Gamers! Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched about two weeks ago and the game has gotten a generally positive response overall. After completing the short game I was at a loss for words with its presentation. Hellblade 2 is such a well crafted experience, but its hard say it’s a great game as it mainly plays like a self guided movie. It begs the question of what exactly makes a video game, yet its still an intense sensory thrill ride. Here’s my review / breakdown.

The Premium Visuals

Hellblade 2 is pure eye candy in terms of its graphics, and they’re arguably the best graphics of any video game ever made. That’s a big statement to say about a video game, but my goodness, the game is a feast of high resolution textures and advanced lighting techniques. To says its just beautiful is an understatement. Hellblade 2’s presentation is simply masterfully done and everywhere you look from the ground to the sky at any point, the game is drenched in immersion, tension, and atmosphere. In some parts of the game, I literally felt like I was inside the game myself, particularly during the cave chapter. My only gripe with the visuals was the forced 21:9 aspect ratio which forces the two letter box bars for the whole game. It really pushed the cinematic movie feel no matter what, and you can’t change this in the settings, nor can you play the game beyond 60 FPS even on PC.

The Gameplay And Photo Mode

Diving deeper into the game, you find out pretty quickly that there isn’t much going on in the way of gameplay or combat mechanics. In Hellblade 2 combat has been drastically changed from the first game. Because it is heavily focused on its cinematic style, combat is very limited as it singles out enemies in each scenario into a 1 v 1 fight, even if there are multiple enemies on screen. This forced perspective is definitely exciting to see for a few times, but because of how scripted and repetitive it is, it gets old very quickly. Its a strange choice to create a limited combat system like this, but for the presentation Ninja Theory was going for, it makes sense to maintain a cinematic perspective throughout. Sadly this is one of the biggest downsides of the game.

Hellblade 2 also features an incredible photo mode. While this isn’t a main part of the gameplay, I think its important to note just how awesome this feature was. At pretty much any point of the game you are allowed to enter photo mode and take pictures all of the game’s details. This may not sound like a big deal since many games have photo modes now, however, the most impressive part for me, was when I discovered mid-cutscene, I was able to enter photo mode, stop the cutscene and still see the full 3D models of each character even in mid animation. Its as if the characters were designed as separate actors in the game space and at any time you can just dive into that space with photo mode and see all of the glorious details. It’s an impressive feature for sure. Never before have I seen a game have a photo mode where you can stop a cut scene and have full control of that camera in the middle of a scripted sequence. It was mind blowing to play around with. Check out some mid cutscene photos below.

The rest of the gameplay consists of limited exploration and puzzle solving, some of which are inspired from the first game. While the puzzles are visually appealing, none of them are particularly noteworthy. They can feel like a chore at times even though they are generally straight forward. They each have a variation of a simple formula; see the objective, find some hidden symbols, open the door or pathway, then rinse and repeat in a different level. While there is nothing particularly wrong with this formula, most the these gameplay mechanics feel like they’ve taken a back seat to the core focus of Hellblade 2 which is its storytelling.

Storyline And Sound Design

The story of Hellblade 2 is truly where the game shines and this incredible journey is accompanied by some of the very best sound design ever put into a game. In case you didn’t know, Senua suffers from psychosis, and her condition has her perceive the world in a different way. She hears the voices of the furies in her head constantly speaking to her in whispers and they act as separate trains of thoughts within her mind simultaneously. This is revealed to the player through the use of 3D audio positioning where you can constantly hear the shifting of the multiple voices in her head. It is truly a trippy experience to hear the voices move and shift constantly as they raise and lower their volume depending on the situation. As Senua begins to take authority of her mental situation, she also needs to complete a larger mission; to end the suffering and enslavement of her people who are being offered as tribute to the Giants. This constant struggle between her mental suffering and her physical ability to survive against the giants is a primary theme for the story. Ninja Theory has done an excellent job of creating this experience where you can feel part of what psychosis is like through Senua’s eyes, as she manages to take authority of her mind and find ways to defeat the giants.

Closing Thoughts

After completing Hellblade 2 I was honestly at a loss for words. I was blown away by the experience and how realistic it all felt. I genuinely felt bad for Senua and everything she had to deal with, most especially when she has to face herself internally. The voices in her head were beating her down and at some point I connected with that experience fully. Then I became conflicted because as I considered the experience as a whole, I felt like Hellblade 2 isn’t really a video game. Its more of a self guided movie that happens to have some interactive gameplay parts in it. So here is where I had to score the game on 2 different levels.

As a story driven video game that clocks in at around 6 hours, and has a minimal combat system, minimal exploration, no skills or upgrades, no side quests, or anything other than the narrative collectables and repetitive puzzles, – I would have to give the game a lower score like a 6 out of 10. But on the flipside, as an interactive movie with fantastic special effects, the most premium graphics, incredible art and audio design, and an intense story which highlights the experience of what it feels like to have psychosis in a fantasy Viking universe, it deserves a 9.5 out of 10. I would consider it a masterpiece of design and storytelling. And here lies the truth about this game. Its truly a work of art in regards to the experience it creates for the player, however, as a video game, there is not much to do here across the board. I can see why players would be upset at the game, as it only features a short campaign, little to no real value in terms of combat mechanics, and pretty much nothing else besides gorgeous graphics and cinematic storytelling.

Final Score: 7.75 out of 10 (average of the two separate scores)

Regardless of the perspectives on the game, there is something truly special about Hellblade 2. It is truly gritty, brutal, violent, and at times downright painful to get through, but at the same time, its met with such beauty and wonder through its environments and level design. If you can stomach the mental noises and disturbing visuals, or see it as a 6 hour playable animated movie rather than a full on game, I would highly recommend it as a break away from conventional video games. It does a fantastic job of combining horror, suspense, masterful design, and beauty in a straight forward package and the end result is an intense and emotional experience.

As always gamers, thank you so much for reading this post. Hellblade 2 was such a unique experience but its definitely one that I can’t recommend for everyone. People who like more artistic games with strong storytelling will probably like this game, but players who prefer more out of their games, like heavy combat, side quests, or exploration, will be let down here. If you are still interested in seeing the game for yourself, perhaps try to play it off of a one month PC game pass (which is $10) instead of the $50 price tag.

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