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

Hellblade 2 isn't as good as the original, if that's all you were looking for than there's your answer. Now that isn't to say Hellblade 2 is bad, because I very much enjoyed my time with it, but it doesn't have that same kick the first game had unfortunately. Despite it's genuinely impressive visuals, quite possibly the most "realistic" looking I've ever seen pulled off in a video game, there's a lot holding it back from being an improvement over the original. To start with the positives, from a presentation and story standpoint this game is a nine or a ten out of ten experience. Playing Hellblade 2 with surround sound headphones is an experience no other game can provide and for that reason alone I recommend at least giving it a shot, but I can't pretend this is new as both this game and it's predecessor excelled in this department. ASMR freaks me out more than some of the most grotesque horrors imaginable, and Hellblade 2 perfectly executes what its going for thematically using it in a way I haven't seen before besides the first game. Unfortunately everything in the "game" aspect fell flat for me. For starters the combat, while stylish and beautifully motion captured, is very dull and does little to carry this game for the moments it's included. I know action isn't really the focus of Hellblade, but if you're including it, it shouldn't feel as sluggish as it ends up feeling. My biggest complaint with the original was its combat yet somehow it's only gotten worse with the sequel. The puzzles are also way too easy to figure out, I know this was also the case in the original, but I would have loved more of a challenge in the gameplay department than I ended up receiving. I hate to use the phrase "walking simulator", but this does end up feeling a lot like that at points and I wish Hellblade 2 was able to contain more of a mix of gameplay and story instead of what we ended up getting. Overall, Hellblade 2, despite it's issues, is a very solid sequel, one that I imagine will be talked about a lot more when award season comes around. I highly recommend Hellblade 2 to people who loved the original, and if you somehow haven't played Hellblade then do yourself a favor and go play it.