Senua's Saga Hellblade 2 (Xbox/PC)

[MartyG]

I've played this for about an hour, and the game is supposedly a 7-8 hour experience.

It's quite a slow start plodding around a very grey and depressing environment, but this seems to be purposely so, to set up the despair and desperateness of Senua as she ends up on the beach, trying to find her way out.

There is the constant voices in the head, and I find this a little bit much; fortunately you can turn this off entirely in the sound options (just set voices to zero), you can turn the subtitles on or off too, so if you don't want to see it at all then that's available. If you want to experience the paranoia and distress that's constantly in Senua's head, then leave it on, but I think it'll get overwhelming for longs periods of play.

The combat doesn't seem especially deep, you have dodge, counter and light and heavy attacks - but I think this is in keeping with the character - she isn't a soldier, she's trying to scrape by - but if you're looking for Devil May Cry, then no, pass on this. It's mostly an adventure game, and exploring with some puzzles (similar to those in the first game where you line up the vigils).

It looks fantastic, on my PC playing at 4K max settings with no upscaling or dynamic resolution, it's a mostly stable showing 58-60 FPS on rivatuner. With DLSS on Quality it stick around 70, Balanced around 100 and with frame-gen it's well over 100 FPS maxed at 4K, and at 4K it's using around 12GB of VRAM. You should be able to tune this pretty well I think to suit your rig.

I need to play some more, but first impressions I'd give this 8 pencils up the nose out of 10.

[Brad]

The basic combat was my only issue with the first game and it sounds like it's exactly the same this time around, which is disappointing. I like the voices, the original wouldn't have been much of a game at all without them but options are good of course.

[nonny]

I'm up to chapter 3... echo the same sentiments as you Marty.

I've played across both Xbox consoles yesterday and it's a looker. It especially shines in HDR as those dark tones with flashes of flames etc... it's almost photorealistic at times.

I've just started this off the back of playing the original and it's definitely more of the same but the combat is definitely dialled back.

You'd face multiple opponents at the same time in the original with an auto lock system. Here it's purely 1 on 1 with some automatic connecting pieces to switch into the next opponent.

That allows them to really dial up the experience of the sword play at close range but I feel they've lost a lot in the process. I almost wish they could have started like this and gradually introduced new elements.

Puzzles so far feel about the same as before. Pretty straightforward once you understand the mechanics.

So far I'm leaning towards an 8/10 but really want to finish it and reflect. Also you should absolutely play this with headphones.

[Neon Ignition]

A point needs to be deducted by default in any game where letterbox borders are forced.

The ****ing screen is already wide, it's the most moronic design decision.

[fishbowlhead]

A point needs to be deducted by default in any game where letterbox borders are forced.

The ****ing screen is already wide, it's the most moronic design decision.

And another point off for 30fps.

[MartyG]

A point needs to be deducted by default in any game where letterbox borders are forced.

The ****ing screen is already wide, it's the most moronic design decision.

You can on PC.

Open engine.ini in the game directory ("%LOCALAPPDATA%\Hellblade2\Saved\Config\WinGDK ")

At the end of the file, add

[SystemSettings]
r.NT.EnableConstrainAspectRatio=0​

Save file.

Restart game.







Been numerous posts over the years about how developers should stick to their artistic vision - imagine telling Kubrick he couldn't use 1.66:1 in a Clockwork Orange. What's it actually adding to space that would normally be covered in HUD elements?

Actually, I'm surprised people aren't also moaning about no HUD elements.

[nonny]

I'll be honest I didn't even notice the borders... though I am admittedly playing it on a 75" TV.

30fps also seems like a non issue when you're mostly just walking about / fighting single enemies.

[Yakumo]

Played the first 90 minutes or so last night and have to say it is such a beautiful looking game. Looks real in some areas.
The in head voices were overkill though, so much so I went in to the options looking for an off toggle. In the first game they didn't bother me but in this one so far they're overly powering.

Combat was to be expected. Thumbiling about trying to figure out what button does what as there's no handholding at all in this one.

The 30fps on Series X is absolutely NOT an issue. In fact it helps with the cinematic feel. I especially like the Ultra wide view. This game would look smart on my LG Ultra Wide monitor. Too bad that's tinny compared to the TV.

Im sure I'll enjoy this to the end as a story based experience like I did with the first game. I'm just looking forward to seeing what other visual delights are on offer.

[nonny]

I'm up to chapter 5 (I think, haven't checked the chapter select) after completing Hiddenfolk last night.

That was pretty epic to be fair. The puzzles are fairly simple but the graphical twisting it the world is nicely done.

Crawling through the twisted labyrinth of caves with a torch as the main light source really shows off how impressive the real time lighting is here. It's almost flawless.

Combat I'm now warming to as I'm getting used to dodging and knowing when to parry. The timing for parrying is tough, or maybe I suck... but I'm having some success now.

All up in enjoying my time with it, not rushing it and doing a chapter a night if I can.

Still feels like an 8/10 for me.

[nonny]

Finished this last night on the default difficulty. Looks like I missed about 4-5 of the collectibles so I'll go back and mop those up later.

A look at the stats says it took me close to 11 hours.

I'm going to stick to my original score of 8, but then I enjoyed the first game and this is essentially exactly the same with the fidelity ramped up to 11. It will certainly remain a benchmark for graphical execution. It's almost photo realistic throughout, yet I feel for many that isn't enough when the gameplay itself is so shallow.

[Cepp]

Just started it and about an hour in. Looks gorgeous but the voices are a bit much with headphones on. They do add to it though, might switch over to normal speakers tomorrow.

[Cepp]

Finished it now and didn't really enjoy it. The puzzles barely qualify as puzzles, they're just timewasters. Combat is repetitive and drag on. The voices became obnoxious very quickly and the story is sparse and uninteresting.

I'm glad you could make running toggable in the accessibility menu, so I didn't have to hold LB down all of the time to avoid the incredibly slow walking.

I enjoyed the first game, but I'm not sure this needed to exist.