‘Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’ Review: More Spectacle Than Substance
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a follow-up to the 2017 narrative adventure Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, a game lauded for its bold storytelling and representation of psychosis. The first game was a critical darling and opened the doors for wider conversations regarding the stigma surrounding mental health, particularly in the realm of video games. Though not all agree on the quality of the representation, it was an important milestone for the way games tell stories, and for what kind of stories a game can tell.
The original Hellblade is a personal journey told through unreliable eyes, as Senua travels through the mythological realm of Helheim on a quest to resurrect her lover Dillion while carrying his severed head in a bag. Now, the sequel attempts to build on that conversation, using Senua’s unique perspective to examine power structures, the mythology that shapes normalcy, and the effects of shared trauma.
What Is Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II About?
Hellblade II starts with a promise: end the raids so no others will suffer as Dillion did. To make good on this promise, Senua allows herself to be enslaved by the Vikings and brought to their home, a stunning recreation of 10th-century Iceland.
From the opening moments, the story strikes a more epic tone. Where Hellblade began with a young woman quietly floating on a log, Hellblade II begins with our hero in the hull of a slaver’s longship as it’s battered to pieces by a storm. This intensity continues upon arrival to Iceland, where Senua discovers that the country is beset by a scourge of giants whom she’ll have to overcome if she’s to reach the Northmen.
The journey from the perilous shores to the battle with the first giant Illtauga is beautifully composed. The story takes time to reacquaint the player with Senua’s cast of internal voices. There’s also a new cast of characters who become tied to her quest and offer opposing views about their culture, the nature of this adventure, and how best to survive it.
Gorgeous Visuals and Aesthetics
Visually, Hellblade II is a technical marvel, with the most fully-realized game environment I’ve ever explored. The photogrammetry-based modeling and brilliant lighting allow a seemingly desolate landscape to spring to life through subtle, yet incredible, detail. There were multiple times when I had to stop and just take in my surroundings, not only to appreciate the beauty but to marvel at the craftsmanship.
Ninja Theory went all out on the animation and performance capture too. Facial expressions are perfectly transposed onto the incredible character models, and in the game’s many shots of quivering lips, those 3D meshes jiggle their way right into the realm of the photoreal. There were multiple scenes where I was squinting trying to figure out if I was watching a live-action recording or a game.
Combat in Hellblade II
As amazing as the individual elements are, the combat sections tie it all into a show-stopping spectacle. Each arena is thoughtfully lit and staged to ensure every bad guy looks as menacing as the music suggests. Animations are seamlessly blended between Senua and her foe as they interrupt each other’s efforts with counterstrikes and parries.
Blows are given a moment to land: a quick pause that imbues combat with a weighty, staccato feeling. It’s just enough to give the impression of swords being bound up in flesh and armor. It feels as rewarding as it is disgusting, as each strike Senua lands on an opponent is visually represented. Finishing moves and switching opponents universally look amazing, but at the cost of being highly-scripted events.
Frustrating Limitations In A Beautifully Rendered World
And unfortunately, that highly scripted part can’t be understated. Fights flow naturally, but are limited to two attacks and a parry. The animations are beautiful, but they also limit fights to one opponent at a time, eventually making combat a chore. As beautiful as the environments are, movement is limited to narrow paths, with exploration being almost non-existent save for the occasional superfluous loop or dead end.
Hellblade II isn’t billed as an open-world game, but in coming so close to looking like one, its limitations are brought to the forefront. It’s a difficult balance to strike when making a narrative experience: when should it be told like a story, and when should it play like a game? And when should that story end?
A Moment For Senua To Grow And Change
The crescendo reached in the closing of Illtauga’s arc is genuinely moving, and offers Senua a rare opportunity for growth. She’s given the space to transition from a tormented victim into a uniquely capable warrior whose battles are won through empathy and compassion. It’s a beautiful evolution that could have been worked into a powerful ending. Instead, the story trudges on for another three hours, slowly losing focus, muddling its themes, and undermining the impact of the preceding chapters.
During those three hours, Hellblade II feels like a different game altogether. Thoughtful storytelling is replaced by endless expository dialogue and cut scenes that rush the story between increasingly brief set pieces. The story tries to remain ambitious, but unfortunately never recovers the momentum from earlier in the game.
Does Mental Health Play A Role At All In The New Game?
The key themes of mental health end up taking a back seat to the action and become lost in the epic scale of the story, which detracts from the conversation that the original Hellblade began. Senua is a character crafted to tell introspective, personal stories, and she may have been the wrong choice to tell a saga of this size.
Combat is simple and repetitive, and made even easier by Senua’s iron mirror. If you can survive long enough for the mirror to charge, you’ll be able to trigger a flashy flurry of blows that will kill even the toughest of foes. Puzzles require more travel time than thought and are mostly repetitive tasks with no difficulty curve. Eventually, both puzzle challenges and fighting become tedious enough to elicit groans.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II does have some great moments, but the first half sets the bar too high and the second half can’t seem to match it. While the second half of the game may not be as strong, the spectacle is still incredible to watch—the Illtauga arc alone makes this a title worth checking out.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is out now on PC and Xbox Series X and Series S.
Summary
Hellblade 2 is a technical marvel but the work never comes together into anything greater than the sum of its parts. Though the journey is worth taking, it’s one that’s more spectacle than substance.
Categorized:Reviews Video Games
