Welcome back Xbox fans, geeks and gamers! After more than four years of waiting and anticipating, the Xbox first-party game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II developed by Ninja Theory is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Game Pass. As soon as it launched on May 21, I started playing it on my Xbox Series X console and got to discover what the game offered and had bouts of fun along the way.
To be very clear, this is not a review of the game. My current playthrough resulted in 300 Xbox achievement points (out of a possible 1,000 points) based on the progress I achieved with the game’s narrative. I’m simply here to share with you my observations about the game.
For the newcomers reading this, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the sequel to the acclaimed independently made Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice first released on PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Windows PC in 2017. The old game was eventually released on Xbox One in 2018 and Ninja Theory got acquired by Microsoft establishing it as an Xbox game studio. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is Ninja Theory’s most ambitious project under Team Xbox’s banner and the sequel was first announced alongside the Xbox Series X in late 2019.
Many of you must be aware of the intensified negativity towards Team Xbox which closed down multiple game studios – including Tango Gameworks in Japan – resulting in a lot of disappointment and anger from fans and the employees who got laid off. In fact, 2024 has been a disappointing year for Xbox fans (starting with the announcement of porting 4 first-party games to non-Xbox consoles) and what is very telling is the way Team Xbox executed the marketing of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II which literally felt like an afterthought (the marketing was not done early enough) and is clearly not aggressive. Watch the launch trailer below and tell me if Xbox did a good job with it.
With all those details laid down, below are what I observed about the game based on my current progress.
#1 Top-notch visuals – This is very obvious and undeniable! This new game is true piece of art that blended high-level photo-realism with lively cinematic sequences while still functioning smoothly with gameplay. To say that this is an interactive movie is misleading. It is a game designed to be played while having great visuals – with motion-capture adding much to the realism – all throughout.
Ninja Theory is indeed proficient with the use of Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and they really pushed themselves hard with the motion-capturing and ensuring high levels of detail on the environments, characters, lighting and cinematography. The characters are so detailed and human-like, I sometimes thought I was looking at real actors filmed in a motion picture. Not only that, the facial expressions by the characters are very life-like! Among all the games I played on my Xbox Series X, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the most detailed and most photo-realistic I have seen! It truly is a major showcase of what the Xbox Series X is capable of in terms of visual fidelity.
#2 Immersive audio that can be fully realized with headphones – To really immerse yourselves into this game, you need headphones. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II can still be played using the speakers of your HDTV (note: I had to adjust the settings because the default option for headphones was on) but you will need to close the door and windows because the faint voice-overs will easily be overwhelmed by the noise of your local surrounding.
The way I look at it, this game’s audio was designed with headphones in mind primarily because the extra voices in background talking were included to emphasize the effect of psychosis through Senua (to have players literally sink themselves into her mind). There is also the feature of 3D audio with the headphones.
#3 Challenging and fun combat – I can say that the combat in this game is a vast improvement over what was implemented in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. This time around, the combat is implemented most often in one-on-one situations, and you have dedicated buttons for Fast Attack, Heavy Attack, Block/Parry and Evade. The combat was designed to be strategic, intense and violent, and from time to time, cinematic shots of Senua struggling with the opponent occur but the flow of battle just kept on moving smoothly.
Considering what Ninja Theory implemented here, mere button-mashing clearly will not help you progress with the combat. You will be challenged so much, you will be compelled to pay attention on your opponent’s fighting pattern, when to block, when to dodge, and when to strike. The fights are challenging but not frustrating. The combat is relatively easy to learn and yet difficult to master. As it stands right now, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II combat is a huge improvement as well as an expansion over that of the previous game.
#4 Melina Juergen’s compelling performance as Senua – There is no doubt that Ninja Theory employee and actress Melina Juergens is excellent in dramatizing Senua as well as performing as her via motion-capture. Having portrayed here in the previous game, it is clear that Juergens and the creative team knew what direction to take with the character as the developer made this new tale about Senua who is still caught in the middle of a very harsh world where killing and evil exist.
As mentioned earlier, the graphics of this game are so photo-realistic, I sometimes forgot that I was looking at a very realistic digital version of Juergens as Senua. Sometimes, I thought that I was seeing Juergens in live-action form as her character. That being said, Juergens’ performance is easily one of the main features to look at in this game. I should also state that the other actors did really good jobs bringing the supporting characters to life.
Those were my observations of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II based on my current progress playing the game. This is not a review at all but a quick look at the game which has been long anticipated by fans and gamers for more than four years. As an Xbox-exclusive title, I can say the game is both fun and engaging. More notably, it was designed to be a very immersive experience in ways that other games could not be. Right now, I am eager to resume playing it to discover more and get the most fun out of it. I suggest you check out Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II on your Xbox Series console or on your Windows PC when you have the chance.
If you are already a subscriber to Xbox Game Pass (XGP), you can download Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II into your Xbox Series console and play. However, if you have extra money, you might consider buying the digital copy of the game which would be more helpful for Ninja Theory which worked so hard and long on it. To discover more about the game, click https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/senuas-saga-hellblade-II
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