The first Hellblade game I played a while ago. It was a title I tried because I wanted to finish games for the sake of widdling my backlog down. I randomly decided to play this sequel since it recently came out on PS5 and while I can see why many criticize the hell out of it. I found the game to be very charming even if much that charm can from Senua and by extension Melina Juregens' performance as her.
Gameplay is pretty easy to criticize, in fact if you wanted to aim for the jugular regarding Hellblade 2, this is where you would attack. It is very much the kind of game that many post Last of Us sony first party titles often get criticized for. There's lot of "walking sections" plenty of sequences that are purely just there to show that there is one take with no cuts. There's also just long stretches with nothing but walking.Another issue is that unless you are actively listening to Senua's voices, there may be times where it's hard to tell what you can and cannot interact with since it does away with active button prompts.
The symbols puzzles is just going to different parts of an enclosed space and lining objects together.
Combat? Well that basically just an overly scripted game of Punch Out. You don't have combos and it's esstentially a battle of getting strikes in and then have enough hits into to recharge your rune attack and then Senua can instantly kill her enemy she is fighting. To top it all off, there is only one or two enemy types and they attack Senua one at a time. It was hard to tell if I was losing because I was scripted to lose or I didn't have a rune attack lined up therefore the fight went on longer. I also disliked the there is no traditional health bar which only adds more to the ambiguity that combat can bring. There is a 2nd chance system if you get downed but the game never really tells you this.
The best way of describing Senua's combat prowess when playing as her in this sequel is like playing as a greatly depowered Peter Parker in a Spider-Man game.
With all that said, some aspects of the gameplay were decent like the teleporting platform bubble puzzles since those hit the sweet spot of not being too hard or too easy. Anything that revolves creating the ideal path to get across was decent. There was also an interesting section that involved lightning braisers on fire to create the ideal path forward. There was also some okay rhythm game scripted sequences during the giant defeating parts. Anything that didn't involve combat was decently handled if a little basic, I don't mind basic puzzles since if I want to overly hard puzzles, I got play a puzzle game. It is a shame that combat has been scaled back so significantly.
Hellblade 2 does look very nice visually with how detailed the environments and especially with the mo cap. What I mainly found interesting about the game was the story particularly Senua as a character. Whether it'd be her constant inner monologuing that gives her and by extension the player conflicting information. This also allows for Senua not to speak out loud for no real reason other than to give the player hints. Melina's facial mo cap is also really good and does a great job displaying conflict and anguish.
The story also has something I have an inherent soft spot for is when the protagonist spares the villain's life, he eventually comes to be an ally later in the story. She starts to unite more and more people as the story goes on. The actual story is just okay even if it did feel like Senua is going through arc fatigue. The cliffhanger ending didn't help either.
Overall, Hellblade 2 by all intents and purposes is a game I should've strongly disliked but it manages to have just enough going on and have some great acting to carry me through it's short run time. I can see why there are those who would strongly dislike the game, I found it moderately engaging even if it is inferior to the first Hellblade.
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