Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – Review, a short waltz with destiny

After the beauty of 4 and a half years since its 2019 reveal at the TGA, between deafening silences, postponements, and a few scattered new trailers, we have finally been able to get our hands on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. We have one of the most important titles of the year in front of us, as well as one of the bastions of the exclusive consoles of the Xbox Game Studios.

The boys of Ninja Theory in development they have always been able to demonstrate their skills over the years, but this time, for various reasons, a lot is really expected. Either for the wait, or for the curiosity about the exploitation of theUnreal Engine 5either for the importance and the consensus that the first Hellblade has achieved over the years, the spotlight is all on them. Let’s find out together in our review if the mission of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II has been accomplished, or if darkness will take over it.

A promise to keep

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a title narrative in third person, extremely psychologicalwhich unfolds between scenes action And puzzle to be resolved, fully returning to the formula that characterized the previous chapter. However the team didn’t just have comparison to it more resources available, but also means important and better technology, things that have helped to push on quality even more.

The cut of the whole adventure is cinematicfascinating on a directorial level and above all a jewel of technical and scenographic quality. This is also why it was chosen not to present any type of distracting HUD on the screen: the interface is clean, with only Senua, the landscapes, and her demons.

At the beginning of the game we are given the opportunity to start a summary videonot only with the description of the events of the first Hellbladebut with the entirety of Senua’s story up to that moment, clearly telling all the misfortunes of our heroine, and giving the opportunity to fully enjoy the title even to those who have not experienced the first adventure. Her family, her beloved Dillion, her motivations, the darkness, and the descent into Hel.

Driven by her goals, by a promise, by a desire for revenge, and by the ghosts that haunt her, Senua is captured by the Norse slaversof the unscrupulous warriors who are bringing her together with all the others, to the coasts of their land (now Iceland).

Without going into detail about what will happen from her arrival onwards, to avoid any possible spoilers on the plot, know that the story of our warrior will be fraught with dangersof voices, of questions, doubts, suffering, mixed feelings, and so on and so forth. This is because, as already mentioned, the psychological component Of Hellblade II And very strong, perhaps even more than the first chapter. His mind is a mixture of confusion and concentration, but his goals they will always be clear, even when they are destined to change.

It’s not Hel, it’s Midgard

As our old acquaintance will explain to us Druth through the first god Wands of Wisdom that we will find (wooden poles with symbols, hidden in the game map, and which will tell us the story of Grettir), Senua is no longer found in the Norse underworld, but a Midgard, the land of men… but which is no less dangerous for this. The adventure takes place in 10th century Iceland, with settings that will occasionally make us happy roll your eyesboth for their beauty and for what they look like realistic on screen (among other things, the team recreated places starting from real Icelandic landscapes, brought back to the conditions of the past).

To long walks through rocky lands, with voices that will whisper and they will comment on every single thing, they will alternate gods more “dreamlike” momentsof the waking nightmares which will put Senua face to face with her fears every time, and with limits to overcome, hoping not to succumb. This, and the perfect adaptation of the game to situations, taking advantage of the environment and the particle effects ensured that the player’s feeling was ever-changing, changing in step with what he saw on the screen.

Also be prepared to gruesome scenes, but which don’t lean towards horror or gore, and don’t expect jumpscares either. Everything Hellblade II wants you to experience, he does it without “middles”, putting everything on the table, without pretending to be something it isn’t. In short, we could define it an honest gameand who succeeds well in what he wants to do.

Not everything is as it seems

The most active parts of the adventure will obviously be the environmental puzzles hey fighting. The former propose some of the methods that we could now define as “historical”, such as the search for some symbols camouflaged in the setting, and which we can see based on our perspective, but there are also a couple new ones which will use a maneuver to change some parts of the map, to reach certain places or objects.

When there’s a fight to be had, battles will begin real fight scenes, where the moveset will change for the occasion (we underline that from the options you can customize the controls as you see fit, given that a couple of keys could be indigestible for players accustomed to certain types of action RPGs). Such scenes will not be exactly rare, but in the total duration of the game (which depending on your skills can be circumvented between 6 and 8 hours) you will encounter them A little bit more than about ten.

The Combat System is quite simple to understand, with two inputs dedicated to light attack and heavy attack, a button dedicated to dodging, one to parry, and after a certain point in the game, one to Focus, Senua’s concentration that makes her an unstoppable war machine for a few shots. The focus will be charged with the sound of blows, parries and dodges, and as in the first chapter you will see the level of the charges on the mirror hanging at Senua’s side, the one with Triskell.

Mastering combat will just be a matter of habit and timingWhere alternate parries and dodges will be fundamental to then exploit the opponents’ openings (the perfect save will also be very advantageous for charging the Focus). The “attack interruptus” system which will allow us to interrupt an attack and protect ourselves if necessary is much appreciated.

There fluiditythe naturalness of the movements, and thecinematic effect with which these scenes are managed, are nothing short of applause, certainly one of the most successful parts of all of Hellblade II on a scenographic level. There are no real boss fightsapart from the one we will experience in the finale (and which sees almost no changes compared to the classic clashes). However, there are some very important scenes in the gamein which we will face real calamities, which however will have different resolutions… which we do not anticipate.

A mission between death and companions

One of the focal points of the game, is that this time Senua won’t be alone. Of course, we know that death always accompanies her, almost follows her… but this time we are not referring to her.

Again, without giving you any spoilers and avoiding spoilers, it will also have to do with natural persons, not just with images, memories or nightmares. This will be a factor to say the least fundamentalfor more than one reason, and these are also things that we will let you discover by playing.

One thing that is more than important is that these personages they will not appear as simple specks, but will have their own reason, and above all one personal growth during the events. Obviously, the first to change and follow a gigantic internal process will be Senua herself.

Also for this reason, when we conclude our adventure for the first time, we will unlock in the menu dedicated to the new game, an additional mode where i secondary characters they will be added as narrators of the storywhich will make us get to know them even more closely, and what thoughts they might give us empathize with them. A simple addition, but certainly interesting, and which would in a certain sense enrich a second run of the game. Searching for all the Sticks of Wisdom will also unlock something, but we’ll leave that up to you to discover.

A sumptuous work, with its “buts”

There is no need to say again that the greatest merit of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is thetechnical aspect. A jewel that oozes art from every pore, an incredible use of Unreal Engine 5, and screen environments that they redefine the concept of photorealism. The particle effects, the ripples in the water, the atmospheric agents, the light reflections: practically everything has been reproduced as a work of art, almost without compromise. Even the faces, the facial expressions, and some scenes in particular, almost made us doubt that we were dealing with real actors.

To all this we add one cinematic structure by applause, with a continuous system where i video and gameplay are the same thingconsecutive, and without any gaps, and the excellent revival of thebinaural audioessential – and best enjoyed with headphones – to best step into Senua’s shoes by listening to the voices in her head.

However, from an experience point of view, there are some features that may actually be a bit off-putting to players. Let’s start from the fact that the first contact with the game it could be enough heavywith a very marked slowness that in some situations makes the events move forward with difficulty.

We are talking about a good third of the adventure, where we will find ourselves listening very often to the same things from “someone” in particular, with hackneyed concepts and phrases. Also, taken away a good moment after the introduction, the rhythm of the game speeds up quite a bit shy, but recovering greatly in the second half of game. This scenic swing has led to a bit of confusion in the narrative (and let’s say that some things aren’t even deafult clear, if you’re not careful), but on certain occasions it has caused us to lose the energy we had laboriously gained previously. In the end, some of the environmental puzzles could result slightly forced or redundantalthough fortunately they end at the right time.