It's been about a week since Senua's Saga: Hellblade II dropped. Here is the in-depth analysis of all aspects of the game after scouring through most of the reviews online,
Story: 84/100 (This is the average of story scores across reviews)
The story receives high praise for its deep, emotionally impactful, and rich narrative, blending psychological horror, mythological intrigue, and themes of mental illness and trauma. Critics laud the character development and immersive storytelling. However, some note issues with pacing, direction, and a less personal feel compared to the first game. The positives significantly outweigh the negatives though, making it a highly engaging narrative experience.
Gameplay: 69/100 (This is the average of gameplay scores across reviews)
Critics are split on the gameplay. Positive feedback highlights engaging combat, improved visuals, varied enemies, and seamless transitions, with particular praise for the fast-paced combat and intriguing puzzles. However, detractors point out overly simple puzzles, repetitive combat, and filler content. The game excels in certain areas but has room for improvement to enhance the overall player experience.
Graphics: 97/100 (This is the average of graphics scores across reviews)
Hellblade 2 is hailed as a visual masterpiece, with critics praising its stunning graphics, realistic environments, and meticulous detail. Despite minor issues like dynamic resolution and overly dark scenes, the game sets a new standard for next-gen visuals, utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to create breathtaking landscapes and seamless gameplay transitions. Overall, it's considered one of the best-looking games ever, making it a must-play for fans of visually striking games
Sound: 90/100 (This is the average of sound and music scores across reviews)
The sound design and music received widespread acclaim for their exceptional quality and immersive elements. Critics praised the haunting melodies, ambient sounds, and binaural 3D audio technology, which created a chilling and atmospheric experience. Highlights include the impactful voice acting and auditory hallucinations, though some noted minor issues with dialogue clarity. The audio design is a standout feature, making the game a must-experience with headphones for maximum immersion.
Technical Performance: 76/100 (This is the average of performance scores across reviews)
Hellblade 2 impresses with its technical performance on Xbox Series X, running at 4K and 30fps, with smooth gameplay – despite minor issues like dynamic resolution and letterboxing. On PC, the experience varies: some face technical glitches, while others enjoy flawless performance on high-end systems. Overall, the game is praised for its stunning visuals and high production values across both platforms, cementing its status as a technical showcase.
Replay Value: 58/100 (This is the average of replay value and value for money scores across reviews)
The replay value of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II garners mixed reviews. Positives include immersive storytelling, emotional depth, chapter select, and collectibles that enhance replayability for narrative enthusiasts. However, critics highlight limited gameplay, short length, and lack of substantial additional content, which may deter those seeking more compelling reasons for multiple playthroughs.
Overall: 81.25/100
Critik.ai: 81/100
Metacritic: 81/100
Opencritic: 83/100
IMDB: 8/10
Hellblade 2 dazzles with its stunning visuals, immersive audio, and compelling storytelling, offering a cinematic experience that grips players from start to finish. However, its repetitive gameplay, pacing issues, and lack of narrative depth leave much to be desired. Despite these flaws, the game's artistic achievements make it a must-try for fans of single-player story games, even if it doesn't quite match the brilliance of its predecessor.
Do you agree with the consensus? What's your take on it? I personally think it's graphically impressive as hell and has a good story. But man, the gameplay gets repetitive and the pacing drags like crazy at times. It's worth a play for sure if you liked the first game though.
16 Comments
I was lenient about the shortcomings of the first part due to the small budget. But releasing a game for 6 hours after 6 years of development and having Microsoft behind you is simply shameful.
Good luck to the developers, I’m sure they will need it.
Graphics and gameplay aside, I’m really struggeling with the narrative of this game. These voices in Senuas head make me roll my eyes every time. I know they had an expert for this illness on the team but I just can’t see how this is a good and subtle representation of what Senua is experiencing
I’m convinced that the story would have a much higher impact if they wouldn’t constantly talk about everything that’s happening to her. Like you don’t have to tell me how she feels, I can see that in her facial expression…
When a game is more enjoyable to watch on YouTube than actually play, it isn’t a good game. Good LOOKING does not equal good.
Graphics can absolutely break a game but definitely and never will be able to make a game.
I like to play games not watch them
Hard disagree on the story. What the hell was that ending.
That’s all i hear about this game. It doesn’t fix the rest of the boring experience that is playing. If this was a movie in cinemas maybe their profits would be bigger
All that text for 3 hours gameplay
I just don’t understand why it took 7 years of development to make a 6 hour game. FF7 Rebirth has 22 hours of high fidelity cutscenes and that took 3 years to develop.
Looks good, was bored after an hour. Did very little for me. Shame.
The inside voices are so annoying
I agree with pretty much all of that. Looks very good but overall the gameplay is average at best, with a lot of the time just walking around doing very basic puzzles.
Any developer can make a game look this good if it’s as on rails and limited in scope as this game is. The reason they don’t is because they are too busy putting gameplay in their game.
My biggest criticism is about the story. Senua is a very very unreliable narrator and because of that you can never be sure if anything is real or not. The game doesn’t give you any definite answers and when tries to give an answer it does it so vaguely you go back to questioning if anything was real or not. It’s like they wrote the story in a 2 hour meeting and decided not to work on it anymore.
I played this game, the first one was filled with diverse enemies and puzzles that kept us hooked to the game, this one only has one type of enemy, easy puzzles and millions of miles to walk. That’s all folks.
Instead of hyper-fixating on graphics, companies should focus on improving the overall gameplay experience of their titles.