Senua's saga :hellblade 2

Ended up playing the first two chapters over the last two evenings, alongside Lorelei sessions. Short sessions definitely recommended for this one.

Sadly, it's a pretty underwhelming sequel for me thus far. It's been seven years since I played the last game, so don't have a great memory of the ins-and-outs, but here the strengths feel like the same strengths of the last game, and everything else (other than the graphics) feels either like a disappointing lack of progress or even a stumble backwards.

Yes, the binaural audio is still a great experience, and yes it's a graphical showcase. And, just like the first one, those aren't shallow, spectacle only technologies here: they emphasise the story and character in an important way. Senua's story wouldn't be as strong or as intimate if the performance capture wasn't so rich, and the set pieces wouldn't be as strong if the lighting wasn't as dynamic as it is here (definitely a good showcase for Lumen). Some of the stuff you encounter is certainly striking or harrowing. I don't think it's on the level of Alan Wake 2 - which IMO remains a high water market for graphical fidelity and art design ingenuity - but it certainly is a testament to both technology and the art department at Ninja Theory. The presentation is impressively filmic too, with just the right amount of post processing effects to create that distinctive cinematic look (thankfully, though, it’s hitting a comfortable 60 FPS with DLSS on my PC).

But boy, there really isn't a whole lot of game to grasp onto here. I've played a lot of games with minimal interactivity through the years, so I'm not opposed to it: games can be whatever they'd like to be. But the problem here is that so much of the interaction feels turgid or uninspired. The combat is pretty dire, frankly, and overly simplified - feels like more you're reacting to pre-determined script directions than being involved in a fight (and boy they really like reusing 'aha there was another enemy behind you, just outside your peripheral vision!' trick). The "puzzles" (used very lightly) are just a nuisance used to pad out the runtime (apologies: I don't think they do much to add any additional insight into Senua's state of mind, trauma or psychosis), and the navigation boils down to 'go straight for story, or side path for one of two collectibles'. There's some puzzling decisions too, like how the glorified audio logs you unlock just fade away if you try to walk back to the main path. It also stumbles narratively, feeling less focused than the first and removing much of the intriguing ambiguity that made it such a notably intimate, insular story about Senua.

A game being slow is not a problem. A game being sluggish is a problem. And that's what I feel for a lot of Hellblade 2: I'm just holding the button forward to walk or lightly sprint forward at a frustratingly unhurried pace, but a lot of the time it barely feels like I even need to be doing that. There's been times - especially during the extended opening on the beach - where it felt entirely arbitrary when I was handed 'control' and when it was taken away. It's been two-three hours of game that already feels like it could've been handled in half that time without losing any of its power or resonance or atmosphere.

Is what’s happening on screen so extraordinary or special that it justifies such a loss of interaction? As impressive as some of it is, I just don’t think it clears that threshold as often as needs to. The compromise feels too large IMO.

Ninja Theory are technical wizards, and they're to be commended for doing their own thing. But if Hellblade 1 was a flawed but brave step in a different direction for them, this is an all too safe and somewhat redundant retread of the same material - even arguably less compelling narratively and gameplay-wise. The beautiful presentation immediately shows that seven years have passed since the first game. Sadly, in playing the game it feels like time (and NT's game design) hasn't moved on at all.

Credit where it’s due though: hell of a photo mode.