Let’s get this straight: to me, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is a letdown, though it is a true technological marvel. Whereas it isn’t essentially the most disappointing recreation I’ve ever performed, this extremely anticipated and largely pointless sequel falters in all the important thing areas that made the unique so good. It is as if Ninja Idea failed to understand what made the primary installment distinctive and opted for a distinct course as an alternative, retaining its signature parts that now appear misplaced and seem irrelevant.
Hellblade 2’s “epic” plot, which incorporates a number of characters and menacing giants, solely loosely connects to Senua’s character. It fails to delve into her psychotic situations, displaying little curiosity in doing so. The internal voices, as soon as integral to the expertise, now seem pointless and distracting, robbing gamers of deeper interpretations. Moreover, the puzzles, largely unchanged from the unique, proved ill-suited to the sport’s photorealistic visuals.
About one-third into Hellblade 2, I started to really feel that the builders ought to have strayed from merely replicating the mechanics of the primary title — and sadly, this impression by no means left.
A Story That Misplaced Its Distinctive Perspective
Hellblade 2’s story, together with the fundamental motivation to finish raids by slavers, is moderately impersonal. It reduces Senua to a spectator of others’ fates, disconnected from her personal journey. The theme of “changing into a frontrunner” within the sequel feels compelled, particularly for a personality like Senua, who struggles with psychological well being points and does not appear suited to such accountability.
What’s even worse is that this plot takes a wholly completely different route — precisely the type many anxious about previous to launch. In pursuit of scope and epicness, this story stretches past Senua’s internal ideas, trauma and feelings, revolving round seemingly actual monsters and previous gods. This basically leaves us with none layer of questioning the precise nature of issues — one thing that labored exceptionally nicely earlier than. In Hellblade 2, all of Senua’s hallucinations, representing her personal internal demons, out of the blue get diluted by actual individuals who verify that every one the wild issues occurring round her are certainly actual.
The story additionally felt fairly indifferent from Senua and what makes her a particular and distinctive protagonist, as an alternative making an attempt to show her right into a basic overseas hero who got here to save lots of this troubled land. Why not depart all that, together with the entire giant-killing factor, to somebody like Kratos? Regardless of some actually nice performances within the sequel, there’s simply no place to discover Senua’s situations extra deeply or deal with themes that made the unique Hellblade so intimate.
The Voices Diminished To Background Noise
By making the story extra grounded in the actual world and embracing the truth that Senua has made peace along with her Furies (voices in her head), studying to coexist with them, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 basically makes a mistake. Now, the voices seem as a pointless gimmick, serving nearly no objective and consistently distracting and denying gamers any quiet moments they could need.
The voices are all the time there, completely ignored by Senua, and providing no perception into her character. They simply consistently touch upon the obvious issues, typically interrupting different characters’ traces in dialogues and cutscenes. At instances, it is nearly like watching a Let’s Play video on YouTube with somebody being excessively chatty.
It is irritating to confess, however there have been quite a few events the place I wanted I may disable them within the choices — a thought that by no means crossed my thoughts with the unique, the place voices have been an integral a part of the expertise from the very first seconds. The normal, cinematic narrative appears to conflict with this distinctive perspective, turning the franchise’s distinct and emotional characteristic right into a pointless impediment with no impression by any means, evoking no feelings past annoyance.
Messy Puzzles Misplaced In The Visible Splendor
Hellblade 2’s closing sin to me is its strategy to puzzles — not the brand new type, like altering realities akin to Alan Wake 2’s Angel Lamp (these are positive, however too easy), however the previous and acquainted process of scouring the surroundings for visible runic symbols. This characteristic positively wasn’t essentially the most thrilling a part of the unique, however it felt becoming and labored as meant. Nevertheless, as a result of follow-up’s photorealistic visuals (critically, it is the prettiest recreation on the market for those who nonetheless fancy ‘realism’ in gaming), trying to find these patterns turns into an surprising problem.
Not solely is it fairly arduous to identify the precise a part of the rune amidst these blended environment, however traversing the similar rocky landscapes seeking the fitting angle turns into an unbearable chore. Senua’s motion is fairly restricted, with fixed, non-obvious blocks dictating the place you possibly can and can’t go, in addition to unclear separations in ledge heights that she will be able to or can’t attain. In consequence, even if you someway handle to determine the place the wanted image would possibly emerge, you typically end up caught within the atmosphere, struggling to succeed in the exact spot it is advisable to entry.
I am not suggesting that the flowery visuals hinder the puzzle mechanics; moderately, what I imply is that as builders, Ninja Idea ought to have acknowledged this problem and put effort into smoothing out this side of the sport to make it much less of a slog. Alternatively, the group would possibly simply give us a little bit extra freedom in motion throughout such exploration sections.
In the end, these three errors talked about above solely solidified my impression of the superfluous nature of Hellblade’s sequel. With inadequate improvements and lack of sturdy features, other than the technical aspect, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 can maintain your consideration for the a number of hours wanted to beat it, however it by no means feels important.
