Darren Price
In Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 we rejoin Senua, the 9th-century Pict warrior, as she is shipwrecked on the shores of Iceland, having been captured by slavers.
The story follows Senua, on a quest for revenge across the breathtaking Icelandic landscape. Players experience Senua’s psychosis as she continues to struggle with self-doubt and fears, as relayed by the voices in her head that join her on her journey. The voices offer the player encouragement as well as ridicule. The game’s supernatural elements could just be manifestations of Senua’s mental state. It’s a unique and brave approach from the developer that garnered Ninja Theory justifiable praise for the first game 2017’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
The story delves into Norse mythology as Senua confronts the barbaric Draugar and giants from Jötunheimr, whilst seeking help from the subterranean Hidden Folk. It is a narrative accomplishment that transcends just being a game.
The game doesn’t stray far from the experience offered by its predecessor. I can see this being a problem for some. It is similar to the first game which I found to be more about the story and the mo-cap actor’s performance with a few puzzles and some combat thrown in for good measure. This sequel is more similar but with more polish, even better motion capture and bigger budget visuals.
As a narrative adventure Senua’s Saga is superb. But it’ll not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s not open-world, it’s not a Ubisoft-style RPG.
As a third-person action-adventure game the gameplay is a bit light. It uses perspective in its puzzles which range from interesting to a bit stale. The combat relies on dodging a countering against powerful opponents but is nothing worth writing home about.
Al together, though, the story, the performances, the visuals and puzzles and the combat make for an entertaining experience that will appeal to players tired of the same old thing. The closest game I can think to this one would be the equally underrated The Order: 1886. This is another title that is more of an interactive animated movie than a regular “game”.
Senua’s Saga looks and sounds amazing. On Xbox Series X and PC with the settings maxed, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a pre-rendered CGI movie and not in-game graphics. The game uses Unreal Engine 5 to give players a visual feast.
I played the game on Xbox Series X, a high-end desktop gaming PC with an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU and a ROG Ally handheld PC. The game performed well across all the platforms. With Xbox Play Anywhere I could take my game save and continue to play on any platform.
The developer recommends that the game is played with headphones to properly experience the binaural audio. The sound is haunting and unnerving, letting players experience Senua’s auditory hallucinations which some may find a bit overwhelming and disturbing. Of note was the game audio that I experienced with the ROG Ally native speakers which has 3D sound so good that it is on par with, or even better than, playing the game with a headset.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is so much more than just a game. Like its predecessor, it is worthy of being called art. More effort to flesh out the gameplay could perhaps have been a better commercial decision at the risk of selling out what makes the game so unique. In the end, Senua’s Saga may end up, in trying to preserve remain something a bit different, being a victim of its own success amongst far more lucrative cookie-cutter fayre.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is available on Xbox Series S|X and PC from the Xbox Games Store and via Xbox Game Pass. The game is also available for PC on Steam. Xbox Australia provided the game for review.
Released: May 2024
Rating: R16
Platform reviewed: PC
Genre: Action
Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
