For me, this was the most anticipated game of the year but unfortunately it a pale shadow of the first game. Like most day one games on game pass these days, this is mediocre.

The first game was original and felt very immersive. It had some very subtle and deep messaging. Even the puzzles were interesting and had moderate difficulty and they fit very well into the game play. Though the combat was simplistic, it had variety and was quick and fun. Senua had a mission which everyone could easily associate with.

In contrast, the sequel fails utterly in all these aspects. It feels completely hollow and empty of any substance. Lacks immersion. The puzzles are just there for the sake of having them. The combat is too sluggish and all that we can do is hack, slash and focus. I think dodging is possible but it rarely works. Senua's mission here is to track where her people are being taken by the slavers and release them. At the end of the game, we don't even see those people. I don't know why the dev chose giants as the theme of this game. It could have been a better game if the mission was more personal to Senua.

The only positives about this game are the graphics and the visuals.

I’ll get the most relevant - and apparently controversial - out of the way first: I think Hellblade II is an awesome game and an awesome sequel. And although I obviously respect it, I have no ideia how someone can say they loved the first Hellblade yet hated the second one. I much more easily understand those who say they hated both.

The main point of contention, it seems, is combat, an aspect that was heavily criticised in the first game. In order to address it, Hellblade II discards a largely useless kick mechanic and the fighting of 2,3 enemies at a time (which lest people forget, came with an often criticised clunky lock-on system), all of which we saw in the first game, in favour of more intimate, impactful, visceral one-on-one confrontations. As a result, engagements now feel way more intense, animations are greatly improved (the fact that Senua starts her sword attack right where the previous block left her arm, for example, is a beauty to behold), and the new additions - like catching and throwing weapons back at the enemy - add a welcome layer of flair. It took me a bit to get used to it, but once I did, I was hooked on it from start to finish, and I for one genuinely hope more games adopt this approach going forward, if and when appropriate.

Another point of contention seems to be the puzzle design, yet another strongly criticised thing in the original Hellblade. Here, I get even more confused by the frustration with the sequel: not only are there less puzzles, the ones that are there are more varied and almost never affect pacing (a main issue with them in the first game). I genuinely have to ask, what were people expecting puzzle wise? The whole point of them is to illustrate how Senua’s reality is heavily distorted by her perception, and their reduction and simplification seem to be an intentional nod to the fact that she is now more in command of the reality-shaping voices inside her than she used to be. Here, too, I think there was an improvement from one game to the next.

One other criticism I heard is that the game is too short. I’m sorry, but again, what? It is pretty much of a similar length to the first Hellblade (in fact it took me the exact same time to go through both on a first playthrough), with the added bonus of offering a pretty original replayability feature by having the option to go through the journey narrated by other characters. This is a heavily curated, directed, often gruelling experience - having it be any longer would, in my opinion, do the game a disservice. Alongside this comes the criticism of the pacing, and while I do see how someone can look at the game’s initial 30 or so slow-burning minutes with skepticism, to me personally, the pacing felt just right for the kind of build up I was expecting.

Looking at all this, it seems to me some people looked at Ninja Theory’s acquisition by Microsoft and assumed they would use their bigger budget to transform the Hellblade IP into something it was never meant to be. I even heard some people say this was meant to be Xbox’s answer to God of War. These expectations never made any sense. I don’t know if these people actually played the first game as they said they did, but Hellblade was never intended as a GoW clone - it was intended as a highly cinematic, third person narrative adventure where gameplay exists for the purpose of telling its story. Like I said before, I can obviously respect these criticisms levied at Senua’s Saga, but I couldn’t agree less with most of them and, to an extent, I do struggle to understand them, particularly if they come from someone who claims to have loved the first Hellblade.

Logically, the budget increase would go to enhance the areas that could be enhanced by it, which in this case are animation work - something I already brought up - and visuals. And here, Hellblade II absolutely nails what it sets out to nail. It might well be the most visually impressive game that we have so far seen this generation, something that is truly visible in the real life-like character models the game showcases. Accompanied by a perfect zero-element UI and a state-of-the-art photo mode, this change was so impactful that I kept pausing to take screenshots, frequently at awe with what I was seeing. And it wasn’t just in models or landscapes that the visual prowess showed: Hellblade II features noticeably more epic sequences than its predecessor, with some of its set pieces presented in a way that is nothing short of stunning. This, coupled with yet another masterful display of the use of binaural audio to mimic Senua’s internal voices, makes this sequel an experience for the senses I will remember for years to come.

Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues with the game. The main one, in my opinion, is its story. Although Senua’s second tale is well told, I much preferred the intimate tone of the first game. Hellblade II shifts its focus from a mainly internal to a mostly external struggle, and with that, it loses an important part of its emotional impact. I understand why they did it this way, especially on the back of the first game’s ending, but it doesn’t hit as hard as a result. Add this to the fact that the payoff felt somewhat underwhelming compared to its epic-like setup, and it’s fair to say this second narrative definitely didn’t reach the same heights. Another thing I wasn’t a particular fan of was its overly-limited pathing. While I obviously understand the exploration restrictions that need to exist in a game like this due to technical limitations, I still felt this could’ve been handled in a way that didn’t feel this constricted.

Overall though, these didn’t do much to soil my overall high appreciation for this game. When all was said and done, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was one of the most impactful audiovisual gaming experiences I’ve had in recent memory, and easily one of my favourites for the year. A tremendous technical achievement by Ninja Theory, one that makes me look forward to whatever they’ll do next. 9/10

This is a game that I was excited for, especially since the first game is in my top 5 favorite games. And I enjoyed this game, but I guess it wasn't what a I was really expecting.

I did curb my expectations because it is always hard to make a sequel as good or better than the first game. However, I guess I finished this game and was more confused than I thought I would be. In the first game it was very focused on Senua and her own struggle with her psychosis. Her accepting it and then learning how she can control it in her own way and accept psychosis as a part of her.

As expected the second game still focuses on Senua's psychosis and how she still struggles with it, but she uses it to her benefit. However, where I got really confused was when the game started to focus on the giants. Specifically with the fact that other people other than Senua could see the giants too.

The reason this was so confusing to me was because the first game was very focused on how it was Senua and her mind creating the enemies and Hela. Now could this have been me reading into that to far, sure. But for a game that is heavily focused on bringing attention to a main character that deals with psychosis you would think the enemies would be brought on with the psychosis. No?

So when the other characters/NPCs of Hellblade 2 could all see the giants, it threw me. This then got me wondering, are the giants real or are all these people having a mass hallucination, or are the giants just real in this world. I guess I was thinking that it was going to be the common "The gods are angry, that is why there are Earthquakes and lava." Great explanation for the giants, but then I thought it was going to be Senua fighting the giants alone and then "saving" the people. But I guess not.

Essentially TLDR: Wasn't what I expected, still a good game, I'm playing it through a second time and probably more. Interested to see if there will be another one.

The graphics are really great. The audio & voice acting -- also great. (Also, if you have a good surround sound system, the audio effects are every bit as good as headphones.)

The gameplay and story. They're fine. But in no way would I call it fun.

Much of the game is pressing forward on the left stick to get from point A to B. Most of the time you can run. Often, you're forced to walk (or slooowly climb or crawl) through an area so dialog can happen.

Battle is honestly reminiscent of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. You get locked into a one-on-one fight until someone dies. You dodge attacks. Maybe you block. Then you try and find an opening to attack using either a quick attack or heavy attack. About a quarter of the way through the game you get an item that charges up after a few hits, and lets you mostly skip a fight. It wasn't until 75% of the way into the game that I realized perfect parry blocks cause a blue flash which gets you some bonus hits in on the enemy.

The puzzles felt tedious. Many of them involve running around, trying to find the place where parts of the environment line up to form a specific shape. Others are very much like the Light puzzles in Alan Wake 2, where you toggle the environment between two versions to complete a task.

For a short game, the Cave section goes on and on and on and on and it wasn't particularly fun. After that, you go into a gameplay loop that you complete a few times until the game ends.

Hellblade 2.

Also, the second playthrough with alternate narration -- NOT worth it. About the only new insight you get is that everyone suspects to various degrees that Senua hears voices, even though she never tells them.

Hunting for the Faces/Trees and Story Poles are also not worth it, unless you absolutely want all of the cheevos.

Gameplay: 6/10

Presentation: 10/10

Story: 7/10

Overall Score: 7.6/10

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Story= plot, engagement, characters, world-building

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

I know my rating isn't very high, but the game fell a bit short in a lot of ways. I am of the mind that any game that is a 7/10 (3 out of 5) or above if reviewed honestly will have some reason to give a game a try. In my opinion everything about the game was pretty good and some things were exceptionally impressive. However, when I take in the full scope of the game in its entirety it wasn't great. One simple way to look at it is that I would say about 60 -70% of the game was a 5/10 - 6/10 quality of content. While the other 30 - 40% was 9/10 - 10/10 content.

The game isn't long coming in around 7 hours of gameplay. Yet the game felt much longer because it had so much walking without engagement. Puzzles that were ridiculously simplistic yet at times still visually interesting. Then there would be repetitive story beats that went on for far too long. For anyone who has played the first game you know how much Senua is suffering from trauma as well as her psychosis. This game has so many parts that emphasize the struggle over and over and they are sometimes full 20 - 30 min segments of the game. It would be more impactful if as we see her struggle by the end of the game we get a resolution to that struggle, but we don't so it feels meaningless. The whole game she is dealing with her and others problems we don't need a sidetrack to emphasize how she also has even more baggage outside of the current plot for multiple segments of the game. Make one segment so that people who haven't played the first game and skipped the recap at the start are able to know and then focus in on the current plot.

The combat is almost perfect to me. The amount of immersion and lack of tutorials really kept the game from breaking the illusion of being essentially an interactive movie. Some really good tension is created from not quite knowing which hit will be the one that takes you out. Stacking that tension on top of the choreography through the combat sequences being super energetic. I will say that about halfway through the game (I felt this way about the first game as well) is that the combat just feels repetitive. You start to fight the same archetypes of enemies over and over and it's always a one-on-one fight it can lose its luster quickly.

Overall for a game as short as it is some of the worst parts about it don't have too much time to ruin the best parts of it. If there were more highlight moments I would probably score the game higher, but the large amount of unengaging segments really brought my score down.

Senua's Saga is a true showcase of the graphical horsepower packed inside the Series X. The photorealistic depictions of Iceland's crags, screes and expansive lava flows are often breathtaking. The story is a gripping exploration of superstition, personal demons, and acceptance. In "Senua's Sacrifice", this was Senua's personal journey, rife with internal conflict. In Saga, we find a more self-assured Senua helping others navigate their own journeys, and the dynamics which form between Senua's companions are a welcome addition to her story. The complete lack of HUD greatly enhances immersion, and there are segments of the game which are truly exhilarating, even terrifying.

The gameplay, what little there is, is serviceable. There are a few environmental puzzles, but they feel like an afterthought, as if the devs were just ticking a box off a checklist. The 3rd person melee combat is as simple as it gets, but the animation work is top-notch and the tighter camera angle makes it all feel more visceral and brutal. Gone are the more intricate combat encounters of the first game, however, replaced by exclusively 1-on-1 confrontations in which enemies wait their turn like 80's action movie goons. Senua gets awkwardly bumped so many times that you'd think she was on a bustling New York City street.

Outside of these sequences, you'll just be pushing the left analog stick forward for the vast majority of the game's runtime, which is immensely disappointing. 7 years of dev time, Microsoft's financial backing, and the product is a game that is, in many ways, a regression from Sacrifice. If that was their creative vision, then I respect their commitment to it, because they had to know it would be polarizing.

Sacrifice was already light on gameplay. With Saga, they stripped things down to the bare minimum. At this rate, it feels like Senua 3 will be a film, and perhaps that's for the best.

It’s almost hard to describe how much of a disappointment this game is. I absolutely loved the first game, it blew me away and instantly became a favorite. I waited years for this sequel and even bought an Xbox when I learned it would be an exclusive. And even knowing in someway it wasn’t going to be as good as the original, I still wasn’t prepared for this. If you’ve heard complaints that this game is basically a walking sim then consider that criticism completely valid. All you do here is walk. I’d say 85-90% of the game is spent with your finger on the thumb stick, steady there…just walking. It’s absurd. There were times where things finally got going and somewhat intense and suddenly it all halted so you can walk some more. The battles are stupidly repetitive and each encounter feels like a chore. The puzzles as well are uninspired and only serve as a quick intermission from all the walking. The voices which were so effective in the first installment, hold no weight now. They’re actually quite annoying and offer little to no insight at all. The game length is short, around maybe 5 hrs or so and it took me weeks to finish it. I just would put it on and couldn’t play it for more than 20-30 mins at a time. I don’t like to bash games but this one really frustrated me and a large part of it is because I adore the first one so much. Such a shame…