You can't loathe the fighting sections, the animations and facial expressions were stellar.. especially when the enemies started killing each other. U just gotta think of it as a playable movie. Then it's fine. I think it's a good concept.
@@Alien_isolationist”realistic”. The woman take multiples cuts, spears, fire, and punches. It’s not “realistic” it’s just weighty and more violent looking.
@@Prockski I meant realistic for the enemies. The game would suck if you die in 3 hits. Do you, enemies fluttering into thousands of pieces and dissapearing ah la Ragnorok is boring to me. I like how Hellblade 2 shows the up close detail of everything, unlike Ragnorak that only does that in boss battles. But hey maybe sh00ting robo dinos is more your thing, also boring til you fight bosses. Spiderman is OK. The fact is, both Co soles are lacking in games. I like The Last of Us. Stellar Blade ain't bad. Ragnorok is decent, but this let's bash Xbox because it's Xbox is getting old. Hellblade 2 is a good game, Stalker 2 looks good too. I'm at 32 💿 on PS5, and 12 are PS4 remasters. There's 4 more games I want....1 of which is a remaster...it's almost 4 years in. Trying to be patient for June 7th but let's not spin the narrative like options are FANTASTIC.
@BrokenMessiah1 I have played and finished the first game. I really liked it. As for the second game, I do like it, but I can see why people don't. I'm trying to exit outside my bubble so to speak and see what people disliked about it.
@@heroicryan6257 the #1 reason is its not on Playstation. I've accepted that fact & will buy an all digital Xbox so that's not my reason. Yea, it's short, but that's an excuse to hate it. If a game is an 80, I can look past length. It would be like me saying all hour and a half movies must be bad because they're short. Or rather, I bought a Beta instead of a VCR, so all VHS movies that are only an hour and a half are boo boo, UT really I'm just mad it's not on my Beta machine.
This game is on so many rails. I dont mind "walking" sims. Walking Dead telltale Deteoit Become Human Those Anthology horror games. I enjoy those a lot. The gameplay is simple. But you make actualy choices that effect the story. You can kill a character within 5 minutes or keep them alive the entire game. You can change the entire narrative by missing a quick time event. All those walking sim, story focused games have significantly more replayability, and gameplay/content than Hellbade 2 has. Hellblade 2 has significantly less gsmeplay than even those kind of games. Death Stranding is a literal walking simulator. It has near movie length cutscenes. Yet... Its way more enjoyable than Hellblade. Both in combat, and even the walking. The walking gameplay in death stranding itself is a more enjoyable experience. Should i max out my carry load, and struggle tremendously on my next delivery or should i carry light so i can navigste, and move easier? Should I drop a ladder here or will i need it later? Like you actually have to put in thought, and effort into just reaching your destination, AND can get vihicles/build actual infrastructure to make traveling easier. I'll happily concede to anyone that calls Death Stranding a walking simulator. But at least the "walking" actually has depth, and purpose, and you can eventually avoid walking long distances all together. Hellblade 2 is like those 4D roller coasters that arent actually roller coaster, but a cinematic, interactive movie where they have cuscense from the movie to watch on the track while they spray water on you and blast air in your face lol Youre not in control of what youre being shown, and the interactions are only as deep as the rails allow you go. Good things about HB2: 1. graphics (who cares tbh) 2. Art direction/character/enemy design. 3. Tone (literally LOVE the scenery, the lore, the darkness, the almost black metal influences. Very psychological horror, but not as much as the first game.) 4. Senua is a total babe. 5 Audio was really good, but the handholding whispers telling me what i already figured out how to do. But the aduio design, and wuality was S tier Even with all that, it is still a 5-6/10
Remember the good ol' PS2, Gamecube days when a small nephew would come to your room and asked you to let him play and you just gave him an unplugged controller so he would get the false impression that he's playing while somebody else is pulling the strings? That's this game
That is what I felt like playing it. Sadly I feel that if it was true it would have made it better... well it would have made it a movie in that case but that would have been better.
There is a Pirates of the Caribbean at worlds end game for the 360 that reminded me of this game big time. The puzzles, quick time combat segments and some of the mechanical boss events, are really similar in tone, and button presses. Check it out, the similarities are definitely there.
I, like you loved the first game and I played it through three separate times. I even purchased copies for one of my sons and grandson. I was really looking forward to Hellblade 2. I watched a couple of teasers but didn’t want to ruin the story/game for myself so I didn’t watch too much. When I started the game I was blown away with visuals and became excited to see what the game had. Unfortunately I have to agree with you on all points. One of the tings in the first game that I really liked and creeped me out were the voices in her head. In the first game they seemed to come in at appropriate times and add to the game but in this game they are just constantly jabbering so I just started to ignore them completely. After a few hours in I actually wanted to just stop playing because it was so slow but after shelling out $50 USD I wanted to complete it at least once. The fighting was clunky and as you mentioned, just look for the patterns and you’ll know when to block and when to fight. I would say that if you are a creative and really like story line and puzzle games, you’ll enjoy your time. If you are looking for action or something similar to the first game, you will probably be disappointed. I hope they take another stab at another story and go back to the basics of the first game.
I feel like the mechanic of the voices peaked with the first game, and then they just didn’t know what to do with them for a sequel, which is how we ended with them being just an outright nuisance in the second game, they literally never shut up (even in cutscenes where the characters are actively having conversations), and don’t bring anything interesting to the game like they did in the first one. And why they didn’t bring back the cool sword she had in the first game that would power up as you strike enemies is beyond me, they literally had the perfect setup for it and everything but nope….. Game was just a massive disappointment.
I Thought It Was Just An Amazing Experience .. Not Much Replay-ability But I Would Recommend Everyone To Experience This Game & Especially To See How Beautiful The Graphics & Journey Is 👏
I couldn’t get the parry time correct very often, and it felt like I wasn’t even really doing the combat. I’m having no issues with parries in games like Stellar Blade or Hellblade 1 though so I don’t think it’s me.
@@ReforgeGaming I found it really annoying cause it’s the only thing to the gameplay and I could hardly ever get it right. Most of my fights felt like charity. Just stay alive until the mirror is full. Not fun. But I beat it last night so moving on. Back to Stellar Blade.
Yeah the parrying and dodging in this game constantly felt like I was fighting against a pre baked/mocapped animation as opposed to just getting the timing of the mechanics right. The first game didn’t have that problem whatsoever.
I parried every hit up until the 3rd hour. It was the easiest parry window of any game I've played. It's worth mentioning I'm a souls borne veteran. I feel like I could easily do a no hit run in this game.
@@thelocoravenI don’t know if it’s because I didn’t do much side questing or looking for hidden power up items but I’m at the last phase of stellar blade now just got passed the “unidentified Naytiba” fight but damn the game feels way too hard like I’m under powered
After playing Hellblade I feel like aside from it being graphically amazing it also couldn't be more disappointing. Explains when they would interview the dev team and all they ever talked about was their ground breaking Mocap apparently that was all we were going to get a Walking Sim Tech demo that only managed to not be the most disappointing thing of 2024 for Xbox because they closed 4 studios 2 weeks earlier.
Well I’m sorry to hear that you’re so disappointed in the game. I picked up the 1st one off your recommendation. Do you think that it’s possible you had so high hopes for this game that it would have never met expectations?
I love Hellblade as much as you do and I know you’re speaking with all honesty and love for the IP and while I get and share some of your criticism, like feeling less control of the character (in the first one it was no big difference either), but yeah is a little bit more limited here for the cinematic purposes. Maybe other thing that I can agree is the pacing, I think that’s pretty much the problem of the game, not the story, puzzles or combat, it’s the pacing. They abused of putting 2 puzzles like literally one after the other (the ones you do with the parallel dimension before the 2nd giant) and the eternal waking of the caves at the Huldolfk trials. That examples hurt the Rhythm of the game for sure. The one thing I wished the game had was the giants as a more combat focus fights and not just running (even if I enjoyed those parts) but the story overall is pretty nice. I disagree with your takes on the ending. I LOVED the ending for what it means for the story and for Senua. She literally was fighting a guy like his father but becoming his father at the same time. It really resonates with me and I truly liked how the first game ended too but this felt like a really nice continuation of how her character has evolved. Did you try “The others” as the narrators? I started my 2nd run yesterday with that option and elevates the whole context of the game and characters really nice.
The lead guy from Hellblade 1 left the company very early in development. The 1st game was his vision , imo its a major part of why the 2nd game just falls short
Most likely all Ninja Theory. There's enough stories about Xbox management being incredibly hands-off for better or worse. They still set deadlines, but not much quality control or direction coming from them.
How did IGN digital foundry metacritic all give this game a 8 & 81 it received its amazing to me i guess Microsoft buys reviews to cant trust in the gaming media glad to see you kept it truthful thanks reforge cause i feel the first one is a better game DF 💩 on order 1886 so bad but had none of that energy to this mental health walking simulator
Completed it three times, with different narration each time. Didn't play on Xbox, but I'd give that version a 5/10. On PC at 4k60, it's a 7/10. I'd also give the original (on performance mode) the same score. The visual and audio aspects of the game are 10/10. Gameplay and longevity issues bring the score down, but, to me, it's no different than the original in that regard. Maybe it's because I don't get hyped for games anymore, but I thought NT did a good job and I was fairly impressed. The alternate narration (which, admittedly, is only partially new) was what convinced me how much NT cared about the project, considering the writing there is excellent despite the fact only about 1% of players are ever going to bother checking out the feature. There's no half-assing. If Senua's speaking, you can rotate the camera and see her mouth is properly animated. I don't really get the hate from people who like the original, because to me it really is just more of the same, but with more polish.
Just because someone is not completely praising the game does not mean they are hating on it. Lono has never said he hated the game. He's just disappointed.
I think one major issue is that the first game was very personal to Senua. It was all about what was going on in her mind, to the point where there were no other characters (unless you count the voices in her head or the memories of people she had known). All of Senua's "interactions" (if you want to call them that) were interactions with herself. Contrast that with what I've seen of Senua's Saga where you have Senua interacting with a bunch of actual people. Something like that would create a fundamental shift in the narrative compared to the first game. I feel like anybody expecting the first game part 2 might be disappointed for that reason alone. By the way, I'm coming at this from the viewpoint that all of the enemies Senua fought in the first game were things she had created in her own mind. That's something that seems to have been confirmed in the final scene before the credits roll. It's actually very sad to think of Senua occasionally swinging her sword at nothing and dodging away from hallucinations, but that's really what I think happened.
There is for sure an audience for this game that want that kind of experience, and the game sure is pleasing to the eyes to look at, but for what it’s worth being more of an interactive cinematic experience rather than a satisfying game to play. It’s definitely not gonna be for me and those that prefer gameplay to be first in gaming. Ninja Theory know how to make fun and satisfying games before so maybe if they keep at it, they can find a balance between the two and offer a beautiful experience with having more involvement than just push stick forward, and QTE combat.
UA-cam comment sections are exhausting. It’s pointless trying to reason with idiots. You aren’t allowed to have a negative opinion in 2024 without being called a hater or pony etc etc etc. considering how much you loved the 1st game your opinion is fair to have after playing the 2nd game but people are too biased to see that
I enjoyed this game alot, the puzzles done my head in, but bar that the way it was all tied together was great. And the set prices were epic. Along with all the visuals. It's more like playing a movie than a game, but a great concept and would gladly play another game I'm the same style. I think it should ha e been £25, £50 was a bit steep for a playable film. But that's my only criticism is the price. I've seen worse movies and played way worse games. And from a technical standpoint on an OLED with HDR, friggin epic. Best game ever, no. But defo a memorable one.
Pure curiousity, but I heard they have a “new game+” sort of thing that has a different voice or narrator that speaks. Anyone play through this a second time to see if anything changes?
I really enjoyed the game. I’m not sure why the game is getting as much hate as it is. To be fair, I’m not a “gamer” but I do enjoy playing games when I have time. I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. I find my self being tired of 30-60 hour open world games with crazy puzzles and 90 side missions. I don’t have time for all of that. I thought the story was good, the graphics are the best of this generation and linear story was a breath of fresh air. I think you guys spend way too much time complaining about stuff that most people aren’t even concerned. We just want to play the game man. Anyway that’s my 2 cents.
Have no confidence in avowed it look like it going have the xbox effect. Over sold to the moon only to get abandoned to fill gamepass and not quite finished leaving a game that should be good become mid or some good but in the end incomplete thought.
@@stonespirehall2998expect mediocrity and mid games from Xbox moving forward. They’ll launch the definitive editions once they port all these messy games to PS5
@@ChesterMan-qd3xj if a game doesn't interest me I don't play it. I don't need to try it. It's that simple. I don't need to play redfall or hellblade to know they are bad games.
The voices shouldn't have been used as narrators. Totally killed their effect. Also... I wasn't a fan of having to hold down the jog button the ENTIRE game. Literally... The entire game, nonstop.
FUN FACT: Yes, the game is 5 hours long. Please read the fine print. You actually only have CONTROL of Senua for MAYBE 3 hours. IGN gave this pile of shit a 8! lol They actually praised the combat. lmaoooo Holy fuck this industry is wild man. Also this apparently sold less than 100k. That's a disaster.
The combat is too realistic for you, you like fantasy combat. It wasn't just IGN, 93 reviewers on metacritic gave it an 81. It also just came out & will sell more. What's more, that 100k is rumor not fact.
Really disappointed with this game. I mean they took the ability to kick and combine combos how you want out of it. Kicking is how Senua broke opponents block ability, that’s gone in this one, also the parry ability is inefficient and inconsistent when used. I played the original and parrying was on point excellent, you can fight much harder and aggressively, mix combinations as you saw fit including the Kicking ability. All you have now is two buttons to use a sword, No kicking and you can’t even throw dust in the opponents face with your shoe or sword or when down like they did back then to blind the enemy and open up an attack. Why did Melina even practice and motion capture herself kicking for you guys. What a complete shame and draw back. In place of the kick button they put an interact action…how did they add value to that one button by eliminating kicks to put an unnecessary interact button, this is what they needed to ask themselves. It’s not even like Senua has other powers she can use. In total there are about 6 buttons that are useless on the standard controller for Xbox. This was the chance to take Senuas combat to a new and more aggressive level than ever, battles were rare and few opponents, you didn’t have multiple enemies attacking you at once, so no need to watch your back or do those cool blindsided parry’s, also you don’t get to pick which enemy to attack. When you do parry and cause them to turn around for a finisher, they just stand there with their back to you motionless like in a fake wrestling match. In the original game you had to actually utilize balancing Senua on wooden planks and that was not used here neither, so that excitement is gone as well. I can’t complain about graphics, the story was awesome, deep and action was ok. But the devs let down the players, the band Heilung and they let Melina Juergens the ACTRESS OF SENUA DOWN TOO, she’s really great and her character should have evolved in this chapter, this is too bad for the saga!
I'm right before the end... The 3rd giant. I really like the story, but there's little actual gameplay. The fighting takes ZERO skill and there's really no puzzles, just inconveniences.
One of the biggest disappointments I’ve experienced. Turned on the accessibility feature to take control of the combat because I was so bored. Somehow a 5 hour game with 4 hours of walking was too long.
This is a literal 2/10 for me. At least compared to the first, this one become so much more simplistic to me. Things like combat and puzzles SMH. Feels like Ninja Theory spent 5 years working on the graphics and just threw everything else together...
1000% agree. Hellblade 2 is in my and the vast majority of peoples opinion far better than the first game. Reviews are opinions and we all know what they say about opinions and in the end a few poor reviews mean absolutely nothing and all that matters is that each of us as individuals make up our own mind about any given title. The only thing that does bother me is that most of the bad reviews say the same things and their shortcomings are completely outside the scope of what Ninja Theory was trying to accomplish in this experience. Shallow people have shallow minds I guess 🤷🏻♂️
@@Whoozurdaddy my man.. Almost everybody i've seen that played the 1st game said this game missed the mark. The 1st game is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling and nothing like that had ever been done before.. Hellblade 2 is basically worse in every aspect , except visuals.
I wasn't a fan of the first, but damn, this is so much worse. I noped out about 2 and a half hours in after realizing ive ony been controlling it for about an hour, and most of that was just pushing up on the analog stick. The Matrix Experience UE5 demo probably had more gameplay.
When Microsoft buys these studios they are not getting a blank check, and I believe that everybody thinks that. All of these games are showing the same thing lack of Financial resources. You never hear Microsoft talking about hiring top talent and if they do they can't keep them.
I'm 3.5 hours in to it. Gonna finish it out of spite. But I gotta say its one of the worst games I ever played. And I was also a fan of the first game. Its an absolute chore to get through...
This is an hypocrite video because this game is the same as the first but much better! If yoy have said that the first one was bad then this video would have sense...but if you enjoyed the first one, your arguments are based on something we don't know. Because this game is better by far than senuas sacrifice
I've not played either but since you say they're bit the same can you confirm some things that Lowno said. 1. Do you only do 1v1 fights in the 1st game? 2. Do you fight lots of different bosses in the 2nd game? 3. Does every fight transition in another fight with a mini cutscene in the 1st game? 4. Are their long periods of doing nothing in thr first game? Like taking 3 mins and 30 seconds to climb a mountain?
Hellblade 2. Is leaps and bounds better than hellblade 1. You don't like it because it's not on PlayStation. Just fucking admit it bro. Game is beautiful and it's combat is way better than the first puzzles are better than the first. Everything is better than the first
You like it because it’s an Xbox exclusive and only accuse me of bias because of your own. How’s that feel when someone projects and presumes your own motivations and opinions?
Nope. Visuals and sound don't make a good game. It's a tech demo. The fighting is script. Gameplay is bad. And it's just toooooo short for the amount of years. Even more because of the empty landscapes. I dint understand how they spent sooo much time doing to do this.
I'm surprised at the critique of this game. It is not really a game but an interactive movie. For me the whole thing is a masterpiece. Most AAA games are different versions of the same game. This is audio visual art. Go play Fortnite 😁
If this game was an audio visual experience only, then Xbox should have been honest in their marketing. It’s weird how people blame the audience for expecting what Xbox promised them lol 😂
@@Mikulover39-js5oy Full Motion Video Games have always been a game Genre. Most people criticising the game have not played it or wanted to play something else. If I don’t like a game I don’t see the point in talking about it unless asked. For me I loved HB1 & 2 but I can understand why it’s not for some. They created the Art they wanted to and it was executed to perfection🤷♂
If this was a PlayStation game, nobody would be hating😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂so sad…. The combat is better, dude lying, you can play these fights multiple times and see different animations….. gaming sad af
comparing the combat to the first game, first game is faster, has more combos, more moves, and more targets... but sure, 1v1 scripted animations strung together like a glorified quick time event is better, lol
Microsoft must love their customers, they could piss on you and call it rain and you would accept it gleefully. 6-7 years in the oven, they give you a shorter game, basically the same but slightly worse combat. Graphics top tier but not worth everything else being sacrificed. But since you think ppl who play on playstation, who liked the first dont have the ability to play the second (but we do because we also have a pc or xbox) your good with it. I Stopped playing maybe 2 hours in even though i liked the 1st.
7years to make for 5hours.. walking sim and very limited combat.. the game is worse than the first.. even tho they hired 5times more staff.. the gane is pathetic.
There is for sure an audience for this game that want that kind of experience, and the game sure is pleasing to the eyes to look at, but for what it’s worth being more of an interactive cinematic experience rather than a satisfying game to play. It’s definitely not gonna be for me and those that prefer gameplay to be first in gaming. Ninja Theory know how to make fun and satisfying games before so maybe if they keep at it, they can find a balance between the two and offer a beautiful experience with having more involvement than just push stick forward, and QTE combat.
LIVE DISCUSSION - ua-cam.com/users/liveH0CsMrTnA1Q
Just finished hellblade 2. Loved it ! It has flaws, but experience is great. If you didn't like it - too bad. If you did like it - great !
Some stories don't need a sequel.
I enjoyed the part where I uninstalled it and went back to other games.
You can't loathe the fighting sections, the animations and facial expressions were stellar.. especially when the enemies started killing each other. U just gotta think of it as a playable movie. Then it's fine. I think it's a good concept.
I get that and I actually like that idea sometimes but this game was not marketed that way
@@jamesgrottano5583 tbh I never even heard about it. Just bought it and played it. And wasn't disappointed as I didn't know what to expect.
thinking of it as a playable movie does not lessen the gameplay flaws this game has.
I also do not think of my smartphone as a touchscreen calculator
@@slightlyniceron I do not think of an elephant that paints as an artist.
So often the people defending Hellblade 2 will have no played or finished the first. It's very alarming seeing this so often with these people
2 is more realistic in combat & people like that.
@@Alien_isolationist”realistic”. The woman take multiples cuts, spears, fire, and punches. It’s not “realistic” it’s just weighty and more violent looking.
@@Prockski I meant realistic for the enemies. The game would suck if you die in 3 hits. Do you, enemies fluttering into thousands of pieces and dissapearing ah la Ragnorok is boring to me. I like how Hellblade 2 shows the up close detail of everything, unlike Ragnorak that only does that in boss battles. But hey maybe sh00ting robo dinos is more your thing, also boring til you fight bosses. Spiderman is OK. The fact is, both Co soles are lacking in games. I like The Last of Us. Stellar Blade ain't bad. Ragnorok is decent, but this let's bash Xbox because it's Xbox is getting old. Hellblade 2 is a good game, Stalker 2 looks good too. I'm at 32 💿 on PS5, and 12 are PS4 remasters. There's 4 more games I want....1 of which is a remaster...it's almost 4 years in. Trying to be patient for June 7th but let's not spin the narrative like options are FANTASTIC.
@BrokenMessiah1 I have played and finished the first game. I really liked it. As for the second game, I do like it, but I can see why people don't. I'm trying to exit outside my bubble so to speak and see what people disliked about it.
@@heroicryan6257 the #1 reason is its not on Playstation. I've accepted that fact & will buy an all digital Xbox so that's not my reason. Yea, it's short, but that's an excuse to hate it. If a game is an 80, I can look past length. It would be like me saying all hour and a half movies must be bad because they're short. Or rather, I bought a Beta instead of a VCR, so all VHS movies that are only an hour and a half are boo boo, UT really I'm just mad it's not on my Beta machine.
This game is on so many rails.
I dont mind "walking" sims.
Walking Dead telltale
Deteoit Become Human
Those Anthology horror games.
I enjoy those a lot.
The gameplay is simple. But you make actualy choices that effect the story. You can kill a character within 5 minutes or keep them alive the entire game.
You can change the entire narrative by missing a quick time event.
All those walking sim, story focused games have significantly more replayability, and gameplay/content than Hellbade 2 has.
Hellblade 2 has significantly less gsmeplay than even those kind of games.
Death Stranding is a literal walking simulator. It has near movie length cutscenes. Yet... Its way more enjoyable than Hellblade. Both in combat, and even the walking. The walking gameplay in death stranding itself is a more enjoyable experience.
Should i max out my carry load, and struggle tremendously on my next delivery or should i carry light so i can navigste, and move easier?
Should I drop a ladder here or will i need it later?
Like you actually have to put in thought, and effort into just reaching your destination, AND can get vihicles/build actual infrastructure to make traveling easier.
I'll happily concede to anyone that calls Death Stranding a walking simulator. But at least the "walking" actually has depth, and purpose, and you can eventually avoid walking long distances all together.
Hellblade 2 is like those 4D roller coasters that arent actually roller coaster, but a cinematic, interactive movie where they have cuscense from the movie to watch on the track while they spray water on you and blast air in your face lol
Youre not in control of what youre being shown, and the interactions are only as deep as the rails allow you go.
Good things about HB2:
1. graphics (who cares tbh)
2. Art direction/character/enemy design.
3. Tone (literally LOVE the scenery, the lore, the darkness, the almost black metal influences. Very psychological horror, but not as much as the first game.)
4. Senua is a total babe.
5 Audio was really good, but the handholding whispers telling me what i already figured out how to do. But the aduio design, and wuality was S tier
Even with all that, it is still a 5-6/10
Remember the good ol' PS2, Gamecube days when a small nephew would come to your room and asked you to let him play and you just gave him an unplugged controller so he would get the false impression that he's playing while somebody else is pulling the strings?
That's this game
That is what I felt like playing it. Sadly I feel that if it was true it would have made it better... well it would have made it a movie in that case but that would have been better.
There is a Pirates of the Caribbean at worlds end game for the 360 that reminded me of this game big time. The puzzles, quick time combat segments and some of the mechanical boss events, are really similar in tone, and button presses. Check it out, the similarities are definitely there.
I, like you loved the first game and I played it through three separate times. I even purchased copies for one of my sons and grandson. I was really looking forward to Hellblade 2. I watched a couple of teasers but didn’t want to ruin the story/game for myself so I didn’t watch too much. When I started the game I was blown away with visuals and became excited to see what the game had. Unfortunately I have to agree with you on all points. One of the tings in the first game that I really liked and creeped me out were the voices in her head. In the first game they seemed to come in at appropriate times and add to the game but in this game they are just constantly jabbering so I just started to ignore them completely. After a few hours in I actually wanted to just stop playing because it was so slow but after shelling out $50 USD I wanted to complete it at least once. The fighting was clunky and as you mentioned, just look for the patterns and you’ll know when to block and when to fight.
I would say that if you are a creative and really like story line and puzzle games, you’ll enjoy your time. If you are looking for action or something similar to the first game, you will probably be disappointed. I hope they take another stab at another story and go back to the basics of the first game.
I feel like the mechanic of the voices peaked with the first game, and then they just didn’t know what to do with them for a sequel, which is how we ended with them being just an outright nuisance in the second game, they literally never shut up (even in cutscenes where the characters are actively having conversations), and don’t bring anything interesting to the game like they did in the first one.
And why they didn’t bring back the cool sword she had in the first game that would power up as you strike enemies is beyond me, they literally had the perfect setup for it and everything but nope…..
Game was just a massive disappointment.
Bummer that you were right about them not hitting the mark. Beautiful looking but not a great game.
Yeah I agree
I Thought It Was Just An Amazing Experience .. Not Much Replay-ability But I Would Recommend Everyone To Experience This Game & Especially To See How Beautiful The Graphics & Journey Is 👏
I think Microsoft knew this game was bad because they didn't really advertise it
They did tho, stop lying…. If you didn’t see any say that!
Likely they didn’t want to show too much of it because it was short.
I couldn’t get the parry time correct very
often, and it felt like I wasn’t even really doing the combat. I’m having no issues with parries in games like Stellar Blade or Hellblade 1 though so I don’t think it’s me.
yup, there is a weird hang even when you get it right
@@ReforgeGaming I found it really annoying cause it’s the only thing to the gameplay and I could hardly ever get it right.
Most of my fights felt like charity. Just stay alive until the mirror is full. Not fun. But I beat it last
night so moving on. Back to Stellar Blade.
Yeah the parrying and dodging in this game constantly felt like I was fighting against a pre baked/mocapped animation as opposed to just getting the timing of the mechanics right. The first game didn’t have that problem whatsoever.
I parried every hit up until the 3rd hour. It was the easiest parry window of any game I've played. It's worth mentioning I'm a souls borne veteran. I feel like I could easily do a no hit run in this game.
@@thelocoravenI don’t know if it’s because I didn’t do much side questing or looking for hidden power up items but I’m at the last phase of stellar blade now just got passed the “unidentified Naytiba” fight but damn the game feels way too hard like I’m under powered
SLOW MOTION WALKING was in the first game. They padded the shit out of that game too. This sequel is a SLOG.
So glad we have this video to tell us we don't know which parts of the game we're actually playing. So many of us have no idea what cinematics are😮😮😮
Read the replies. Lol. Lots of folks can’t tell the difference between HB2 combat vs HB1
After playing Hellblade I feel like aside from it being graphically amazing it also couldn't be more disappointing. Explains when they would interview the dev team and all they ever talked about was their ground breaking Mocap apparently that was all we were going to get a Walking Sim Tech demo that only managed to not be the most disappointing thing of 2024 for Xbox because they closed 4 studios 2 weeks earlier.
Well I’m sorry to hear that you’re so disappointed in the game. I picked up the 1st one off your recommendation. Do you think that it’s possible you had so high hopes for this game that it would have never met expectations?
I love Hellblade as much as you do and I know you’re speaking with all honesty and love for the IP and while I get and share some of your criticism, like feeling less control of the character (in the first one it was no big difference either), but yeah is a little bit more limited here for the cinematic purposes. Maybe other thing that I can agree is the pacing, I think that’s pretty much the problem of the game, not the story, puzzles or combat, it’s the pacing. They abused of putting 2 puzzles like literally one after the other (the ones you do with the parallel dimension before the 2nd giant) and the eternal waking of the caves at the Huldolfk trials. That examples hurt the Rhythm of the game for sure. The one thing I wished the game had was the giants as a more combat focus fights and not just running (even if I enjoyed those parts) but the story overall is pretty nice. I disagree with your takes on the ending. I LOVED the ending for what it means for the story and for Senua. She literally was fighting a guy like his father but becoming his father at the same time. It really resonates with me and I truly liked how the first game ended too but this felt like a really nice continuation of how her character has evolved. Did you try “The others” as the narrators? I started my 2nd run yesterday with that option and elevates the whole context of the game and characters really nice.
I guess my question is why? Is this a major fail by Ninja Theory, after such a unique success? Or was this driven by corporate decisions?
impossible to know
The lead guy from Hellblade 1 left the company very early in development. The 1st game was his vision , imo its a major part of why the 2nd game just falls short
Most likely all Ninja Theory. There's enough stories about Xbox management being incredibly hands-off for better or worse. They still set deadlines, but not much quality control or direction coming from them.
How did IGN digital foundry metacritic all give this game a 8 & 81 it received its amazing to me i guess Microsoft buys reviews to cant trust in the gaming media glad to see you kept it truthful thanks reforge cause i feel the first one is a better game DF 💩 on order 1886 so bad but had none of that energy to this mental health walking simulator
great review, you really touched on every aspect
I appreciate that!
Completed it three times, with different narration each time. Didn't play on Xbox, but I'd give that version a 5/10. On PC at 4k60, it's a 7/10. I'd also give the original (on performance mode) the same score. The visual and audio aspects of the game are 10/10. Gameplay and longevity issues bring the score down, but, to me, it's no different than the original in that regard. Maybe it's because I don't get hyped for games anymore, but I thought NT did a good job and I was fairly impressed. The alternate narration (which, admittedly, is only partially new) was what convinced me how much NT cared about the project, considering the writing there is excellent despite the fact only about 1% of players are ever going to bother checking out the feature. There's no half-assing. If Senua's speaking, you can rotate the camera and see her mouth is properly animated. I don't really get the hate from people who like the original, because to me it really is just more of the same, but with more polish.
Just because someone is not completely praising the game does not mean they are hating on it. Lono has never said he hated the game. He's just disappointed.
@@kevinkijowski5980 Did I say he said he hated the game?
I think one major issue is that the first game was very personal to Senua. It was all about what was going on in her mind, to the point where there were no other characters (unless you count the voices in her head or the memories of people she had known). All of Senua's "interactions" (if you want to call them that) were interactions with herself. Contrast that with what I've seen of Senua's Saga where you have Senua interacting with a bunch of actual people. Something like that would create a fundamental shift in the narrative compared to the first game. I feel like anybody expecting the first game part 2 might be disappointed for that reason alone.
By the way, I'm coming at this from the viewpoint that all of the enemies Senua fought in the first game were things she had created in her own mind. That's something that seems to have been confirmed in the final scene before the credits roll. It's actually very sad to think of Senua occasionally swinging her sword at nothing and dodging away from hallucinations, but that's really what I think happened.
very nicely put together lets hope the 3rd go back to roots with the story but improves on the puzzle ideas of the first.
agree thanks
There is for sure an audience for this game that want that kind of experience, and the game sure is pleasing to the eyes to look at, but for what it’s worth being more of an interactive cinematic experience rather than a satisfying game to play. It’s definitely not gonna be for me and those that prefer gameplay to be first in gaming. Ninja Theory know how to make fun and satisfying games before so maybe if they keep at it, they can find a balance between the two and offer a beautiful experience with having more involvement than just push stick forward, and QTE combat.
Hellblade 1 is in my top 3 all-time favorite games. I am baffled how they dropped the ball so hard with this sequel.
UA-cam comment sections are exhausting. It’s pointless trying to reason with idiots. You aren’t allowed to have a negative opinion in 2024 without being called a hater or pony etc etc etc. considering how much you loved the 1st game your opinion is fair to have after playing the 2nd game but people are too biased to see that
I enjoyed this game alot, the puzzles done my head in, but bar that the way it was all tied together was great. And the set prices were epic. Along with all the visuals. It's more like playing a movie than a game, but a great concept and would gladly play another game I'm the same style. I think it should ha e been £25, £50 was a bit steep for a playable film. But that's my only criticism is the price. I've seen worse movies and played way worse games. And from a technical standpoint on an OLED with HDR, friggin epic. Best game ever, no. But defo a memorable one.
Betteridge's Law of Headlines strikes again!
Pure curiousity, but I heard they have a “new game+” sort of thing that has a different voice or narrator that speaks. Anyone play through this a second time to see if anything changes?
Why would anyone put themselves to sleep by going through this tech demo twice
just the voices as far as i know
I really enjoyed the game. I’m not sure why the game is getting as much hate as it is. To be fair, I’m not a “gamer” but I do enjoy playing games when I have time. I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. I find my self being tired of 30-60 hour open world games with crazy puzzles and 90 side missions. I don’t have time for all of that. I thought the story was good, the graphics are the best of this generation and linear story was a breath of fresh air. I think you guys spend way too much time complaining about stuff that most people aren’t even concerned. We just want to play the game man. Anyway that’s my 2 cents.
Seeing what happened to this game makes me worry for others coming out in Unreal 5, especially Avowed.
i totally hear ya
Have no confidence in avowed it look like it going have the xbox effect. Over sold to the moon only to get abandoned to fill gamepass and not quite finished leaving a game that should be good become mid or some good but in the end incomplete thought.
@@stewarde17 I'm worried about it, I really am. I'm hoping the hands on play from those are the Xbox showcase prove me wrong.
@@stonespirehall2998expect mediocrity and mid games from Xbox moving forward. They’ll launch the definitive editions once they port all these messy games to PS5
There’s nothing wrong with UE5 lol. Microsoft Developers just need to get their shit together. I swear Xbox makes game development look super hard
I prefer 15-20 hours for a linear story game. Plague tale requiem is the high-quality standard for me.
Were you really wanting 15 more hours of such a dark and oppressive game though? 6 hours was enough for me.
@@ChesterMan-qd3xj 0 hours for me. I don't play that 🗑
@@Krampus6-1-6 try a game for yourself next time, rather than just take a UA-cam sensationalist’s word for it.
@@ChesterMan-qd3xj if a game doesn't interest me I don't play it. I don't need to try it. It's that simple. I don't need to play redfall or hellblade to know they are bad games.
This basically shows that DF and many other sites didn’t actually review this game.
The voices shouldn't have been used as narrators. Totally killed their effect. Also... I wasn't a fan of having to hold down the jog button the ENTIRE game. Literally... The entire game, nonstop.
Hellblade 2 will breake the record as the nextgen game with the shortets gameplay ever 🙄
Sounds like a game I would enjoy. If it comes to ps5 il buy it
FUN FACT: Yes, the game is 5 hours long. Please read the fine print. You actually only have CONTROL of Senua for MAYBE 3 hours. IGN gave this pile of shit a 8! lol They actually praised the combat. lmaoooo Holy fuck this industry is wild man. Also this apparently sold less than 100k. That's a disaster.
How's the game? 5 hours long when I'm only 15% through and 5 hours in? Content
The combat is too realistic for you, you like fantasy combat. It wasn't just IGN, 93 reviewers on metacritic gave it an 81. It also just came out & will sell more. What's more, that 100k is rumor not fact.
@@Alien_isolationist COPE MORE. It sold 10X worse than Redfall. Xbox is utter dogshit. That's a fact.
Really disappointed with this game. I mean they took the ability to kick and combine combos how you want out of it. Kicking is how Senua broke opponents block ability, that’s gone in this one, also the parry ability is inefficient and inconsistent when used. I played the original and parrying was on point excellent, you can fight much harder and aggressively, mix combinations as you saw fit including the Kicking ability. All you have now is two buttons to use a sword, No kicking and you can’t even throw dust in the opponents face with your shoe or sword or when down like they did back then to blind the enemy and open up an attack. Why did Melina even practice and motion capture herself kicking for you guys. What a complete shame and draw back. In place of the kick button they put an interact action…how did they add value to that one button by eliminating kicks to put an unnecessary interact button, this is what they needed to ask themselves. It’s not even like Senua has other powers she can use. In total there are about 6 buttons that are useless on the standard controller for Xbox. This was the chance to take Senuas combat to a new and more aggressive level than ever, battles were rare and few opponents, you didn’t have multiple enemies attacking you at once, so no need to watch your back or do those cool blindsided parry’s, also you don’t get to pick which enemy to attack. When you do parry and cause them to turn around for a finisher, they just stand there with their back to you motionless like in a fake wrestling match. In the original game you had to actually utilize balancing Senua on wooden planks and that was not used here neither, so that excitement is gone as well. I can’t complain about graphics, the story was awesome, deep and action was ok. But the devs let down the players, the band Heilung and they let Melina Juergens the ACTRESS OF SENUA DOWN TOO, she’s really great and her character should have evolved in this chapter, this is too bad for the saga!
I'm right before the end... The 3rd giant. I really like the story, but there's little actual gameplay. The fighting takes ZERO skill and there's really no puzzles, just inconveniences.
One of the biggest disappointments I’ve experienced. Turned on the accessibility feature to take control of the combat because I was so bored. Somehow a 5 hour game with 4 hours of walking was too long.
I think the fact that you took nearly a week to get back and finish this game says plenty about it
yup
I always thought Hellblade was like a visual novel kinda like telltale games, i mean they are basicly meant not to "loose" you are on a rail
The ending sucked
yup, agreed
The lighting of torches also
Along with beginning and middle
Hellblade 2 looks like a glorified Infinity Blade game for iOS.
5:07 try not pressing any button and watch you get a game over.
This is a literal 2/10 for me. At least compared to the first, this one become so much more simplistic to me. Things like combat and puzzles SMH. Feels like Ninja Theory spent 5 years working on the graphics and just threw everything else together...
Thank you Xbox for yet another mediocre masterpiece game. You guys sure know how to shepherd a studio.
i love Senua!!! i actually care about her in this game and thats what i love about it most
It’s more cinematic than gameplay
thanks!
Yes. You were.
The combat here is similar and a little bit better than the old game.
The combat is absolutely worse in Hellblade 2. The simple fact that it's only 1v1's is a huge downgrade
nah, i did a side by side in my live stream, not even close
1000% agree. Hellblade 2 is in my and the vast majority of peoples opinion far better than the first game. Reviews are opinions and we all know what they say about opinions and in the end a few poor reviews mean absolutely nothing and all that matters is that each of us as individuals make up our own mind about any given title. The only thing that does bother me is that most of the bad reviews say the same things and their shortcomings are completely outside the scope of what Ninja Theory was trying to accomplish in this experience. Shallow people have shallow minds I guess 🤷🏻♂️
@Whoozurdaddy The combat is definitely improved, just more 1 on 1. The focus was never aoeund that either way.
@@Whoozurdaddy my man.. Almost everybody i've seen that played the 1st game said this game missed the mark. The 1st game is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling and nothing like that had ever been done before.. Hellblade 2 is basically worse in every aspect , except visuals.
I hated th is game but I hated the first game too
I wasn't a fan of the first, but damn, this is so much worse. I noped out about 2 and a half hours in after realizing ive ony been controlling it for about an hour, and most of that was just pushing up on the analog stick. The Matrix Experience UE5 demo probably had more gameplay.
Sorry but not able to skip cut scene a 10 minute cut scene followed by a rubbish qte with out prompting NOPE NOT For ME
When Microsoft buys these studios they are not getting a blank check, and I believe that everybody thinks that. All of these games are showing the same thing lack of Financial resources. You never hear Microsoft talking about hiring top talent and if they do they can't keep them.
I'm 3.5 hours in to it. Gonna finish it out of spite. But I gotta say its one of the worst games I ever played. And I was also a fan of the first game. Its an absolute chore to get through...
yup
Such a shame, they made more beauty than game.
Opinions of a die hard pf fanboy for a xbox exclusive game. Ok..
This game sucks on the XSX
30fps puke
Just play Hellblade 1 on Playstation instead
It really just feels like a glorified tech demo not a real game
I'll not play this game. Never have I wanted to be Greta Thunberg.
This is an hypocrite video because this game is the same as the first but much better! If yoy have said that the first one was bad then this video would have sense...but if you enjoyed the first one, your arguments are based on something we don't know. Because this game is better by far than senuas sacrifice
Lol no
I've not played either but since you say they're bit the same can you confirm some things that Lowno said.
1. Do you only do 1v1 fights in the 1st game?
2. Do you fight lots of different bosses in the 2nd game?
3. Does every fight transition in another fight with a mini cutscene in the 1st game?
4. Are their long periods of doing nothing in thr first game? Like taking 3 mins and 30 seconds to climb a mountain?
So you make a video without playing any of them?! You're dismissed.
@@mkm0225🤣🤣🤣, are you in your right mind?I didn't make a video!
Did you play the first? To say the 2nds combat is the same?
Hellblade 1 was always a bad game of course they make a awful sequel to a bad game
Hellblade 2. Is leaps and bounds better than hellblade 1. You don't like it because it's not on PlayStation. Just fucking admit it bro. Game is beautiful and it's combat is way better than the first puzzles are better than the first. Everything is better than the first
You like it because it’s an Xbox exclusive and only accuse me of bias because of your own. How’s that feel when someone projects and presumes your own motivations and opinions?
Nope. Visuals and sound don't make a good game. It's a tech demo. The fighting is script. Gameplay is bad. And it's just toooooo short for the amount of years. Even more because of the empty landscapes. I dint understand how they spent sooo much time doing to do this.
very scripted
Cry😮😂
Its called a finishing move, you control the combat......its a poor review
I enjoyed the game u r basically a fanboy
You only enjoyed it because you’re a fanboy. See how that works?
I'm surprised at the critique of this game. It is not really a game but an interactive movie. For me the whole thing is a masterpiece. Most AAA games are different versions of the same game. This is audio visual art. Go play Fortnite 😁
lol the story is the same as so many games... you and only you can stop the big bads, now go do it
If this game was an audio visual experience only, then Xbox should have been honest in their marketing. It’s weird how people blame the audience for expecting what Xbox promised them lol 😂
It’s not a game but interactive movie, that sound like a bad video game and this is a terrible video game
@@Mikulover39-js5oy Full Motion Video Games have always been a game Genre. Most people criticising the game have not played it or wanted to play something else. If I don’t like a game I don’t see the point in talking about it unless asked. For me I loved HB1 & 2 but I can understand why it’s not for some. They created the Art they wanted to and it was executed to perfection🤷♂
If this was a PlayStation game, nobody would be hating😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂so sad…. The combat is better, dude lying, you can play these fights multiple times and see different animations….. gaming sad af
comparing the combat to the first game, first game is faster, has more combos, more moves, and more targets... but sure, 1v1 scripted animations strung together like a glorified quick time event is better, lol
Microsoft must love their customers, they could piss on you and call it rain and you would accept it gleefully. 6-7 years in the oven, they give you a shorter game, basically the same but slightly worse combat. Graphics top tier but not worth everything else being sacrificed. But since you think ppl who play on playstation, who liked the first dont have the ability to play the second (but we do because we also have a pc or xbox) your good with it. I Stopped playing maybe 2 hours in even though i liked the 1st.
Cry harder xbot
7years to make for 5hours.. walking sim and very limited combat.. the game is worse than the first.. even tho they hired 5times more staff.. the gane is pathetic.
I dont disagree with your criticisms but it didnt take 7 years to make. They even said they didnt start until 2020 but then lockdown happened
hard to disagree
Not even gonna bother with this one not even gamepass it
There is for sure an audience for this game that want that kind of experience, and the game sure is pleasing to the eyes to look at, but for what it’s worth being more of an interactive cinematic experience rather than a satisfying game to play. It’s definitely not gonna be for me and those that prefer gameplay to be first in gaming. Ninja Theory know how to make fun and satisfying games before so maybe if they keep at it, they can find a balance between the two and offer a beautiful experience with having more involvement than just push stick forward, and QTE combat.