Senua's Saga Hellblade II Review

Unnerving portrayal of psychosis in Viking Iceland

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Platform: PC Xbox X|S

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: Ninja Theory

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Release: May 21^st, 2024

Time Played: 6.3 Hours

Genre: Action Adventure

ESRB: M

Intro:

Senua’s Saga is an interesting game taking you through Viking Iceland full of eerie folklore and tales from the perspective of Senua, a warrior who suffers psychosis. In this journey you will experience competing voices in your head and questionable visuals in front of you. Let’s get through what this game has to offer, and make sure you stick around until the end for my final rating. A quick forewarning, this is a sequel to the 2017 release, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, I would recommend checking that game out before this if you haven’t.

Where it starts

Taking place shortly after the events of Senua’s Sacrifice, Senua is purposely taken captive by slavers, in the hopes of being taken to her enslaved people and saving them. Shortly before landfall a turbulent storm hits the boats forcing a rough landing. Once ashore, Senua must find a source of protection and begin her journey through Iceland.

Can the kids watch

There wasn’t a lot of poor language to look out for, but there was plenty of bloody action. The combat scenes consist of slashing and cutting, blood all over the place. And the various scenarios of psychosis can get quite dark and frightening. It may be best to wait until after bedtime to experience this dark narrative.

Psychosis

From my understanding the developers did an excellent job giving you an experience very close to what psychosis is like from Senua’s perspective. While moving through the game there was a constant stream of voices in your head, sometimes agreeing with your actions, sometimes demanding you change course and do something different. There did come a point where it was easy to ignore the voices, but starting out was a trip.

Combat

Quite a few times Senua was forced to defend herself against violent enemies. In those instances, you had to choose when to attack, parry, or dodge. It was a straightforward affair if you paid attention to the enemy you would get through just fine, with some good animations for the entire fight. There were times I wasn’t sure I was even doing anything because the fight scenes were a seamless cinematic experience. Although simple, the combat in the game was very nice to watch.

Puzzles

Senua’s journey was not a simple journey from point a to b. More often than not you will need to observe your surroundings and figure out what needs to be done, from shifting the world around to identifying runic shapes out of the world your work will be cut out for you to open the path forward. Some of the puzzle were the same, making it easier to understand what needs to be done, but not easier to figure out the solution.

Collectible stories

If you explore off the beaten path you may find a special tree or totem. When examined you will be gifted with a short Nordic tale. Sometimes the story takes more than one totem so if you miss one in the series, the story can become confusing. I tried doing a lot of exploring and still managed to miss quite a few of the collectible stories by the end.

Outro:

Senua’s Saga was a gorgeous narrative experience. The visuals were phenomenal and the psychosis aspect with the main character was one of a kind, very fascinating, that is if you can handle it. I’m sure there are some out there that this may hit too close to home for and they would want nothing to do with it. If anything, I feel this game is a great experience to help you understand those that suffer psychological issues a little better.

The gameplay was simple, combat involved just a few different button presses and the puzzles were easy enough to get passed. It feels like the game is more about delivering an amazing narrative experience rather than test your skills as a gamer. Almost like playing a movie rather than a video game.

I don’t remember much about the first game but if you like that, I’m confident you would like this game as well. It seemed to have less puzzles than the first game but still the same experience, different story. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this game, have you played this or the first Hellblade? If you have I would love to hear your take on it, so please let me know in the comments your thoughts. While you do that let’s get these ratings underway.

Visuals were amazing, the characters were very realistic and the way fights worked out were great, I’m handing out a five.

The story was dark and a unique experience with psychosis, it was unnerving, in a good way, I’m handing out another five.

Gameplay was simple, almost non-existent when compared to the story. More of a tool used to move the story forward than something challenging to figure out, it ran smoothly and did it’s job, I’m handing out a three.

Replayability isn’t there for me. I enjoyed the game once but see no reason to go back through, it’s a linear game that doesn’t change, I feel like once is enough to enjoy the game, I’m giving it a one.

Fun is a tough one, I really enjoyed the experience but fun doesn’t really come to mind for this game. I’m not sure what I would call it other than a great narrative experience. I’m giving it another four.

Giving Senua’s Saga an average score of three point six out of five. Because of that I’m placing up there on the Top Shelf.

I definitely recommend you check the game out, if you haven’t played the first one though, you see that one first. I know that has been on sale in the past for a very good price, if you don’t like the first game you wouldn’t like this one.