When Microsoft bought Ninja Theory 6 years ago fans were eager to see what a studio as talented as them could pull off with the backing of a company that could give them a much bigger budget than they had previously worked with. With Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 we finally have that long awaited answer. The answer is quite possibly the best game to come out of Xbox Game Studio’s this decade.
I Hear Voices In My Head
Let’s get this out of the way first. If you weren’t a fan of the first game due to its pace of play and lack of action, you likely won’t enjoy Hellblade 2. Senua’s Saga is the very definition of a sequel that doesn’t change the formula but instead puts that formula on display and turns the dial up to 100.
There is a lot of walking a mostly linear path. Thankfully those long stretches of walking never feel dull. Between the constant dialogue and the voices in your head there is always something going on immersing you into the game. Have you ever walked somewhere and just gotten lost in thought and you reach your destination in what feels like no time at all? Did I really just see that person do that? Did I forget something at home, oh crap did I check the door before I left? Should I go back? It’s a constant conversation with yourself.
Yes the voices in Senua’s head are back with a vengeance. In the entirety of my roughly 8 hour play-through I’m not sure there was 1 minute total where there wasn’t a voice in my ear telling me I’m doing something wrong while the other ear is telling me I’m right. It was so constant that when I did turn the game off to go do something else it would take me a few minutes to get the voices out of my head.
While that may be annoying to some, it is a level of immersion not often felt in gaming. And you most definitely need to wear headphones for this game to feel the full effects. If for whatever reason you cannot than i highly suggest turning on the subtitles to get as close to the full effect as possible.
I turned off the headphones for a portion just to compare and while they do a good job with the voices in her head without the headphones it can be hard to hear them over the dialogue and narration going on in the game without them, and it just doesn’t give you the same level of immersion.
The voices in Senua’s head aren’t the only mental health issues for Senua though. Senua suffers from psychosis. One of the main symptoms of psychosis is hallucinating and Senua does this a lot. One moment you will be in reality and the next moment you will be walking underwater seeing visions. For Ninja Theory to put this much effort and detail into researching the mental health side of Senua’s character is truly incredible and shows how much passion and detail they have for this franchise and the art of gaming and storytelling.
Senua’s Sword Skills Have Leveled Up
The one main thing a lot of people complained about with the original game is that the combat felt stiff and too basic. In Hellblade 2 the actual act of combat is still relatively basic. You hit X to do a light attack, Y for a heavy attack, A to Dodge and RB to block/parry. You also a little ways into the game unlock the ability to focus in combat which will significantly slow down your opponent and make it much easier to defeat them. But the way in which these combat sequences play out have had a significant overhaul.
Each battle feels like an epic set piece. While actual combat is limited to a 1v1 style (there wasnt a single time in the game I faced more than 1 enemy at a time) it still feels like a huge battle. Once you defeat one enemy a new one comes flying in. These moments are what makes the encounters feel special. One enemy might attack you from behind while the next might bounce off an enemies shield and right into battle.
I’m not doing these moments justice with words, you will simply have to see them to know. There’s also a level of detail to the combat that is subtle but hard to ignore. Each successful hit with your sword results in a flesh wound on your enemy that mimics the blow landed. While this has been done in other games before it is a great touch to add.
The combat also isn’t as easy as it may first appear either. While the controls are basic it is challenging. I messed around with the different difficulties to see what it was like and even on easy I died once or twice. If you get hit once or twice it can be difficult to get back into the fight before it’s too late as the attacks keep coming. It’s not that it is too hard, but it is a nice balance of difficulty.
The one small negative when it comes to combat however is the lack of variety. There is only a handful of different types of enemies and because you always face them in a 1 on 1 encounter it becomes a bit too predictable on how to win each encounter. Once you’ve seen an enemy for the first time you will know for the next one exactly what they do and how to counter it. It’s a minor negative, but a negative none the less.
A Puzzling Return
The other main game play loop that will be familiar to fans of the original are the puzzles. Yes the same puzzles have returned to Hellblade 2, getting stuck into an area and needing to find pieces of a symbol in order to complete the symbol and move on. The first puzzle you encounter is very basic and you might think there won’t be much to this mechanic, but as you get further along in the game the puzzles can actually become quite tricky.
You can use your focus ability to alter parts of the area. Maybe bring a section of the world from left to right, add a rock formation or remove one to reveal a path. Each area tended to have a few of these and finding if you needed a part of the map in reality or in a psychotic state becomes quite tricky.
There were at least 2 puzzles that I got legitimately stuck on for a few moments. When you do finally figure it out you will both feel accomplished that you did but also kind of laugh at yourself for seeing how obvious it was.
A Passionately Woven Story
While I may be now just getting to the story, I’m doing that more so because I want to avoid spoilers and that is quite hard to do in such a story driven game. While I will do my best to avoid them here if you don’t want any bits of the story I suggest skipping this section.
Hellblade 2 is a direct sequel to the first game. Ninja Theory has done a good job giving newcomers a recap at the beginning of the game and even returning players will likely enjoy the refresher. You will likely enjoy the narrative even more if you are familiar with the first game, but I don’t necessarily think you need to have played it in order to enjoy Hellblade 2.
The game starts with you in a slavers boat. Senua has purposely gotten captured so that she can be brought to the land of the Northmen so that she may exact revenge on them for killing her village and lover. On the way however a storm hits and the boat capsizes and Senua gets washed ashore. From there Senua looks to make it inland and get away from any of the slavers that survived while trying to save the slaves. It is here where you meet the first of a few characters that will come with you on your journey. The added companionship throughout the game is a welcome touch as it gives the game more character building and leads to a better overall narrative experience in my opinion.
As you progress through the story you will meet these companions a long the way. Each of them has their own story to be told and are having their own struggles. Naturally Senua wants to do everything in her power to help them. The world is inhabited with giants that some call the new gods. These giants are not good gods however as they bring havoc and chaos with the people of the land. The people have long just done what they can in order to survive as they do not think these giants can be killed. In the games 6 chapters Senua and her new found friends deal with these giants before finally make their way to the camp of the slavers for the conclusion of their journey.
Ultimately this leads to a story that is interesting, with characters you can connect to. Each one of them is unique can clash with one another yet you can’t help but feel for them all by the end of the journey.
A True “Next-Gen” Experience
From the moment we started seeing trailers for Hellblade 2 no one could deny how good it looked. People were quick to wonder if it was all CGI and if the game would look as good as it had appeared once out. After all it wouldn’t be the first time a studio has made a game look incredible in trailers only for the final product to look downgraded. Thankfully I am able to tell you that this is not the case with Hellblade 2.
From the moment the game starts til the moment the game ends you will be in awe of how incredible the game looks. The level of detail on the world is top notch and the facial animations on Senua and all the other characters are just incredible. I’ve hated the term “Next-Gen” for awhile now considering we are 4+ years into this generation, but Hellblade 2 is the definition of a true next-gen game from a graphical standpoint. It really is stunning to look at on my Xbox Series X. I don’t have a Series S so I can’t really comment on the looks of it on that system.
From a technical standpoint I’m happy to say it ran smoothly. There is a hotly debated topic in gaming right now around 30 FPS vs 60 FPS and while Hellblade 2 runs at 30 FPS I don’t think it suffers from it at all. The style of game doesn’t really need 60 FPS the way other games do. And while it would have been great to have a 60 FPS experience it just doesn’t seem necessary here and a bit of a waste of time and resources. That said if Ninja Theory ever did want to do a 60 FPS update in the future I’m sure many would be happy with that.
Hellblade 2 also didn’t suffer from any glitches or bugs, at least not in my time with it. Strangely enough the only time I noticed the game really stutter at all was during the recap at the beginning of the game. Ninja Theory have done a fantastic job making sure Hellblade 2 is fully polished.
Accessibility
Accessibility is an ever growing part of gaming. Xbox has made an effort to make games more accessible and Hellblade 2 is no different. Pretty much everything can be altered to help with whatever accessibilities you need and are fully customizable. From the text size and colour schemes for the visually impaired, A colour blind mode and many gameplay adjustments.
I even found 1 quite helpful for myself. It got a bit uncomfortable for me to constantly hold down the LB to run but thankfully there is a toggle mode which allows you to press it once to run and once again to walk. You can change the camera bob as well as many control options. There's even an option to turn on auto play for offensive actions, defensive actions or both. So if you are limited on that front but still want to enjoy the game for yourself you easily can.
Summary
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 has been a long time coming, but developer Ninja Theory has made the wait very much worth it. Everything from the story to the graphics and world building to the gameplay have seen massive upgrades from what was already a great original game to deliver a sequel that is one of the can’t miss games of 2024. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another 6 years for the next Ninja Theory game as Hellblade 2 has proven they are one of the best studios in the world at crafting a deep single player experience.
Senua's Saga Hellblade 2 was reviewed on Xbox Series X. A review code was provided by Xbox. Hellblade 2 will be available on PC and released day 1 into Xbox Game Pass.
