden west or forza motorcycles in the fidelity department.

Such a masterpiece!