Hellblade II is neither the masterpiece critics have made it out to be nor is it the irredeemable dumpster fire some claim it is. When you look past its gorgeous presentation and excellent performances, what you'll find is a frustrating mess of a game--a dated walking-sim occasionally broken up by boring puzzles and terrible combat sections, all held together by a story that has its moments, but ultimately falls apart under any amount of scrutiny.

I disagree with the opinion that you can’t make a sequel to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, because what makes this game all the more frustrating to me is that it does have a story to tell--one about healing and helping others overcome their trauma. Sadly, it spends too much time wallowing in the same themes as before, leaving its more interesting topics for the last quarter of the game. Too little, too late, I say.

I take absolutely no joy in saying this, but I don’t recommend Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

Watch the full review here: https://youtu.be/AXJ2sgi13gI

This is a very disappointing sequel for me. This game is a combination of a walking simulator with a few easy puzzles and a couple of fighting scenes where you fight more and less the same type of enemies in the same way over and over again. By the end i was already bored and i just pushed myself to finish the game . The only good thing about the game was the sound design , the graphics and the music , but the gameplay is mediocre at best. 6/10 game for me.

* I will give this a recommendation, but just barely and only because there was love, skill and hard work put into making this game. But, while it does have good elements, it's quite flawed and can be very disappointing at times. If some of its good bits appeal to you, go for it. But definitely wait for a sale or discount, especially if it's at a price point you can't usually justify.

+ To start off with the good bits, the cave section reminded me a lot of The Descent and I would bet that movie was its main source of inspiration. The cave system was incredibly rendered, eerie and scarily claustrophobic. The undead were properly frightening in both visual and sound design and their accompanying red lighting was supremely effective. It's easily my favourite section in the game, my only wish being that the undead appeared early on in subtle ways, just like in the movie it clearly references.

+ The audio design is incredible. I had forgotten just how amazing it was in the first game and how effective the whispers of the voices inside Senua's head were, but they are so well done. Truly sounds like someone whispering in your ear and it cranks the immersion to eleven. What's also great is sometimes the score is synchronised with visual effects, especially in the first giant encounter, and I'm always one to be impressed by such audio-visual harmony.

+ It's really obvious by now that the game looks incredible, it's one of the best looking games I've ever played alongside Alan Wake 2. The surface detail is astounding, featuring the best looking rocks ever courtesy of Nanite and the lighting is gorgeous, especially volumetric lighting. Character animations are best-in-class with facial animations during combat being a huge stand-out. However, I found the image quality to be really poor when a lot of foliage is on screen, none of the temporal upscalers doing a good job to resolve the final image.

+ Combat is simple enough, but I found it engaging, especially since it was pretty much the only gameplay element that let you do something meaningful. You can parry, which I always approve of, and dodge attacks, you can light attack and heavy attack and activate your super for an almost-guaranteed kill. It's not much, but it works. It's one-versus-one at all times, but the chaos of the battlefield is captured well enough through the many cinematic moments that interleave with the fights; so, while the combat is simple, it's always a spectacle.

+ Senua has changed in interesting ways from the first game. While her psychosis is still there, represented by the voices of the Furies and her father, she interacts differently with them and definitely has more self-confidence, being able to either ignore or more easily move past the voices' demoralising remarks. The sequel also acknowledges the supernatural elements as real, with Senua described as more than someone living with mental illness and, while I understand how many will take issue with this, I'm much more accepting of the supernatural in narratives especially as it shares the spotlight equally with the more serious topics in my view. The new characters comprising the game's cast are also efficiently sketched and I'd lie if said I didn't engage with the game's story up until the final act comprising the journey towards the last giant.

- The puzzles were very disappointing for me. The same environmental puzzles from the first game, where you have to find the symbols in the environment, return and offer nothing new. They are incredibly simple to solve and require zero thought, just sluggish movement from place to place until the cues appear.

- Also extremely disappointing are the collectables. While hidden nicely throughout the environment, they're not particularly interesting especially if you're already somewhat familiar with Norse and Celtic lore and, with movement being slow and sluggish, I can't say I had any desire to seek them out.

- The forest section disappoints as well by seemingly giving you the choice to decide the fate of two of your supporting cast, yet that choice amounts to absolutely nothing, with no consequence whatsoever beside a slightly different forest path and some dialogue. And it is emblematic of the whole game, a supremely linear story devoid of choice and consequence and any engaging gameplay mechanic besides combat. Just a painfully slow walking simulator through admittedly breathtaking Icelandic vistas with some simple combat interspersed along the way. And I did find the story engaging to a point, but narratives focused on choice that do not have that choice reflected through gameplay in any shape or form are extremely flawed in my eyes.

- The disappointment reaches its peak during the game's final act, forest journey included. It strongly suggest that there were a few development issues, as it's quite rushed and it becomes apparent that a lot of content was perhaps cut. The final and main villain is as generic as they get with the most cliched of evil motivations and his existence is in contradiction with a lot of the previous narrative elements, specifically the previous giants. It doesn't feel like something open for interpretation, left for the player to decide, but like an actual contradicting element, a Jenga block pulled out of the narrative tower, bringing it close to collapse. What collapses it altogether is the insanely abrupt ending, yet again speaking about choice but offering not even a linear resolution, let alone the ability to actually make a choice through gameplay. A final act to almost ruin the entire game, at least for me.