‘Hellblade II’ is bafflingly disappointing… [REVIEW]
All my links: https://linktr.ee/lukestephens Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is an action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory …
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March 1, 2026
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"Harmony in Every Heartbeat
All my links: https://linktr.ee/lukestephens Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is an action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory …
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TLDR: Despite my love for the original game, I found Hellblade II to be shockingly disappointing and ridiculously short. I got through the game in 5 hours and 28 minutes, and I struggle to find anything it does better than the original. To be fair, I wasn't trying to find every secret in every nook and cranny, but I feel I played the game the way an average gamer would, and what I got was a game that I found profoundly disappointing.
Yall forget this was a small studio they produced a masterpiece without a back piece
Lacks the emotional kick?
I think a key part of this game is people with high EQ or have personally been through harsh life struggles themselves will get more out of this game than just the average person.
I think you’re expectations where to high.
I can’t even say it visually looked impressive considering the forced upscaling left all the textures looking like blurry trash
I thought the 2nd one was kinda trash. Visually it’s impressive but they could’ve used those graphics and story telling into something better. Very slow and combat is basic. Has potential.
Kinda glad to see someone be so mad at the endgame twist. Like man I ultimately just wateched a lets play and even I feel ripped off by the ending…
tried it out through gamepass, played it for 1 hour, got bored and annoyed, uninstalled it.
i just finished the game and it was amazing poeple say it was short but for me it was worth it gamers now seek pointless games with long stories that lead to nothing pointless side quests collectibles i feel like the game is so short cus they put so much detail ino every single part of the game even the secrets hold meaning with stories to listen to the game is not for everybody but calling it a bad game is just stupid
I couldn’t wait for it, then forgot all about it. Just beat jt. Idk I liked it lol was unique. Some stretches were kinda like ok come on, then some had me white knuckling my controller so hard I almost broke it.
15:25
Imagine in few years on Netflix or something like that you have this movie . where you can choose the main actor decisions and follow them through and what usually is a 90 minutes movie turns out to be 4-8 hours of content on the app .
And you can rewatch it again and again and choose different decisions and see them through .
I got the game for free and I loved every minute of it . I even liked it more than the 1st game . Generally it feels like a trailer , test or advertisement of the studio itself , than rather than having the aim to be "GAME" .
Combat in the first one was way, FAR way better. You were stronger, and there were a lot of enemies trying to kill you from different angles. You needed those voices to know when you get attacked from out of sight… In Hellblade 2 you are just a wet noodle strugling fighting 1v1 when in the last game you could take on whole hordes by yourself…
I disagree with with everything you've said. Loved the game
Pretty good movie… but a video game I don't think so.
The amount of people that played this game and didnt get it is staggering. We can critique graphics and performance all day, and thats fair, but this game is effectively an art piece, same as the first, and everybody loves to ignore the possibility that maybe you just didnt get it, its ok if you didnt get it, but dont blame the game as the reason why you dont get it
Useless clickbait
They could have cut the game down to 3 hours, called it an Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo, and it would have been better.
Calling this a game, especially as not only a follow up to Hellblade 1, but THE game that revealed this generation of consoles, is a massive let down.
Ahhh Skellige… I barely heard what he said. I was vibing to the Witcher vibes.
Terrible game.. i waited so long for this game.. it's like the developers forgot she's supose to have psychosis after the first hour of the game. Story was also way to short and combat was terrible
you can get more than 8 hours, by falling asleep mid-game.
"Baffling dissapointment" is what your mom said about you
I guess I’m in the minority because I absolutely loved this game and enjoyed it more than the first one, which I also really liked. 5 hours? Sure, but I enjoyed those 5 hours a lot more than most games.
My only playthrough took 6 hours and got all the achievements, there is no way of getting 8 hours out of this trash.
it's not a traditional game , its more a project intended to show people what it's like to be schizophrenic. if you didn't get that then you missed the point.
yea this game was an incredible experience short or not it was amazing, got this video recco'd after completing the game and I must say this was my first "wow bad take" from Luke
After finishing the game two times I can say this is one of the best new gen games in terms of graphics. The story is compelling and makes you think and question authority and reflect on yourself. The voices are nice (ASMRish at times) and give you ideas of Senua’s mental struggle. Yes, it is a short game and will not embellish you with pointless side quests and the like. This game is meant to be more of a movie than a game. The game stays true to its original sequel and portrays a thorough narrative about the troubled mind of a fierce female warrior.
the most desappointing in all this is those followers
the schizophrenic VO's quite literally ruined this game.
The 1st games inclusion of the voices were artistic and beautifully tragic.
now they are deeply unscientific, cringey and beyond obnoxious.
holding forward for 3 hours, boring puzzles, 6/10
U have no sense of anything
It’s a great game stop hating
I swear Microsoft probably wanted the game out and was tired of delays. Also, I was very bothered that part of the trailer was NEVER in the game (the part where Senua is doing the ritual chanting), that literally felt like such a let down because it felt like Senua would be ascending as a leader, possibly a spiritual leader, a shaman not in spite of her mental "illness" but because of it. In many cultures, mental illness is seen as a spiritual gift, not a burden. I was so let down that the game really drifted away from the struggles of mental illness and just focused on graphics.
I got at least 8 hours of gameplay bc im that guy that stares at things and takes the game slow lol but im a fan of Senua so i just wanted to see her story but that ending… I was like what? What? It ended?! It felt like that was the beginning of something even more epic and then it just ended lol but i get that it was part of the story. I didn't hate it. I thiught it was cool.