Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

[HandsomeDead]

I'm probably over halfway through the game and, yeah, it's as good as the last game in most ways except in ways that doesn't make much sense to me.

 

The story is still the main focus and it is as well performed as last time but it isn't as striking as before.  That had a unique, almost theatrical one-woman show due to it existing mostly in Senua's head and memories where as here she is interacting with others.  I do like that though since it's a good place to go after the first game being all about self actualisation and then seeing how she puts that into action around others.  It just also means the scenes are a bit more conventional.

 

Outside the story you wander around solving perspective based puzzles which feels easier this time around because I got stuck a bit on the last game but they do hide the optional lore poles (?) and hidden faces in the environment which tell stories too.  I find those harder this time, I've missed so many.

 

But it's the combat which is a problem.  It has been simplified to the point where it's just block and hammer attack.  There's no reason to use the heavy attacks really and they've made the parry have such a small window it's frustrating to use.  I don't know why they made that harder but the rest so much easier.  Fights are also one on one only so the spacing element from the original is completely gone.

I don't know why the went in this direction, I am a bit baffled by it.  No, it's not a combat focused game but they had a really nice compromise going with the original, and I don't think I'd heard of people dropping it, finding it too hard.

 

It's just a bit disappointing that they've felt they had to address a problem that wasn't there.  But the drama is good, how it incorporates mythology with coping with or explaining the affects of mental health is good so it's still entertaining but it's always gonna baffle me that they've removed any remotely interesting friction the original had.

[Nag]

I'm just gonna spam pictures for this post as HandsomeDead as put things a lot more eloquently than I could...

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

There's a picture mode but I've never been any good with the filters and all that gubbins... I grabbed these just using the screenshot button. 

 

It's a lovely looking game and the voice work/motion capture is second to non. I'll come out and say it though that you'd be better off treating this as an interactive experience rather than a videogame... I think this'll end up be more about the journey and story rather than playing the thing. I was looking through the accessibility options and you can even have the game perform all offensive/defensive moves so you could literally watch all the fights play out.

 

[HandsomeDead]

I mean I'm playing on a Series S with a very mediocre TV so I do think it looks amazing I always expect to be "well actually'd".

[HandsomeDead]

So I finished this in the early hours of the morning and I had to sit with it a bit.  The gameplay my opinion hasn't changed except maybe there's a tiny bit more to the combat.  Using heavies is for guard braking and utilising that more instead of the strict parries did make my life easier.

 

But the story

 

Spoiler

I basically don't think it landed that well.  I think I'm more confused about the logic.  It seems others could see the giants and the draugr, and it does suggest others suffer from "the rot" so is it suggesting a collective psychosis where they are having similar experiences seeing the same thing at the same time, even in large groups? I dunno, that's a stretch.  A large group having similar experiences at different times, -individually- I can accept, but not this.

 

It's a shame because I was really enjoying where the core theme was going early on.  You don't get cured of these mental issues, you learn to live with them and to have a journey be that and be about relating and using the experience to help others opens up some great storytelling possibilities, and it touches on that, but it doesn't do anything nearly as affectively as the last game.  I'd say the main problem is it feels very rushed so doesn't end up being the poster child of shorter games as they clearly bit off more than they could chew in selling this kind of narrative.

 

So I'm a bit disappointed.  Hate to say it.  I played Senua's Sacrifice just last year and came away thinking it was better than it's reputation so maybe my expectations were too high.  I didn't hate it or anything but I really wanted this to be a real stand out.

[mfnick]

I’ve just played Senua’s Sacrifice, I thought it was actually bad. So I went into this with poor expectations but wanted to see how good it looked.

 

Turns out I think this is a vast improvement. The original did nothing for me. But within the first 1.5 hours I’m already far more invested in this. Everything about it is so much more interesting IMO. There’s a lot of little touches which are really adding up for me. There’s so much confidence here, they’ve actually got some cinematic flair to everything which is happening now. Which suits this kind of interactive movie/walking sim thing this is doing. The combat is still just meh, but at least now it looks exciting and it’s a lot more violent and has execution like moves. It just makes it more interesting to witness. It gets an emotion from me now instead of boredom. Having more human enemies seems to be helping too. Those generic looking enemies in the first meant nothing to me

 

Speaking of humans, I like there’s actually other people and emotions in this too. I understand the isolation is probably a big part of the point in the first (which I usually like) but again I’m far more interested in what’s going on now. Senua and her plight I couldn’t have cared less about in the first, now I’ve got a bit more to latch onto. 
 

It genuinely does look amazing too. The hype is real in department. & again for this type of experience that does matter and does make a big difference. Environments are far more varied and interesting so far too. Although I feel I’m becoming less and less impressed with realistic graphics these days. They don’t wow me anymore. Sure it’s probably the best looking game I may have ever seen but it’s still diminishing returns compared to what’s come before. This has cemented the fact I do prefer games with strong art design now. Hi Fi Rush is still my pick for the best looking game this gen. But it does still look incredible. 

 

The perspective puzzles can still get in the bin though. Utter shite. Just going to a guide every time I reach one now just to get by them. 

[Maf]

I played up until the first boss fight. I died because the first time he did a red attack I accidentally countered it. I wasn’t trying, I just hit attack at the same time he tried to attack. I then tried to do it every other time and Senua got stabbed through the throat

 

Now I double tap A to dodge. Much better

 

Like everyone else I think it’s visually stunning. Probably the best looking game out right now. Not only is the tech incredible but what they’re actually showing as well. It’s just a very interesting thing to look at not only for the great graphics but the hallucinations, different set piece sequences, etc

 

But also like everyone else it’s not much of a game. I think I watched it for 10 minutes before it let me run forward through corridors and a set piece for 10 minutes before I got to a fight 

[Maf]

Even on a 4090 with Frame Gen, putting this game on DLLA drops the frame rate to below 60 sometimes. Sometimes it’s around a 100, too. But whoa. Decided to go with good old Quality mode. There’s a bit of image breakup around the fur on Senua’s vest but keeps the frame rate above 100 and steady at least 

 

Headphones was a good choice for this, but I do miss perfect blacks and HDR. Definitely thinking about having a 2 screen set up and one being OLED for particular games like this 

[mfnick]

Just done the cave section. That was really fucking cool. Really tense and atmospheric. If you like the film The Descent this shit is for you. 
 

One of those parts which made me really appreciate having an OLED again after all my constant whining about it. Having true blacks in this area really help make it that much cooler. Literally pitch black apart from the little spots of light and torches. 
 

Pic doesn’t do it justice but this type of stuff looked fucking incredible. Turns out this game has good art design as well as just being technically impressive.

 

Spoiler

The part which followed immediately was cool too. 

[mfnick]

Completed. For me it’s a big improvement over the first. For reasons I’ve already mentioned. However it still had large stretches which were just boring. I genuinely think it would be better without the shitty puzzles and combat too. & one area where it seemed worse was with the voices. They are just corny as fuck in this one and just saying the most on the nose, obvious shit constantly. 
 

I’m glad I played it still though. Every now and again it really impressed me - all the Huldufolk and Giant stuff in particular. So much of it was dull and/or bad though. There’s much better walking sim style games out there. 

 

6/10
 

 

[DANGERMAN]

I played through this over the weekend, I don't think I prefer it to the original but that's more because I think the first game handles it's subject matter better, there's no question the Senua's Saga does every other aspect better. 

 

I don't think the mental health stuff is handled well, it's too comic book and theatre school. It's like the voices are a power now rather the fairly accurate portrayal of paranoia. They comment on everything, not just the things Senua has doubts about, I think this is a really big knock against the game. 

 

They don't explain the combat, but in some ways I like that, it does mean you have to work the timings out, learn when to dodge, when to use your stronger attack, but there's really no punishment for failure early on. 

 

The icon puzzles are less clunky now, and they've added a set of puzzles that involves making platforms and obstacles appear and disappear, these are the more challenging of the two, but it's just trial and error to get through.

 

The other characters are good, well acted and written, I suppose you could argue they're not especially complex, but believable enough. 

 

One final criticism. There's secrets in the game, chunks of narrative hidden away that you'll only find from exploring. The ones hidden by the stone faces are cool, that's a really well done effect. There's 2 problems with them though for me, first is that there were points where I wasn't engaging with the walk and talk narrative, instead I was spinning the camera around looking for poles and faces. The 2nd problem is, the final ones you find are before a huge boss fight, I took that to be the end of the game. There's none in the final chapter and so mentally I'd clocked the game as nearly finished, which sucked a bit of energy from that final chapter, it felt like an epilogue 

 

Aside from that though I really enjoyed it. It's not perfect but I'm glad it exists 

[Nag]

Literally just finished this, while I can appreciate it for what it is as a game I didn't enjoy my time with it... I never really nailed the timing with the combat and something just felt off.

 

I'd have to replay it as my memory may be playing tricks but the first is way better for me... shame.

 

 

[Maf]

I dunno how far in this game I am now but it looks like I'm in the back third of the 2 collectible types but only have 400/1000 points so who knows. I've just done the caves and the fire bit so feel like I'm in the third act. 

 

Story and gameplay wise I think it's fine. It's just a visual and audio spectacle and it really is amazing. There's a couple of really nice softer bits of music in this game which really make a couple of scenes. Playing on headphones things like the water dripping from the cave roof in silence is super cool as well. 

 

Obviously the star of the show is the visuals. I think on every level, graphic fidelity, graphics effects, cinematography, imagery, optical illusions, etc. It's just the best out there. 

 

I don't mean to sound mean, because I do actually like this game, but I can't wait for a truly spectacular game to match these spectacular visuals. 

[Maf]

Finished. Kinda loved this actually. It's nice to play a game that has just a clear goal and focus. The combat got better when I found the parry button as well lol 

 

The music in this game is pretty amazing. They say play with headphones, presumably for all the voices and such, but I would recommend more for the sound and music. It's excellent 

 

Some screenshots

 

Spoiler

 

I think my only complaints are they're too heavy on the motion blur, I wish I could tone it down, and the story lost me a little towards the end in terms of plot. But I get the idea and I think that's more important. 

 

Impressed. Would probably go a bit higher than most people on here and give it a 8/10. 

 

Just need to look at the achievements and see if I can wrap that up this afternoon. 

[mfnick]

3 hours ago, Maf said:

heavy on the motion blur, I wish I could tone it down,

Can’t you turn it off? I’m sure I tried turning it off but then I got the dreaded stutter so kept it on. 

[Maf]

I was looking for it but couldn’t find it

 

Another thing I wanted to turn off was film grain. I fucking hate film grain

 

Got all the achievements this afternoon. Only took about 30mins. It has chapter select and cutscenes are skippable so nice and easy 

[one-armed dwarf]

The only thing you should be turning off here is that radioactive green number in the corner 💢

[mfnick]

I had to look it up because I thought I was going insane there, but yea you can definitely turn it off in the ‘accessibility’ menu. Think it had a film grain setting somewhere too (edit - maybe not with Film Grain actually). Obviously a bit late now but I feel better at least.