4/5 ★ – DanteHR's review of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II.

Most XBOX fans have been waiting impatiently for a really good exclusive game for years, well... here they got the first game worthy of receiving the title of "at least decent" for this generation. "Hellblade 2", made by "Ninja Theory" and published by "XBOX Games Studios" is the sequel to one of the most beloved games when it comes to unique fantasy experiences originating in Norse mythology. I was pleasantly surprised from the first trailer to see the graphical leap that Ninja Theory decided to deliver to us... even though the first game looked good for the year it was launched (2017) , I can only say that the sequel is on a completely different level. Using "Unreal Engine 5", the developers studied everything when it comes to fidelity and how the graphics engine should work respectively. Leaving that aside, the first impression I had was that the game is basically the same thing, it hasn't changed too much, it's just that everything is much better. When it comes to combat or rather puzzles and chasing voices, the game managed to disappoint me in a very unpleasant way. Seeing the trailers from past years, i was expecting the gameplay to be a bit more fun, with much more action and without dry and tasteless puzzles. Well.. in addition to the fact that they used the same type of puzzles very often, the combat sections barely made their appearance in the game. To finish the story it took me around 8 hours, of those 8 hours, I could say that I had a section of combat every 1 hour, even so, I expected it to be much more changed compared to the combat of the previous game, but Ninja Theory was only able to "refine" our animations a little. I would have liked to criticize this category a little more, but I didn't have nothing to criticize, since the game is so short without many changes to the gameplay, I was only gripped by disappointment. We have reached the part where the game shines the most, the graphics. It is top notch in both senses, in fidelity and in artstyle. Without exaggeration, I could say that the developers have managed to deliver one of the best-looking games of this generation (probably this is where all the budget went). I spent hours admiring the fidelity and details of the game in photomode, I was speechless all the time when I was discovering something new, the details are at the highest level. The Arstyle remained largely unchanged compared to the one of the previous game, but it didn't need an overhaul anyway, it's visually pleasing and fits the Norse mythology theme. When it comes to optimizing the game, I was surprised to see how well optimized the game was, considering that it runs in such an advanced and incomplete engine. With a 4070 TI, i7 13700KF, 32GB ram DDR4 - 3200mhz. I managed to get over 100 FPS with the preset on Ultra and DLSS on. The only problem I had was the screen tearing, but I solved it when i enabled Vertical Sync. The category from which I had extraordinarily high expectations was the Sound. Hellblade 2 is a game in which the developers wholeheartedly recommend that you play it with a pair of headphones to fully experience the storytelling. Of course, you can play it even without headphones if for some reason you can't, the game's subtitles do a really good job in to copy the experience you would have with some headphones. The game is rich when it comes to the performance of the voice actors, they all did a very good job in expressing the emotions and the madness with which our main character, "Senua" faces. The soundtracks are just as good, especially in combat, although we didn't have many sequences to enjoy, the OST's have been the right thing all along. The story of Hellblade 2 doesn't seem to be very pleasant at first, it's very confusing, especially if you haven't played or watched the story of the previous game. In short, Hellblade 1 described a teenager who was troubled and angry at the world because of her suffering. She made peace with the voices in her head at the end, concluding that story arc. Hellblade 2 introduces us the story of Senua's journey from a simple teenager to an adult with a more open mind. All the action takes place in her head, but the characters are glimpses of her real life. I'll let you on to discover the whole story, too many spoilers spoil the experience and this review is not about ruining the player's experience. At the end of the day, "Senua's Saga Hellblade 2" is a good game, but with certain problems that would make the game a total skip, especially at the current price ($50). Still, I recommend it to all the people who have a subscription to XBOX Game Pass to play it, you can finish it in less than 8 hours, having a pretty good experience. The minuses that the game has are the gameplay itself, screen tearing due to the engine, and a slightly complicated story, especially for people who enter a game just to have fun. 7.5/10 Made by DanteHR