It’s more harrowing, more fleeting, more linear and more contemptuous of player agency.
Hellblade 2 kicks off with Pict warrior Senua on a mission that’s part rescue, part revenge.
To achieve this, Senua deliberately gets herself captured by slavers so they’ll take her to their land.
The whole level is striking in its savagery, and the next is even more barbaric.
Yet while Hellblade 2 delves to nastier extremes than Eggers' film, it’s also ultimately less nihilistic.
It’s a good story, one that I was pretty invested in by its end.
It helps that it’s phenomenally presented.
Other elements like lighting, weather effects, and water simulation are similarly convincing.
Then there are the rocks.
I wasn’t joking when I said you shouldn’t play Hellblade 2 if you don’t like rocks.
This game is obsessed with them.
I look forward to the inevitable “Geologist REACTS?!?!”
Stunningly detailed as its rocks are, I should point out that the presentational excellence is not merely graphical.
It’s also superbly written and acted, and displays similar quality in its audio design.
As in the first game, this is most evident in its simulation of Senua’s psychosis.
But that doesn’t mean it has gone away.
There are also moments when the hallucinations become more overt.
But Hellblade 2 is more about how Senua’s personal experience affects her relationships with others.
One character refers to Senua as a ‘Seer’.
But it’s her empathy, not her visions, that make her uniquely perceptive.
As both a technical showcase and a story, Hellblade 2 is undoubtedly well made.
The remaining time, as in the first game, is divided between puzzles and combat.
Also like the first game, the puzzles aren’t very good.
Combat is more entertaining.
But Hellblade 2 places additional emphasis on cinematic consistency.
The advantage of this is that battles look superb.
But for all its technical wizardry and narrative worth, more Hellblade is exactly what Hellblade 2 is.
This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.
