Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2024
The first Hellblade, review here, was a dark and harsh journey into the main protagonists mind of mental illness. Depicted in a beautiful, but brutal, Viking world of the 9th century. The game covered the journey as you sank ever deeper into the depth of Senua's crazy thoughts and voices within her head. I very much enjoyed my playthrough.
While I perhaps wanted this sequel to dig deeper into a more comprehensive gameplay style and widen the world you travel through, it stays in the same vein as the first title. If you want changes to the formula, this doesn't deliver that. However, once you delve into the first couple of hours of gameplay you appreciate this similar choice in layout and experience. Resulting in ann equally fantastic and brutal journey like the first.
Let’s dive into Senua's mind once again!
In a desperate decision to help her people be freed from slavery, Senua decides to let herself be captured in her homeplace of Orkney and be shipped to Iceland. Upon arriving, the ship is caught up in a nasty storm at sea and smashed against the shores of Iceland. Here you need to find the rest of the crew and avoid the savage slavers. So begins the harsh reality of Senua's life in the second game.
It quickly becomes clear that this second game throws you into some fearsome combat from an early stage. You can set the game’s difficulty, but default is dynamically changes it based on how well you fight. It’s how I'd recommend to play. Combat control is simple; there's a quick and a heavy attack, and a defensive button. New for this sequel is a slow-motion ability you can engage once a meter is filled, this is done by successfully landing hits on enemies. This ability allows you to land land devastating hits on the enemy.
Each battle feels quicker this time around and as a result, more intense. The dynamic difficulty is apparent when dying over and over as you'll suddenly find yourself winning. You'll learn to combat wisely, but this experience is about the intensity, allowing you to continue the story. That said, I really held my breath more than once during battle, as they convey a great sense of intensity and rawness of actual sword battles. And man, is it a violent game.
Puzzles see a welcome return, with some clever environment changing objects to alter the landscape to make a path to continue onwards. I enjoyed figuring out how to solve them, never feeling overly complex, and they gradually increase their difficulty as you delve deeper into the story. They might seem a little confusing at times, but I solved most of them after a few tries without wrecking my brain.
Once again, I highly recommend finding all the runestones and, in addition in this sequel, hidden trees behind stone faces. These objects will start an intriguing and fantastic voice narration to learn more about the background lore. Some are tricky to find, but most of them just reside in blind alleys off the main path.
Speaking of voice actors, the whole cast does an incredible job at capturing truly memorable characters. Star of the show is the vulnerable, yet determined and strong Senua, with her background voices fighting an inner battle in her mind. Do remember to play this with earphones, the immersive spatial 3D sound is excellent. Characters you meet along the way all do a fantastic job at delivering their lines, as well as amazing motion capture accompanying the insanely detailed character faces. You can clearly see how they feel!
The ruthless enemies and the main villains portray chilling and brutal personalities too, making you truly afraid of their presence and what will happen to Senua next. Bosses show various personalities, resulting in a cast that's really memorable.
Visually, it raises the bar from the first game even further. Boasting beautiful scenery, truly showcasing what the Unreal Engine 5 is capable of. With stunningly real looking landscapes, nature and buildings. Everything from mountains, fields, grass, caves, water and fire effects look incredibly detailed and almost lifelike. In addition, there's dynamic weather and smart usage of lighting in dark places to further heighten the visual atmosphere.
A light annoyance is the forced 21:9 movie format, resulting in black bars on the screens. Although the graphics look incredible, it runs in the lower range of modern resolutions, resulting in a somewhat blurry image in movement. There's a 30fps lock, and no performance mode sadly. That said, it's a slow-paced game, it's about soaking in the visuals and for that Hellblade 2 looks stunning.
Much like the first game, this is an 6 to 8 hour experience, but the intensity makes more than enough up for the short lifespan. It's just overwhelmingly dark and dismal at times. You're pulled so deep within the realms of darkness and cruelty you need to just stop playing and breathe at times.
The ruthless enemies and the main villains portray chilling and brutal personalities too, making you truly afraid of their presence and what will happen to Senua next. Bosses show various personalities, resulting in a cast that's really memorable.
Visually, it raises the bar from the first game even further. Boasting beautiful scenery, truly showcasing what the Unreal Engine 5 is capable of. With stunningly real looking landscapes, nature and buildings. Everything from mountains, fields, grass, caves, water and fire effects look incredibly detailed and almost lifelike. In addition, there's dynamic weather and smart usage of lighting in dark places to further heighten the visual atmosphere.
A light annoyance is the forced 21:9 movie format, resulting in black bars on the screens. Although the graphics look incredible, it runs in the lower range of modern resolutions, resulting in a somewhat blurry image in movement. There's a 30fps lock, and no performance mode sadly. That said, it's a slow-paced game, it's about soaking in the visuals and for that Hellblade 2 looks stunning.
Much like the first game, this is an 6 to 8 hour experience, but the intensity makes more than enough up for the short lifespan. It's just overwhelmingly dark and dismal at times. You're pulled so deep within the realms of darkness and cruelty you need to just stop playing and breathe at times.
The shorter lifespan helps balance the encouragement and not topple the dangerous effect of it all being a bit too depressive. When bosses go down and you continue your journey, having just survived something truly horrific, it feels like a relief and so uplifting.
It's a great overall experience and somehow manages to become an even more intense experience than the first game. I found it to have more memorable moments and bosses this time around. As well as the cast making a deeper impression on me with their characters. The unsettling feeling of danger and darkness is immense.
This is a sequel for those that loved the first game and wish to experience that same intensity but with a new story, learning to further understand what Senua feels. Prior to playing I thought I needed the sequel to be more expansive in size and gameplay, but upon completion I realize I missed the point. This is a short, but incredibly intense experience that doesn't need hours upon hours of lifespan.
It's a great overall experience and somehow manages to become an even more intense experience than the first game. I found it to have more memorable moments and bosses this time around. As well as the cast making a deeper impression on me with their characters. The unsettling feeling of danger and darkness is immense.
This is a sequel for those that loved the first game and wish to experience that same intensity but with a new story, learning to further understand what Senua feels. Prior to playing I thought I needed the sequel to be more expansive in size and gameplay, but upon completion I realize I missed the point. This is a short, but incredibly intense experience that doesn't need hours upon hours of lifespan.
Overall a highly recommended sequel! That said, if you didn't find anything special about the first game this sequel will do nothing for you. However, to appreciate these titles, you need to let the atmosphere capture you, play them in a darkened room with earphones and transport yourself to how Senua experiences it all.
