July 2024 report

Senua is back… and nothing much changed (my thoughts on the first game).

After making peace both with the death of her beloved Dillion and the voices inside her head (the Furies), Senua finds a new meaning in her life in the promise she made. She won't allow anyone else to suffer like Dillion. She will stop the Northmen from enslaving and killing her people.

The game starts as a ravaging storm hits the slaver's ships, ultimately destroying them, and the roaring sea claims many lives. The dead and living end up washed away on the barren shores of Iceland. The unlucky ones who survived the shipwreck are far from safe as they are being hunted down by the remaining slavers. One of them is Senua, drenched by cold water and her blood, stumbling around in search for someone to save… or someone to kill which won't take long. The Furies provide the necessary support in the form of blaming Senua for the death of all the slaves and every disaster that falls upon mankind… but they can also utter something nice and supportive. With a sword in her hand, Senua finally finds the slavemaster - Thórgestr, son of the Goði, son of the leader. She keeps him alive for a single purpose - to bring her to their home, Borgarvirki, so she can root out the darkness once and for all.

Their journey won't be easy as the country and its people are tormented by far more than the slavers. The first settlement they come upon is mostly destroyed and full of corpses… or what remains of them. Thórgestr blames the Draugar, monstrous creatures feasting on human flesh, and refuses to go inside. Senua isn't so timid and navigates through the bloody village up to the Draugar camp where she becomes a witness to a horrifying ritual. After defeating a lot of the savages she manages to save one of the captives, Fargrímr, and gets with him to safety. The ritual was completed though and the giant, Illtauga, thus awakened. Senua doesn't have another choice but to find its weakness and defeat it… after all, she already killed a god, didn't she?

If you have played the first game you know what you are getting into. The main aspects remained the same. We have a woman who hears voices and sees things that are not real. We have to fight against real and unreal enemies. And we have to solve environmental puzzles to move forward.

Fighting

Although the fighting system was very much criticized in the first game I have found it rather enjoyable thanks to the great motion capture realistically portraying every hit you deliver to the enemies. We have only lost kick from the possible controls (light attack, heavy attack, evade, block/counter), yet the fights feel somewhat even simpler than before. You will block, evade, get hit and then hack your enemy to pieces. Rise and repeat. In the first game, you had to stay vigilant and keep your back safe. You could have faced two, three, four enemies at once and like that adapt accordingly to the fight. Now you fight one on one, even if there are ten enemies… the others will wait until you finish. It's all now more cinematic - there are people running, Senua will collide with enemies or allies, during a struggle someone else will kill the opponent for other to show up, and so on. The fights are thanks to it very lively, unpredictable and fun to watch, but playing them soon becomes dull and repetitive. The Draugar are apparently killing machines that won't stop until they drop dead, no more slower motion when heavily injured (the only moment I noticed it was during the final boss fight)…
The fights were also rather frustrating because if you don't block perfectly to land a devastating hit you get locked in a sequence of blocking & evading without the ability to attack back as they simply perform one attack after another, even the heavy ones that can't be countered. Senua's mirror provides an escape route from this hell as when you charge it and focus the time will slow down and you can beat the enemy down. In the first game, it was time-limited and you could hack through more enemies, now it works only for one (but it's still time-limited so when you miss your chance and don't kill him during it, the fight continues). If you want to slow down the next one you need to charge the mirror again.
As for the boss fights, the first game offered three bosses + the final one against Hela. I think they were overall nice, with a good atmosphere. Now, we have two. First right at the beginning against Thórgestr (I enjoyed it) and second at the end (it wasn't anything extra). Instead, we need to defeat giants in their domains. But it's not a fight in the true sense of the word, it's more about survival. They are nicely done, but it isn't as impactful as when surpassing a huge monstrous being in a direct fight.

You can directly select a difficulty or let it be autoselected for you according to your performance. The only difference I have noticed is that the mirror is charging much quicker on the easier level. In the deeper settings, you can also select an auto-fight option and turn the whole game into a blockbuster walking simulator.

Puzzles

Sometimes Senua's path gets blocked by runes which you then need to find in your surroundings - in the shape of branches, moss on the rocks, or formed by parts of bodies on stakes, it can be anything. The focus ability helps with assembling these images. The Furies also provide a hint when getting closer to the right spot to see what Senua wants to see. There are mostly one/two runes in each chapter.
A new kind of puzzle was added through Hidden Folks and their tests. They take the form of shifted reality where you need to build a path to get towards your goal. They are fine, mostly fun, but also quite time-consuming as you need to run around for some time and Senua isn't exactly a swift runner… the pain shows fully during repeated playthroughs. Also, there is a large concentration of them in the fourth chapter - you just keep solving one puzzle after another and it becomes a little bit tiresome.

There are two kinds of collectibles to be found around the world. The Lorestangir offers a Nordic tale from Druth, Senua's dead mentor and friend. They are usually hidden off-road but still easy to spot. Finding all of them opens Druth as the possible main narrator in the new game. Finding trees containing lore of the North is a little bit harder as they are hidden behind stone faces - Pareidolia in its best form.
You can also select chapters where you missed one of the collectibles, even subchapters, from the main menu.

Characters

The biggest change - Senua is no longer alone with just her voices and shadows of the past. She has a new goal which she follows with her whole body and soul. Three characters will accompany her on the hard journey - Thórgestr, the slavemaster; Fargrímr, the pilgrim; Ástríðr, the warrior. Although they are certainly a most welcomed addition as Senua's story can gain a new layer through them their whole potential remains unfulfilled. With their appearance on the scene, the Furies begin questioning Senua's decisions and opinions. They challenge her to make a choice! There is even a moment when you need to choose who Senua will save! As a player, I felt anxious about what would come… well, fear not, same as in the first game you only remain a passive spectator, there are no choices, nothing you could possibly influence. I can't even describe how disappointed I felt.

Another problem is that we don't know what to make from it. The people around her feel that something about Senua is different, that she holds some kind of mystery. She helps them see beyond the veil and to fight against their fears. But is any of it real? How can we know for certain? The game only offers metaphorical answers which make the story hard to process - and I am not satisfied with the statement that it's only a fictional story.
The first game worked with the concept of Senua's struggle with her difficult past, the loss of her beloved and her curse/disease. Theoretically, all of it could have been an inner fight… pretty vivid if you ask me, the scars on her face from the fight with Hela are still there - are they only a manifestation of her scarred soul? But okay, with slightly closed eyes it can work out.
Not with the second game though. It's not only her. She decided to come to a different land and save everyone there. I'd say that even Jesus Christ would need more time to change the tides there… you know what? Looking at it like this I think it's all happening inside her mind.

Visually Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is even more detailed than the first game. The sightseeing is beautiful but the environment feels the same for the most part. There are some nice locations but nothing that would stick in your mind. I also have a feeling that Senua's face was showing a lesser scale of emotions and, to be honest, I am not exactly a fan of close-ups on someone's face all the time. The voice acting remains of good quality with the Furies talking all around you, slowly eating on your mind… although their presence seems unimportant now. Senua isn't particularly giving them any significance and if they weren't there nothing much would have changed in the story. They even lost their guarding function when they warned you before an attack from behind, so they now only advise you to focus or that you need to move etc. Honestly, as the game is pretty linear you don't have much other choice anyway. The soundtrack can be calm and eerie but also as harsh as the north itself… and yet it feels so unimaginative and forgettable. Only a few moments are having a good atmosphere thanks to the music (like the first fight against the Draugar).

My relationship with Senua remains passive and quite detached. The developers do their best to prevent connecting with her and Senua's struggle doesn't mean much to me. Why should it? Because she is suffering from psychosis? Oh, come on. Also, there isn't enough time to build a connection even if you want to. You can be done with the game in around five to seven hours, depending on how much you are sightseeing and searching for the collectibles. It would be even quicker if Senua wouldn't go so slowly all the time. (I enjoy taking my sweet time in games, so it took me longer.)
After you complete the game you open the option to select the main characters as the narrators which should shed more light on the whole story… it's not exactly a bad move. Tempted to see the difference, I have played it once more… well, I am not sure that it justifies another complete playthrough. The narrator's time is, by estimation, like 20% of the total game time… the story, the Furies and their talks, everything remains the same… some parts, like the fourth chapter full of puzzles, feel very long and boring. Long story short, you’d need to play the game three times to see all of the narrators speeches.

The amount of work they put into making this game is truly impressive and one has to appreciate it, but I don't think it's worth 50€. Watching it on YouTube would be maybe more enjoyable than playing it on your own as there is no added value in it. The developers really should think about making a movie or some series instead of a game.

P.S.: I just simply love games that kill the characters who are actually undergoing some kind of development… reminded me a lot of Indivisible. Also, I have to wonder, a strong lead female character can't have a man surviving the game or what? She would lose the status of "strong female character"?! What a bullshit.