New Post: ‘Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2’ review: great to look at – but otherwise disappointing - https://lnkd.in/gj2R_znB - Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 offers some of the most spectacular imagery we’ve seen in a video game. Psychedelic puzzles tread the line between Midsommar and The Northman brilliantly, and impeccable performances, facial animation, and rigging support phenomenally well-realised characters. Unfortunately, Hellblade 2 isn’t a film – it’s a game that doesn’t live up to the grandeur of its spectacle.
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Hellblade 2 returns us to the claustrophobic mind of Senua, a Celtic warrior with psychosis, plagued by voices that boom, whisper, and echo brilliantly. They’re relentless and mercurial, flipping from berating to encouraging at a moment’s notice. This is a game best played with headphones and without subtitles, as trying to make sense of the cacophony inside Senua’s head is an important part of the experience.
In this sequel, Senua has allowed herself to be captured by the same Vikings who raided her village and killed her lover before the events of the first game. She’s on a quest to stop them at their source, but an unexpected storm maroons her on the coast of Iceland alongside her slave master, Thórgestr.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. Credit: Ninja Theory.
The full game is around six hours, and while they’re sonically superb and visually intoxicating, they’re bogged down by repetitive combat, trial-and-error puzzles, frustratingly slow traversal, and a story that doesn’t know when to stick with a great character instead of moving on to a dull one.
Hellblade 2’s combat is simple and unchanged from that of the first game – you’ve got light and heavy attacks, a dodge, and a block-parry. It works exceptionally well during a stormy beachfront fight with Thórgestr, whose brutality is masterfully performed by Chris O’Reilly. Senua, too, feels truly alive as actor Melina Juergens screams and scrambles during the cinematic clash. This is when Hellblade’s combat is at its best, during intimate, emotional battles that happen as much within Senua’s mind as they do on the edge of her sword.
Unfortunately, the simplicity that makes such well-performed fights possible makes the arena-style gauntlets of enemies frequently thrown at Senua feel like repetitive, needless padding. The animations are flawless, the blows are heavy, but emotional impact is almost non-existent in most other battles. The few fights that do resonate have their spotlight stolen by the many that don’t.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. Credit: Ninja Theory.
Between the fighting, Senua has to unlock various gateways both in her mind and the real world by solving puzzles. The perspective conundrums from the first game make a return and are used sparingly, to Hellblade 2’s benefit. The level of challenge they offer seems arbitrary, with a possible miss
