In recent years, the art quality for AAA Games has reached this close to realistically-looking models and designs that greatly impact the experience of a player as they delve deep into the game’s world. The first time that I witnessed a truly so-called next-gen game design was Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice back in 2017 developed by Ninja Theory. The level of detail in that game was unmatched by any other AAA title at that time and the representation of the game was purely cinematic, and the thing that was unbelievable for me was that the game was only made by a group of 20 people.
Almost seven years after its release, Ninja Theory has finally come up with a sequel to Senua’s story, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. This sequel follows an improved representation of the game for its fans to feel immersed once again as they uncover the next phase of Senua’s story while dealing with all the psychological horror and thrills that come with the Psychosis disease of Senua.
Story
The story of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is set in the 10th century in Iceland not long after the events of the original game. After Senua’s adventure in the Helheim in the original game, she came to Midgard (the Land of Men) to seek revenge against the Northmen who brutally murdered her homeland, Orkney.
Reaching the Midgard welcomes her with a heavy storm from which she gets washed off to a rocky side of the island. As she ventures ahead while feeling empowered by her Psychosis, she finds the Enslaver. After a brutal fight with the Enslaver named Thórgestr, she captures her and makes him take her to a place where all the slaves have been sent.
While on the journey, she learns about the Slave Symbol and who it belongs to, Goði aka Thorgestr’s father. Later, she reaches a village settlement devastated by humanoid monsters called Draugar and saves a stranger named Fargrímr who aids her in the journey ahead and warns her about Illtauga, the female giant whom Draugar worships and summons at times of need.
Gameplay
The gameplay design of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II follows the same steps of the original game with a third-person action-adventure. The Psychosis of Senua now empowers her to push forward in this new adventure rather than encumbering her. Various original mechanics return in this sequel including the glyph puzzles, permadeath, and examination of Senua’s mental state. You can play with Permadeath ON to raise the difficulty of every fight encounter to feel extra-immersed and thrilled at the same time.
One of the main returning features that is both revamped and improved is fighting. The new fighting system in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II feels more realistic with all-new takedowns and animations of fatal blows. The risk is higher than before and with a high variety of enemies, it adds more to the strategic terms of the fighting.
Every different enemy type has its own set of attacks and weaknesses that players must first learn to overcome rather than just spamming weak or heavy attacks to kill them. The ability to slow down the time is faster and it allows players to focus on connecting the quick strikes in their favor to take down the enemy. The fluidity in combat plays a crucial role in the new combat system where players can feel both immersed and thrilled while figuring out the strategy to take down a unique enemy.
Pursuing the new adventure of Senua will require players to solve several puzzles throughout each chapter. One of the returning puzzle types is the glyph puzzle where players have to find the matching symbols in the surroundings to unlock the path ahead. Moreover, there is a new type of puzzle in this adventure as well where you will get to focus on a ball to unlock new paths ahead.
Another big factor in the gameplay of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is exploration. Although, the world is limited to its adventure, but there are optional paths that are easy to miss. Players can find and venture across these paths to find the collectibles of Lorestangir and hidden faces which adds more depth to the game’s lore.
The dynamic weather system of the game also impacts greatly on exploration and combat. With both the harsh and calm weather, the physics of combat will change accordingly making it feel more realistic for the players.
Sound and Visuals
Both the sound design and visuals of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II are probably the best ones that I have ever experienced in a game. The voices playing in the background are mixed with such perfection that they enhance the empowerment of Psychosis in Senua. Moreover, the generic sound design of the world is also greatly crafted, especially when it mixes with the Psychosis effects that bring up glyph puzzles or place Senua in the past.
The voice acting and the captured models of the actors are done beautifully as it fits perfectly with the actual cinematography of the game. Each emotion and depth in the voices of the characters can be heard clearly.
Last but not least, the actual visuals of the game are just Chef Kiss. All the rendered models of the world and the detailing of the characters just don’t feel like a video game, thanks to Unreal Engine.
Verdict – Score 8/10
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is an amazing action-adventure video game that is nothing less than a 6-hour cinematic movie where you are in complete control. The game is heavily focused on story build-up and its conclusion rather than letting players explore more of the world which can be a letdown for a lot of open-world RPG enjoyers.
But if we look at the perspective of the game, it almost delivers everything to perfection for what it was intended to do. A new chapter of Senua’s story in a complete cinematic design but it is safe to say that it becomes repetitive due to its same-old glyph-based puzzles.
Despite its feeling of a walking simulator and repetitive puzzle scheme, it is truly unbelievable that Ninja Theory produced such an endorsing sequel with only a team of 80 People. It shows that the company is loyal to Senua and her fans who want to know more about her story.
I can positively say that it is the best visually made game out there, and if anyone likes to endeavor on a complete cinematic journey where nothing feels like a video game, then this is for them.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is now available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Game Pass.
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